An unmanaged AdWords account is a lot like a B-rated horror flick and every day thousands of business owners walk into their own dark basement. Without a flashlight they are subjecting themselves to the hidden horrors that lurk in the dark. These business owners are allowing themselves to get slaughtered, financially speaking, by setting up Pay Per Click campaigns without understanding Google’s rules.

Pay Per Click is a thousand tiny knives slicing open the throat of your business. A click is a click and they add up fast. This is especially true when you’re paying for clicks regardless of how relevant they are, whether those clicks convert to a sale, or how much your products cost. The results can be savage. Advertisers commonly complain about spending up to $60k on AdWords yet they still can’t make a sale.

When the Keyword Search Pros look inside an unmanaged AdWords account it’s like turning the lights on in that dark basement for the first time. What we find will rattle even the most seasoned bones.

Every week we manage new accounts that had no previous strategy whatsoever. We see the same keyword in 5 different ad groups, with 7 different ads, and 10 different landing pages. There’s no way to track who clicked on what, when, where, or why. It’s obvious our new client with the unmanaged account has just blown hundreds or thousands of dollars on visitors who had no intention of buying anything.

Survive the horror movie that is your AdWords account:  Keep it simple. Use the keyword tool to discover what people are actually searching for and build out ad groups based on tight themes relating to your product.

The formula for a sale is easy:  Relevant keywords trigger relevant ads. Relevant ads take customers to relevant landing pages. When relevant landing pages display relevant products to customers looking to make a purchase a conversion is made.

One of the biggest culprits in the AdWords financial slaughter-fest is Broad Match Keywords. This is the default setting for an AdWords Campaign. Broad Match brings volume which is important. Let’s say you’re using “office supplies” as a keyword for your office supply business, your ad will then be shown in any search for office humor, office jokes, and/or office suppliers. You may get 500 clicks from people looking for jokes about their boss, or the hit TV show “The Office”. If you’re a jeweler selling rings and put “Ring” or “Rings” in broad match, then you’ll get horror movie fans looking for “The Ring” and Guns N Roses fans looking for the controversial rock anthem “Get in the Ring”. Make sure to use the Match Search Query tool to discover what people are actually typing in to find your ad. Don’t just assume broad match clicks come from a relative term.

Next in the line-up of suspects are the moochers. The web is chock full of information- some good, some bad, and most free. If you’re trying to sell your product you’ll want to make sure to add “free” and “no cost” as Negative Keywords otherwise you’re getting clicks from people looking for freebies.  Make it clear in your ad that you are selling a product or service, even better is to indicate the price point in the ad. This pre-qualifies your traffic to make sure you don’t get window shoppers wasting your ad spend. If you forget this you may end up subsidizing thousands of idle web surfers.

Consistently monitor your AdWords account every day and track which keywords are performing and which aren’t. As a business owner it’s your responsibility to ensure your money is spent wisely. Optimize your advertising dollars to avoid a financial bloodbath.

Keyword Search Pros saves clients huge sums of money by analyzing all the data relevant to their online business. We keep you safe by creating AdWords campaigns that offer you a positive ROI with no wasteful spend. We’re the shotgun toting Sherriff that saves the day at the end of the horror flick. When we roll into town and save you from your Adwords Campaign you’ll be thanking us. But that’s okay; that’s what good guys do.

Though advertisers will typically maneuver around the new interface until they can navigate comfortably, most are not enthusiastically diving into routine account management. The result is less time being spend optimizing these campaigns in a time when it is most critical to do so. With less attention being spent in the advertiser accounts, that bigger problems are likely to go unnoticed.

It has gone without much discussion that Google has made changes that remove the “More Sponsored Listings” link at the bottom of the first page of Google search results. Actually, without the link itself, there is not much difference in the way ads are served (or not served.) How many people really go looking for Sponsored Results on Page 2 anyway? The link missing really serves as an calling that there is a much greater movement taking place in the background. It goes back to an earlier change made last year when we saw “minimum first page bids” for the first time.

What happened is Google had implemented visible “minimum first page bids” next to keyword data inside Adwords accounts. They were introduced as an alert for advertisers to increase their bid should they want to remain visible to Google users. Active Adwords advertisers were quick to put these bids in line with first page visibility but some others just let it go by neglect.

The real alert came when ads stopped appearing for Google searches. “Many of your ads may not be showing because they don’t meet the minimum first page bid requirement.” Now that sounds more important, right? If you care anything about your Adwords positioning, you will most likely make the bid jump. These notifications did not cause a huge panic. They were subtle. And most advertisers that noticed them made the bid adjustments paying no concern to what their competitors were doing.

