Advice needed with Adwords conversions

[quantikev]

[Lynn Terry]

Hi Kevin,

It's really hard to say without looking at your Campaign in detail. A couple of questions, though:

1) You said: "I am using keywords likely to be used by a person searching". Did you research keywords through WordTracker.com or a similar site?

2) Are you using Exact Match, Broad Match or Phrase Match? ()

3) Using one of your keywords, when you do a search on Google... are the competing listings (free or paid) offering the same information for free?

4) Are you using your affiliate link in the Destination URL - and the merchants domain name as the Display URL? (assuming you are using a direct affiliate link from the ad - or are you using your own Landing Page?)

[quantikev]

Lynn; thanks for responding!

My keywords were researched through Overture's and Digitalpoint's Keyword selection tools. Digitalpoint covers both Overture and Wordtracker in limited detail: www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/. Number of searches on these keywords ranged from several thousand a month to 2 digit numbers monthly.

These keywords are almost entirely phrase match. I have come to the understanding that using exact match can boost ad position amongst high competition, so some of my phrases are also repeated as exact matches. I have attempted to use phrases that are not too broad, yet broad enough to get combined with relevant words I have not thought of. Ex; "fishing instructions" and the user types 'bass fishing instructions'. I have also included specific phrases which were targeted and recieving searches.

There is mainly one competing listing for my keywords. Several of my phrases have multiple competitors, but they are the usual broad sweeps like Ebay or Amazon. My competitor is selling an ebook instruction for a lower price wereas my affiliated product is a video guided instruction for slightly more.

I am using the affiliate URL as the destination, and the merchant's landing page as the display URL. The landing page seems designed well according to the limited knowledge I have about landing pages.



I am thinking if my competitor is enjoying success, the problem might be the product I'm promoting.

One reason, it is more money, by approx. 10 dollars. I am not sure how much people are willing to spend in this peticular hobby, especially since some search for free information.

Another reason is the way the copy promotes this product. In this hobby, many people are looking for instructions to do a large number of things, yet the copy mentions the main product as giving only 20 instructions. It mentions teaching the basic principles so you can do as many as you want, but I wonder if this is appealing to what the consumer wants. At the end of the copy where the order button exists, bonuses are presented which include many more specific instructions. However by that point, perhaps the customer has left?

In any case, I am trying to find similar products from larger retail outlets like Overstock.com, Walmart.com, Amazon.com, ect. However, Linkshare operates the affiliate programs for many of these, and their system is timing out on the links page! Anyone else having this trouble?

I want to create more campaigns to see how it goes, however first I am trying to gain more insight into this situation.

Thanks for taking the time to help and read through this long post;
Kevin

[Lynn Terry]

It sounds like you have everything covered, especially by adding the price into your ad copy. You might consider letting the ad run for 400-500 clicks to get a better idea of sales ratio - but after that, I wouldnt continue if you dont get sales, or get a very low number.

The only other thing I might suggest is that you order a copy through your link to test it and make sure your stats are accurate. Or you can usually get the merchant to allow you to place a "test order". Have you been in contact with them at all up to this point?

[quantikev]

I did contact the merchant in the beginning of the campaign, regarding an outdated link sent to me in an automatic follow up email. This link did not match one found at their affiliate manager www.1shoppingcart.com. I recieved a quick reply within 1 day in which they stated having updated the links and provided me the new one.

My reports page at 1shoppingcart reports having had about 267 'clicks', opposed to Googles 242 clickthroughs out of 13,545 impressions (1.7%). Thus, at this point I believed it was accurately tracking.

I think I am going to switch one of my ads to a product at Amazon simply to check the results.

I am glad to read it seems like I've covered the basics, as in this case I will start researching some more campaigns!

Thanks again lynn;
Kevin

[Lynn Terry]

That sounds like a good idea. You may line up several related products to split test which your market responds best to.

Keep us posted if you get the opportunity!

[quantikev]