I’ve been using Google AdWords for several months now and I have to say the whole setup really is a work of genius on Google’s part. Its seemingly endless pages of charts, tables and numbers appeal to the geeks; the need for lexical simplicity and brevity appeals to the creatives; and the stats and feedback appeal to the analysts and bean counters. In creating a complex, infinitely configurable advertising tool that has many of the hallmarks of a strategy game, Google have pulled off a masterstroke.

In fact, so easy is it to get lost in the world of AdWords that you can quickly forget that it is essentially a business tool, and one that costs money – lots of money if you’re not careful. So based on my experience of the last few months, here are some essential tips for getting the most of out of Google AdWords.

1. Be Creative

The toughest stage of AdWords is one of the first – writing your ad. You have 95 characters (25-word title and two 35-word lines) to not only get your message across, but also to differentiate that message from your competitors’ ads. Throw Google’s strict policies on truth and honesty into the equation, and you have a real challenge on your hands, particularly if you don’t have a resident creative genius to call on!

However, with a little planning and research it shouldn’t be too difficult to come up with an attractive ad. Decide on what your real message is and keep it simple. Do a search using the keywords you want to use and look at your competitors’ ads. Think about your target audience and the language that will attract them. And finally, and this may sound a bit wacky, try reading and then writing a few haiku, the traditional Japanese poetic form in which writers have a mere 17 syllables to express themselves – it will help you trim the fat from your writing and concentrate on the meat.

2. Be relevant

Putting your keywords into your ad text is more likely to generate clicks. Why? Because searchers can see that your ad is relevant to their search. If I search for ‘tom waits tickets’, I will only click on those results that contain this search phrase and will consider results without this phrase to be irrelevant.

3. Think about your landing page

When you’re happy with the content of your ad, think about where it will take the user. Don’t just direct them to your homepage and expect them to find their own way to what they want – take them straight there. If I click on my ‘tom waits tickets’ ad and am taken to a generic homepage on which my chosen topic isn’t immediately visible, I’ll go elsewhere.

Also, make sure the content of the landing page matches the content of the ad. Your keywords should feature in the text, and also as metatags, to improve your quality score and your overall search ranking. If the content of your landing page doesn’t match the content of your ad, users will feel misled.

You should also ensure that your landing page isn’t a ‘dead end’, i.e. a page that people will look at once and then close or leave. Don’t include external links on the page – make sure users are guided to another page on your site or channeled to your sales, booking or feedback page.

4. Work geographically

When you first set up your Google ad, the temptation is to maximise your web hits by targeting a broad geographical sector. But think again – if you only operate in a particular country or region, there’s no point in your ad appearing to users elsewhere. I set up an ad for a hotel software product which we only sell in Southeast Asia, with a tight budget of $5 per day. Allowing the ad to appear to users outside SE Asia would mean my ad budget being eaten up by people with no interest in my product.

So look at where your target customers are and restrict your ad to those territories, to ensure your money is being spent wisely.

5. Don’t insist on being no.1

AdWords allows you to pay top dollar for your ad to be top of the pile. But is this really what you want? Chances are you’ll get a lot of clicks from indiscriminate, impatient surfers who just click on the top result without reading it first. Serious searchers will read every ad above the fold (i.e. positions 1-5); really serious searchers will read every ad on the page. So spend enough to ensure you’re on the first page, but no more.

6. Test, test, test

This is where your inner strategy game geek comes in. If you’ve played sports sims like the life-consuming Championship Manager, you’ll already know the benefits of testing different team formations, tactics, training routines and so on. And so you’ll probably get the hang of AdWords pretty quickly. Testing different keywords, ad copy, landing pages, landing page copy, ad scheduling, min/max CPC and so on will give you lots of different results and allow you to optimise every ad in every campaign.