So what has really happened? Google has neatly and quietly ushered all Adwords advertisers to compete for a placement on Page 1. That is of course, that you have noticed and are willing to bid for that necessity.

What happens when you put everyone on Page 1? It’s the same thing that occurs when you put a residential property on the market way below market value; hyper competition drives the bidding prices far above market value. The sellers make out like crazy and the buyers pay more than the property is worth. Advertisers have to pay more for each lead or sale they receive and Google’s stock goes up again.

So what can be done to combat this new competitive arena we are advertising in? After all, Google is unlikely to change it back in the future. It should be noted that these changes put a new burden on us to find out more about how profitable are products and services are.

Things that were profitable before may be less now and we don’t have the luxury of neglecting such data. Unprofitable keywords and adgroups don’t need to be deleted, but they do need to be scrutinized then optimized so that they do maximize the ROI. Making sure your dollars are spent in the most effective way will keep wasted dollars from leaking out the back.

The key is active management in some form. Whether advertisers do it themselves or if we do it, some PPC management is better than none. Keyword Search Pros has the sustained track record of keeping advertiser conversion costs down and in most cases, showing advertisers better performance than they have ever seen before in Adwords.

During the holidays, your Adwords account should be optimized to attract a broader audience; this will bring your ROI to a whole new level. The expertise of a qualified PPC management company will get your site running for you through proper AdWords management.

Is your PPC campaign mobilized toward the holiday season? Get your PPC campaigns set and ready to go for the holidays; missing out on the extra holiday traffic can be damaging to your online advertising investment. Here are some tips to help you run a successful Adwords management campaign for the holiday season.

1. Run keyword reports or try out the new Search-based Keyword tool. In the keyword report, you will find out which keywords converted well during the previous holidays. There’s a great chance that these keywords will perform well again this season. On the other hand, SbKT is a tool that reviews the content of your site and generates a list of relevant historical Google search queries for which the site in question is not currently advertising. Using this tool, your PPC management company will seek additional keyword suggestions or “missed opportunity” terms for your site.

2. Reconsider the Search Query Performance Report. Google has just launched improved transparency in Search Query Reports to give advertisers additional information about the search terms that activate your ads. Your AdWords management experts will filter and analyze this report for you. Through constant monitoring, your dedicated team can establish which queries are generating clicks; adding relevant queries as keywords and irrelevant keywords as negatives, this can greatly increase your ROI.

3. Use your Ad Text Wisely. Entice early holiday shoppers traffic by running promotions with your PPC management company as early as the month of October. With the current state of economy, shoppers plan to spend more time doing extensive comparative canvassing for gifts before actually buying them. Find out what your competition are offering and make sure your promotional offers beat them all. Your company’s best deals will make your ad text stand from among the countless competition, so make sure you highlight what your potential buyer can get from you: dollar savings, shipping information deal and ‘ship by’ dates.

4. Level up your Landing Page. Search engines are extremely useful throughout the holiday season. Some people may know exactly what they’re looking to buy, but there are also shoppers who don’t have a clue; these people turn to search engines as their go-to source for gift ideas. Designing a holiday gift finder landing page is included in your AdWords management campaign during this season. Present the undecided shopper with wonderful gift ideas at fantastic prices with this. It is also important to categorize the audience your product would appeal to the most.

5. Cyber Monday, here we come!. Cyber Monday is the Monday after ‘Black Friday’ (Friday after Thanksgiving). This day is said to generate sales from people who couldn’t find what they were searching for in-store; or in other words, holiday purchasing happens on Cyber Monday – early/mid December. Your PPC management company will bid higher for this day than any other day to take full advantage of Cyber Monday traffic. To get the most clicks, your adverts need to be in the top 3; so be ready to bid. If you do not dominate the competition specifically on this day, you’re missing out a lot of possible holiday revenue. This day is also known to have really great sales and deals online; talk to your AdWords management expert how you can maximize your ROI on this very competitive day.

6. Don’t Underestimate Post-holiday Sales. Shoppers want to take advantage of post-holidays sales online to get the best deals because of the kind of economy we are facing now. Your PPC campaign should not end on December 25th; you’re missing out valuable traffic if you do. Monitor your PPC campaign end dates and sales instead to maximize on the post-holiday shoppers. Make sure to continue your AdWords management campaign even after the holidays to attract shoppers to retailers all year round.

One great tip for the holidays: preparation and planning. Be ready for the incrase in traffic and the increase of your Return of Investment. A dedicated PPC management company can get things up and running during the festive season so you yourself can have time to enjoy the holidays. Be ready to enjoy all the holidays have to offer. Season Greetings everyone!