Lesson 9: ROI

This week the lessons in class covered how to make sure you I am getting some return on my investment (ROI) so that I am not wasting money on ads. I learned I need to have goals for visits to my site, for sales that are conversions from these visitors, and I need to use Google Analytics and the data available on Adwords to make sure my ROI is good. It's important to track my ROI and make sure I know what the cost is per conversion. The formula for that is Revenue-Cost of Goods Sold/Cost of Goods Sold, and that equals a percentage. 

 

Focusing on cost and quality will help me to have more success, and that means making sure I choose good keywords. A good keyword is high in quality and low in price per click, so I need to find a balance. So far I have only been able to find keywords that are average and ranked around a 5 to 6 out of ten so I need to do more research and find some better solutions than what the keyword planner is suggesting. 

Focusing on the conversion means choosing which conversion result is most important, like a sale, a new follower on my blog, or a sign up for my newsletter. This week I learned how to set up a conversion code (html) on webpages so I can track conversions through Adsense. The conversion process can be done by logging into Adwords, clicking on Tools, then Conversions.

This week I also learned how to revise my keywords and make sure there weren't duplicates. This also helped remind me to check the scores of my keywords to make sure they were going to be useful and worth using for a target audience. 

The most important thing I learned setting up my Adwords campaign this week was that I will get far more impressions than I will clicks, and I need to watch impressions so I can see when I need to make changes in my ads and keywords to get more clicks. In the first 24 hours of my project I had 79 impressions and no clicks. This may be because I have a very low budget right now because of expenses that ran on Adwords last month, but once I get ads and my finances sorted out, I can raise my bids for ads and see if it yields better results. It may be that I will have more traffic to my website through social media which has been the trend up to this point. I'm not certain that Google Ads are the best place to spend my money for my industry and products.

Lesson 8

This week in class we studied the relevance and quality of a good a good keyword by learning how to you the quality score indicator in Adwords and also how to apply and use Google analytics. The readings provided links to Google videos were I could check out the process of how to determine a good quality score. This is done under the tabs Campaign>Keywords> and then to a small, white speech bubble which is clickable for a score from 1 to 10 with a result of above, below, or average. This information also provides the click through rate as well as the relevance (above, below, average) and data for the landing page experience.

This week also provided some reiteration of compiling an ad group. It's important to remember to focus on one single specific type of product in an ad and to include keywords in the text. Another critical detail is a powerful call to action that stands out. Words I can use in a call to action include buy, sell, order, browse, find, sign up, or get a quote. These tips really helped me revise the call to action in my ad ideas.

In a class discussion this week we discussed ways to take advantage of Google Analytics. I like how I can use this program to help me see how much traffic I have and what days and times it comes in. I also can see where traffic is coming from and which pages on my website are the most popular. One new thing I learned is that there is a "bounce" feature that can show me how many people clicked on my URL and then immediately left. This can help me when running ads because I will be able to figure out what kind of phrasing in the ads are drawing visitors who are not interested in my product and I can revise to save money and connect with the right audience. My favorite thing about using Analytics is I can see the impact of the different social media I use and which work best because they are also traffic sources. It's a great way to plan my social media campaigns.

Lesson 7: Making Sense of Adsense

This week I continued to learn about creating online ads and revising the business page at my website. Some Google videos shared tips like including one of your keywords in an ad title is a smart idea. It works best to have a headline, display URL, and two lines of descriptions. It's important to remember that each line has character limits so ads should be as succinct as possible.

Some ideas for successful ads are to highlight what makes you unique. Be relevant and be specific. Share prices, promotions, and exclusive offers. It's important to use a call to action because this empowers the customer. It's also important to use at least one keyword in an ad, experiment with different ad groups, and to proofread ads for errors. Customers should know what to expect when they visit a website so an ad should reflect this. 

This week I also learned how Google Adsense structures its accounts. First a store account is opened. Under this account can branch out different campaigns. Under each campaign, ad groups may formed to focus on specific products and characteristics. When applied to my ads, I learned I can run campaigns on different book genres like historical and contemporary. Under each campaign, I can form ad groups to focus on the subjects of specific books in this campaign. 

In the class discussion this lesson, I learned how I can improve the rough draft of my ad. I decided to move my URL from my last line to my second line under the title. I also am revising my call to action. I don't feel that punctuation looks professional or makes sense. According to positive feedback on my detail lines, I am going to keep the keyword "Jane Austen" in my ad because it gives the customer an idea of what to expect. 

Last, this week I revised a store checkout program on my website. I had originally decided to use a checkout processor called PayHip to process purchases and deliver downloads of one of my eBooks. It is used by many online authors. The website used Paypal as the form of payment, so I was actually leading the customer and myself in circles and still paying a transaction fee. Most importantly, after two weeks my book had accrued 50 visitors to the PayHip page with 0 checkouts. I revised this checkout option on my website by using my website host's own store. It comes free with my annual fee. A button and checkout information provided by my host on the bookstore page leads the customer straight to Paypal for checkout. I do not have to pay my website design company for this transaction fee, so the only processing fee will be from Paypal. The one disadvantage is I will have to email downloads of my eBooks directly to customers which means dealing with more piracy protection and programs.

Lesson 6: Ups and Downs

This week I studied more about setting up keywords to run the best Adsense ad for my business. I refreshed my knowledge of the campaign vocabulary by studying the readings. It's hard to remember the acronyms for everything so I made a list. For example, CPE is cost per clicks. CMC is cost per million (impressions) and CPA is the ad conversions that result in an actual sale. I learned that choosing impressions is the best choice for getting a brand or name out on the web to gain some visibility. Paying for clicks is the best choice for selling an actual product. The reading also clarified for me that automatic bidding is where Adsense manages the bids with your daily budget, and manual bidding is where you place your own bids yourself. Finally, I learned that there are two types of campaigns. The "Search Network Only" is where an ad comes up in search results. "The Display Network Only" is where an ad is shown alongside searches or in display areas. 

As I studied the best return on investment (ROI), I felt like .50 a day would be my best choice for a budget because that would keep me at around $15.00 a month which is doable for my current profits. One huge issue I faced was talking with Google and finding out I had already been charged over $50 since I opened my Adsense account. At the beginning of this class, after speaking with Google help three times, the only way I could get an account to open properly to see tool tabs and do classroom spreadsheets was to give my credit card information. Since the account was open, all of the keyword searches I was doing for lessons were in the wrong tab, and Adsense was running them as campaigns all along. The page never informed me campaigns were running nor was I asked in a final checkout if I wanted to buy a campaign.  After talking with Google once more, they refused to give me a refund and recommended I close the account or they would keep charging me.  I had already gone in and deleted everything on every tab, but because they had my credit card information I cancelled the account. Although I did learn the basics of Adsense, these recent events have caused a problem for me outside of class. 

Last, this week I learned a bit more about how to best choose keywords. A strong keyword is a good balance between the specific and broad categories of a product. Specificity helps searches bring up your ad when someone needs something particular; keeping it somewhat broad allows a bigger variety of searches. Some good tips are to think like a customer, organize campaigns by theme, include sale prices, use negative keywords, and always use keyword planner to find the optimal keywords.