One of the first ads I set up was a recruitment ad for our company. It generated a lot of clicks but I discovered that the landing page had a bounce rate (i.e. the number of visitors who visit a page and then leave immediately) of around 85%. I was using a landing page which gave general information about the benefits of working for the company but didn’t contain any actual vacancies. So I switched the landing page to one which simply listed every current vacancy we have, and within days the bounce rate had gone down to 60%!

7. Set goals

Every campaign, be it military, sporting or advertising, must have an ultimate goal by which the campaign’s success can be measured. If you run an e-commerce site then it’s easy to measure the ROI of AdWords, but if, like mine, your site is designed to increase brand awareness and display product information, it’s not so easy. Sure, AdWords will send your traffic sky-high but how do you know you’re getting your money’s worth?

The simple answer is to use Google Analytics’ Goal Conversion function, which allows you to define a specific page you wish people to visit or an action you wish them to complete – submitting a feedback form for example, or downloading a PDF or podcast. You’ll quickly find your conversion rate will become an obsession and lead to constant tweaking, tinkering and testing, all of which will ensure you get maximum return on your AdWords investment.

8. Try CPM ads

If you’re not convinced by CPC, try CPM advertising instead. Rather than set up lots of keywords, instead you choose sites from Google’s content networks on which you wish your ad to appear. If I’m selling bicycles in Bolivia for example, I’ll scour Google for Bolivian cycling and leisure websites and flag these sites in my CPM campaign – this is more secure than blindly using the Google Content Network as it allows me to personally vet each site on which my ad will be displayed.

9. Monitor results

Checking ad performance should, and will, become a daily habit for you once you get started with AdWords. Google’s tracking tools allow you to quickly identify under- or over-performing ads and take remedial action, and using the superb free Google Analytics service allows you to monitor the effect of your AdWords campaigns on your website.

10. CTR isn’t everything!

CTR – or click-through rate – is seen by many AdWords users as the only stat that counts. But don’t get too hung up on it. Remember, the higher the click-through rate, the higher your outlay. Sure, if you’re running an e-commerce site then clicks are your bread & butter, but if your site doesn’t actually sell anything and is designed more with brand awareness in mind, then a high number of above-the-fold impressions combined with a low CTR may be sufficient for you.

I hope you find these ten tips useful in running your own AdWords campaigns – and please let me know if you have any good advice of your own!

About the author:- Tim Russell is Marketing Director at TRG International, one of Vietnam's leading providers of IT business solutions and services. Originally from the UK, he has been in Vietnam since 2003. Prior to coming to Vietnam he spent over a decade in the tourism industry in both operations and marketing, before moving into IT where he helped set up a company providing reservations software for tour operators and travel agents. He lives in Ho Chi Minh City with wife Nhung and daughter Emilie.

• 3 comments »

Do you know what is the most important question among most internet marketers specially newbie's. It's "How to get highly targeted visitors to there site?" Believe me, I know it because I received this question from my subscribers almost daily.

Well, earlier when I started my internet business I also faced this problem. I tried safe-lists, I bought so called guaranteed visitors, even I blast my ad to 10 million (Yes, you are right. It's 10 million) sites but couldn't make a single sale.

Than I changed my strategies and get this problem solved by finding a right solution, and that is "Pay Per Click Advertising". Pay Per Click Advertising is a great solution for traffic worries which directs a highly targeted traffic to my site. Yesterday only I got around 280 visitors and I made 24 sales.

Pay-Per-Click is a simple type of paid advertising that most search engines, including some of the largest ones, now offer. It requires a bid for a "per-click" basis, which translates to your company paying the bid amount every time the search engine directs a visitor to your site. There is the added bonus that when a per-click site sends your website traffic, your site often appears in the results of other prevalent search engines.

As with all marketing campaigns, there are pros and cons. Where there are flowers there are thorns also. what you have to do is to protect yourself from thorns and let only the fragrance touch your inner sense. I am going to tell you advantages the Pay Per Click Advertising.

One of the greatest advantages of PPC is that you never have to tweak your web pages to change your position in search engine results, as you must do in a typical SEO campaign. What you do have to do in a pay-per-click campaign is pay a fee.

