Week 6 - MKTG 349 - Ad Performance Update

It all starts with keywords. I ended up deleting keywords that were not performing well just to clean up my ad group a bit. I saw an increase in clicks over the week, netting around a 20% increase in clicks overall. However, I still am not fully satisfied with this, so I need to find another way to increase my traffic. What I chose to do was to make another ad. I can collectively use information from both ads to figure out what is actually working. I chose to create an ad for a different tiger because I did not want my ads to compete against one another. All of these actions are intended to further my knowledge with Google AdWords and how to optimize a campaign.

New Ad

For this ad, the only keywords I used were the ones that were getting results. This way, I can easily compare not only the keywords, but the ad itself. People may be more likely click on an ad that speaks to them, meaning that if what the ad says satisfies what they are looking for or interested in, then they would be more likely to click on it. In just two days and on a tight budget, the new ad has already been clicked on six times. It has netted more clicks than my original ad in that same time frame.

Week 5 - MKTG 349 - Campaign Performance

I have recently been working with my ad for The National Tiger Sanctuary in order to generate more clicks. First, I went through my keywords and deleted the ones that were not generating anything. Then I wanted to compare my keywords to my colleagues. I looked at their ads and saw what was working and what was not. Sometimes knowing what keywords not to use is just as important as knowing which ones to use. 

Here are my current keywords

I have had some of these running for just a couple days now and they are doing well. Within the next week I should see in increase in clicks and overall impressions. As you can see, I may also decide to delete some keywords if they continue not to get results. I will give them a few more days before making that change. 

Good keywords do not only make the difference in generating clicks, the ad itself must look good enough for people to want to click on it. Overall, my ad has been doing well, but not exceeding my expectations, so depending on how it does within the next week, I might run another ad to compare my strategies.

(current ad)

Week 4 - MKTG 349 - Keyword Planner Exploration

This week, I have been trying to optimize my advertisement with Google AdWords. I am currently running an ad for the National Tiger Sanctuary, specifically, Kora the tiger. I am attempting to bring in more traffic to their website and one tool I am using is Keyword Planner. By using this, I can simply input a keyword and get feedback as to how many times that has been searched as well as how many times per month. This too is effective because it gives you a sense of what keywords you want to use as well as estimates what your bid should be.

(Click image to view)

Budgeting is important when it comes to AdWords. You do not want to spend more per click then you have to. To do this, as advertisers we must think like the customer and how they search what we are selling. Out keywords can be general to attract a big population, or it can be very specific to try to target selected consumers. For my ad, "tiger" has been the best keyword so far for generating clicks. The monthly searches average 1.5 million and it has a fairly low competition rating. Going forward, this is an excellent tool to use to help optimize you ad.

Week 3 - MKTG349 - AdWords Fundamentals

Recently, I took my first attempt at passing AdWords Fundamentals and working on my certification with AdWords. Going into the exam, I thought that it may be easier than expected. But what did I know? Until taking this class, I never heard of Google AdWords or how I can use it. Basically, I went in blind during the exam. Overall, I did not get a great score, but it was definitely better than what I thought I might earn based on my little knowledge of AdWords. 

Going into the future, I am ready to study and put the effort in to receive at least 80 out of 100 on the test. To accomplish this, a key tool that I will use has to be the exam study guides given by Google. There are three main sections for the study guide. They include: introduction to AdWords, campaign management, and measurement and optimization. Additionally, there are several videos on YouTube that can help study as well.

Check out these links for exam prep videos:

·         AdWords Certification Fundamentals Exam Prep

·         Refresher Hangout: AdWords Fundamentals

Week 2 - MKTG349 - Google Adwords

This week in class, we learned how to use Google AdWords. A main thing to remember when using AdWords is editorial techniques. These will not only improve your legitimacy as a business/service, but will also lead to more clicks. The first thing to keep in mind is the ads text. Ads cannot contain all caps, more than one punctuation in a row, or excessive use. Additionally, ads should not contain symbols or random capital letters within words.

Why are these important? For one, ads should draw people to want to see what you have to offer, and if you are unprofessional in your ads, it will show when you are not seeing the traffic you want to generate with your ads. It is important to remember that simplicity is sometimes best when creating an ad.