Another advantage is the simplicity of the pay-per-click process. You just bid and you're up and running. It doesn't demand any specific technical knowledge, though the more you know about search engines and keywords, the easier - and more effective - the process will be.

Now came the very point in your mind that what is bad about Pay Per Click Advertising. The downside is that PPC is essentially a bidding war. A higher bid than yours will lower your position on search engine results.

This means that you will have to raise your bid to regain your position - which can obviously become quite expensive, especially if you are bidding on a popular keyword.

In order to determine if pay-per-click is a cost effective form of marketing for your business, you must do some computing to figure out how much each visitor to your site is worth.

You can compute this value by dividing the profit you make on your website over a given period of time by the total number of visitors for that same time period.

For example, if your site made $5,000 in profits and there were 10000 hits, each visitor would be theoretically worth 50 cents. The basic formula is profits divided by visitors.

Be aware that the most popular keywords often cost considerably more than 50 cents a click. The only way around this is to bid less for these phrases or you will be paying too much for each individual hit.

Since when you are doing the business for earning money and you are losing a heavy part of it then you must have a plan in place to closely track the effectiveness of your keyword. It is advisable to monitor your keywords on at least a monthly basis.

The only way to assess your success in this field is monitoring, not only monitoring but careful monitoring. You can easily analyze it by visitor behavior which can produce invaluable knowledge about consumer motivation, habits, and trends. Expert monitoring and consumer analysis is essential to your overall business needs, and pay-per-click campaign is a must for this.

About the Author: Michael Biehn, SEO Consultant.
Affordable Search Engine Optimization Services.com
Professional And Affordable Search Engine Optimization Services Trought Natural Search Engines Results.

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With so many different vehicles to use when advertising online, Pay Per Clicks are definitely one of the most popular. There are mixed feelings about the topic....seasoned veterans in marketing will side with PPC's while others equally as successful will frown on it.

1. Use very specific words when bidding....

When you are selecting your words for your PPC options , it is ALWAYS best to be as specific as possible. You should never be "vague". If you choose words that are vague like "car", "television", "movies", etc., you will have wasted clicks that cost you money. The strategy is to be more specific, such as, "1997 Gray Chevy Malibu", 19 inch Panasonic HDTV", "Rocky IV", etc. You MUST be specific to get the most for your money!

2. Pick your PPC choice(s) focused.....

When you are choosing which PPC to use, obviously there are some things to consider. No matter who you go with, stay focused and don't get spread out. It's better to be focused on a fewer than semi-focused on many. Track everything and experiment with keywords minimally.

3. Don't overdraw yourself....

I know from my own experience that the drive to out bid your opponent is very strong and in some cases , it may be stronger than your ability to utilize your funds wisely. It is very important to stick within your budget. Sometimes the high priced words may NOT be what you need/want anyway so stick to your guns and don't overdraw your account by letting your emotions get the best of you.

4. Always track your ads, regardless of where or how you advertise

One of the great benefits about operating online is the ability and accessibility to track your ads. It is possible to track every single anything that happens and if you are not doing so , you should be. You can create free accounts that are adequate if necessary so don't exclude tracking for ANY reason.

Usually, if you experiment enough with PPC's, you will find them to be a solid advertising method. It is a personal choice so I recommend that you do whatever gets you the most targeted traffic. You can never have enough targeted traffic so utilize any method that fits into your budget.

So there are many things to consider with PPC's, those are just a few. Hope this was helpful to some. Take care and God Bless.

About the author:Craig Raphael / EsourceInfo.com,PO BOX 306,Manzanita, Oregon 97130
503-298-9633

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Don't you think it is fascinating that with so many Adsense publishers, all setting up hundreds of sites, they have absolutely no idea who their clients are? The first rule of setting up and maintaining a successful business is thorough knowledge of your client.

Let's flip the coin and look at it from another angle. Google does not pay you for clicks on your site; the Adwords advertiser is forking out the money for your checks. The reason why he advertises is to sell a product or service or to drive people to his site for a subscription or whatever reason. He is doing it to gain a business advantage.

The question here is: Are you giving him an advantage or are you just costing him money?

You have heard "˜Adsense is dead' or "˜there is not so much money to be made from Adsense as in the past'. Most Adsense publishers think they have to set up a few more sites which will make up for the lost income. Dead wrong.

The reason for the downward spiral in Adsense income originates from untargeted ads on web pages. Most people would love to place the blame at the doorstep of Google, but this is not the case. The problem lies with the publishing of thousands of websites solely intended to get clicks, thus optimized for the search engine and not giving a second thought to the advertiser from Adwords.

The result from the misuse of Adsense is obvious. In most of the current Adwords information products one of the first warnings you are given when placing adwords ads is to remove the link to advertise on the content network. The reason is simple; the ads appear on untargeted pages leading to untargeted customers. This is a waste of the advertiser's money and a direct loss of income for the Adsense publisher. All the serious Adwords advertisers are not advertising on the content network, which in turn leads to less competition. The cost per click on a content page is far less that the cost on a generic page search.

Adwords and Adsense will never die and is and will remain one of the top income earners for many internet marketers.

So what now? The answer lies in improved sites with quality content. Play with the search engine not against it. If you want to compete with a search engine start your own. Not impossible, Google did it and succeeded.

So what exactly is improved content?

The keywords you are optimizing for should relate to your web content and add value for the visitor. This does not mean you have to write one thousand word pages all on your own. One to two hundred words per page will be fine as long as it answers the question or part of the question that the visitor was searching for with the search term. From there on the page can lead to Adsense ads and a click on the link will be a targeted visitor for the advertiser.

You also do not need to write each page yourself, you can still use PLR content and articles for your sites just make sure that the main question that the visitor would have when searching for that term is answered and lead them further to more specific information through Adsense ads.

Can you imagine the joy on your face when receiving a five figure check from Adsense, and think of the joy you would place on the face of the Adwords advertiser also receiving a five figure payday?

Once you have your site set up correctly there are a few elements that you need to give attention to. The truth about Adsense placement is that there is a trick to it. For high CTR your ad placement must be highly optimized.

I have seen this myself in testing different Adsense placement methods. One placement for all does not work. On certain pages it would be higher up and on others it would be lower down.

It is all dependent on the content of the page and the question you should ask yourself is at which point in the content is the visitor the most likely to want more specific information. If you write your content yourself you should write it in such a way that you give information and then raise curiosity, and it is at that point where your ad should appear for the first time. By utilizing this method and keeping your content targeted you will receive many clicks and your Adwords advertiser will receive the targeted visitors he wants.

Are you beginning to see how important it is to get the content and your ads right Now, let me ask you this: Are you one of the Adsense publishers who are costing advertiser's money or are you one that actually help make advertisers money?

About the author: Karl Stadler, Now, I can almost hear your brain talking asking yourself what you can do to get your sites earning the best they can. Well there are some closely-guarded secrets you should know when placing and using Adsense to get you maximum profit. Go over to http://www.yourenterprize.com/adsense/adsense-secrets.htm

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Many people have started using Google's AdSense program, but there are some who find it a bit too uncertain or simply not suiting their own requirements from an ad program.

But thankfully for such people, there are many alternatives to AdSense which attempt to alleviate some of its shortcomings. Here is a list of the most noteworthy ones from the lot with a description concerning each one.

AllFeeds (http://www.allfeeds.com/?action=publishers) AllFeeds has a great pool of online advertisers to choose from. It also features many display formats that you can choose from. These include banners, buttons, XML feeds, DHTML pop-ups and so on. It also features real time reporting of your ad status. The site will mail a check every month, provided that you earn more then $25.00, while rolling over earnings for the next month if you don't. Another interesting thing about AllFeeds is that it integrates with Google AdSense, maximizing your earnings with AdSense.

MarketBanker (http://www.marketbanker.com/mb/sell.php) MarketBanker allows you the unique possiblity to set the pricing for your site. It also allows you to allow or reject any link that appears on your site (although AdSense itself does a very good job of this as well, with URL filters) There's also a statistics section which will allow you to see how well your site is doing. The ads are small just like AdSense's and they're just as easy to set up. Also, registration for MarketBanker is free.

BidClix ( http://www.bidclix.com/PubTop.html) BidClix is different because it has advertisers compete for clicks on your site, which in turn is meant to generate the highest possible profits for your page. It also has a very large pool of advertisers which ensure there are plenty of people to choose your site. However, it does require more polish on site contents then AdSense. As most sites, real time statistics are available and its very easy to get started with this service, but it's also very flexible.

Chitika (http://www.realcontext.com/index.php?option=RealContext:+Contextual+Targeting+Engine) RealContext uses Artificial intelligence to retrieve the most relevant ads for your page. And there's an extra feature which makes RealContext unique as well. Keywords are selected based upon which previous selections payed off and which didn't. That means there's a constant feedback process that ensures you gain better revenue from your ads. It also supports blocking certain adds and child-safe filtering and many more options.

AdHearus (http://adhearus.com/webmaster.php) AdHearus is a very feature-packed contextual ad provider. As with AdSense, advertisements are targeted but it doesn't stop here at all. The ads are very flexible, you can select from text-ads, banners, rectangles, pop-ups, pop-unders or skyscrapers. You can also display your own ads, through rotation, both on your site and on other affiliate sites, which makes AdHearus a hybrid with conventional advertising technologies. There's a very comprehensive on-line real time reporting feature and, as usual with such services, starting out is free and it's a breeze.

AffiliateSensor (http://www.affiliatesensor.com/) AffiliateSensor has highly customizable ad blocks, which you can make for yourself with an easy to use on-line interface. You also get realtime reporting with clicks-by-domain, page and refferer. There's integration with Google AdSense as well, through the google_alternate_ad_url so AffiliateSensor can be used as a substitute for Google PSA's (Public Service Ads).

Kanoodle Bright Ads (http://www.kanoodle.com/about/brightads.cool) Kanoodle's offering allows publishers to get ads related to topics or segments, and not the traditional keyword oriented ads. The site also groups publisher sites with advertisers by hand to ensure high-revenue generating ads. And speaking of revenue, the amount of money you receive is a clear 50% share of the amount of money Kanoodle recieves for an advertiser.

TargetPoint (http://publisher.targetpoint.com) TargetPoint is oriented more towards content publishers. It offers full control over the look the ads, statistics over your site's overall performance and better revenue. It's free to register and you earn a guaranteed 60% of the total revenue. You can get payed with Paypal of Bank checks and (most times) wire transfers as well.

Clicksor (http://www.clicksor.com) Clicksor will earn you as much as 60% from the amount of money your website produces. What you get is about the same as AdSense, there are targeted text ads, you can view the revenues from your website in real time. You can receive money via PayPal or through a check every two weeks, provided that you have earned more then $50. If you haven't made that much, your earning roll over to the next period

Bidvertiser (http://www.bidvertiser.com/) Like AdSense, Bidvertiser displays text ads in your page. But the difference lies in the fact that advertisers bid over your advertising space, ensuring you earn as much revenue as you possibly can. This also means that bids will increase over time, earning you even more cash. You also get a great way to customize your ads with a very easy to use tool and detailed reports on your site's status.

Quigo AdSonar (http://www.quigo.com/adsonarpublishers.htm) Quigo AdSonar achieves relevancy by placing a filter according to your site's categories. It also offers you on-line reports of your site's status and the possibility to add your own custom ads replacing ads that don't gain you any revenue. The setup is very simple, in a similar fashion to AdSense's and quite customizable as well.

Vibrant Media IntelliTXT (http://www.intellitxt.com/site/web_01a.html) Vibrant Media IntelliTXT offers user-activated ads, highlighting certain words within the content of the page and presenting relevant ads when a user hovers his mouse over them. It uses a pay-for-performance pricing scheme and can easily be used along with other advertising methods, because it is unobtrusive. It places you in full control, allowing you to easily integrate it within your site with some simple JavaScript.

Nixie (http://www.nixxie.com/display.php?section=Partners) Nixie claims to hold a technology that can read and understand your site, enabling it to display the most relevant content to your site. Besides text ads, Nixie also features price comparison listings as well as live auction advertising. It's very easy to implement and has a good payment policy as well.

MIVA AdRevenue Xpress (http://www.miva.com/us/content/partners/arx.asp) MIVA AdRevenue Xpress is targeted towards small and mid-sized publishers. It implements Search Box functionality and also features things like a Category Directory as well as the handling of 404 error pages. It can be integrated with your page using a simple on-line wizard.

Fastclick (http://www.fastclick.com/publish.html) Fastclick offers you an impressive 65 percent of what it makes from a click on your website. Payments are done monthly, via PayPal or through checks. The ads can be formatted as you wish, and Fastclick even offers a free support serice for its members and no fees are required to register with the service.

contextWeb ContextAd (http://www.contextweb.com/Corporate/publisher/publisher.shtml) ContextAd offers the possibility of contextual ads for dynamic pages, meaning ads will change as soon as your page does. It's very easy to use and free to sing up for and offers a transparent payment policy. The ads are fully customizable and real-time reports are available 24/7.

AdBrite (http://www.adbrite.com/) AdBrite offers publishers the possibility of integrating text ads in their pages. These are done on your own rates, with the websites you approve by hand so it bares some similarities with a classic advertising scheme. You also have the option of adding a "Your Add Here" button that buyers can immediately click to ad space on your page. It can also be used in conjunction with Google AdSense, maximizing your CTR and offering advertisers the possibility of showing their links in your Google AdSense space. You have full control over the look and feel of your adds and finally, you get an incredible 75% of what the advertiser pays for on every click.

So, as you can see there are many offers for this kind of advertising, and many hybrids based on AdSense like advertising. Also, a lot of services can work together with AdSense to earn you an even greater amount of revenue for your ad space.

You need to have optimized niche website templates for best results. You may find the best adsense templates and blog templates at www.AdsenseTemplates.com (http://www.adsensetemplates.com). They are offering 100 fresh new templates every month.

About the author: John Ugoshowa. For more information about affiliate marketing see the affiliate marketing section of The Free Ad Forum.

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A recent study has given new insight into how Google insiders write their own Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising. These ads are created by Google for large corporate advertisers who rely on Google employees to produce PPC ads for them. Knowing how the AdWords system works, leads these Google insiders to develop ads in a very special way. Because they can take advantage of secret processes and patented algorithms to produce PPC ads that work extremely well. Are these unique, insider methods available to all?

Employ Unique Ad Text

Google insiders know that PPC ad text should be special - customized to include the advertiser's UVP (Unique Value Proposition). What separates you, from your competition? Find the answer. Then put the essence of that, into your ad text.

Include Your Price in the Ad Text

Including price in ad text has a bunch of outstanding benefits. Here are two;

- it gives your prospect more information - as your competitors probably aren't doing it, and

- if your price is too high for an individual to consider, happily you'll have steered them away from clicking on your ad. This is a good thing - as they won't cost you money. Money that can be saved for someone who is willing to consider your price.

Use Keywords in the Headline

The Almighty Headline. It's is the most important element of any PPC ad. Google strongly recommends you always include the search keyword in the headline. And indeed, insiders do this in their own ads.

A headline's primary purpose is to attract your prospect's attention. And it will do this much better with the keyword in the headline. Because that keyword will appear bold on your prospect's screen.

Your headline's second job is to boost the ad's Google Quality Score. According to Google; "Quality Score is the basis for measuring the quality and relevance of your ads and determining your minimum CPC bid for Google and the search network. This score is determined by your keyword's clickthrough rate (CTR) on Google, and the relevance of your ad text, keyword, and landing page."

Including the search keyword in the headline means you'll need to create a number of tailored ads. Each should have only a very small number of keywords. No problem – as a gift from the Google Gods, their Campaign Management screen makes it easy for you.

Use Negative Keywords

We tell our children not to be negative - it's just not nice. But make an exception for yourself, because in the world of Google, Negative Keywords are absolutely critical to your success.

According to Google; "A negative keyword is a special kind of keyword matching option that allows you to prevent your ad from appearing when the specific terms are a part of the user's search." Google insiders make extensive use of negative keywords. So should you.

Include Keywords in the Ad Text

Search keywords in ad text will be displayed in bold. This attracts greater attention – an outstanding free bonus. What's more, they'll further increase your ad's Quality Score. And always use proper spelling & grammar and in your PPC ads; Google is picky about this.

Have a Strong Call to Action

Google insiders love to do this, because it works. In your ad text, make sure you tell your prospect what action you want them to take. Use dynamic marketing language to entice your prospects to take the next step has real benefits. But what does dynamic marketing language mean?

In a nutshell, it means grabbing your prospect by the eyeballs and dragging him into your ad. Then telling him what to do.

According to Google; "Your ad should convey a call-to-action along with the benefits of your product or service. A call-to-action encourages users to click on your ad and ensures they understand exactly what you expect them to do when they reach your landing page. Some call-to-action phrases are; 'Buy, Sell, Order, Browse, Sign up, and Get a Quote.' "

Produce at Least Two Ad Variations

Many advertisers create a single ad and run with it. Are they insane?

You should always be split-testing your ads (have a slight variation in your ads, which then automatically alternate so you can see which variation is working better). Google put the Ad Variation function there for a reason. Best of all, it's so easy – it would be a crime not to take advantage.

Enter Keywords in the 'Displayed' Web Address

Keywords in the displayed web address will increase each ad's Quality Score. Use a subdomain or subdirectory in your site structure to allow this. I strongly recommend this technique, and have produced a free, 7 minute online streaming video to show you how to do it - and why. Visit www.BetterClix.com and select 'PPC Tips on Video' to watch.

Link the Ad to a Specific Page on Your Site

Ensure your prospect is delivered to the specific page on your site associated with the product or service in the ad. If you don't, and instead rely on her to search for info on your site, you may as well kiss her (and your money) goodbye. This also hurts your Quality Score, as Google is now measuring how long someone stays at your site, once they arrive.

If you're not using every single one of these insider methods, start today. Because you can be sure it won't be long before your sharper competitors will be.

About the author: Roger Hall of BetterClix.com develops programs and pay-per-click ads to help you succeed in your business. Find out more today how to create Pay-Per-Click ads that work, with his popular FREE PPC Tips for advertisers. Available at: => http://www.betterclix.com/adwordsmyths.html

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One of the most serious issues that online marketers face is click fraud. A recent issue of Newsweek (Oct 6, 2006) contains an article on click fraud which has cast some doubt on the many pay per click services that are offered on the Internet today.

Pay-per-click advertising allows marketers to gain website exposure by paying only when someone clicks on their ad or search result. Search engines such as Google let advertisers place bids for placement of paid links or ads. These links will then appear when certain keyword searches are done.

Click fraud is getting to be so pervasive that search engines such as Google have created teams specific to combating click fraud. Since 95 percent of Googles profits are derived from advertising it is important that they keep their customers happy, so Google offers refunds to advertisers when click fraud has been discovered.

Click fraud involving human operators can be much more difficult to detect. This type of fraud involves many people clicking on ads from different computers across the country. This does not provide any type of pattern that can be analyzed. The India Times reported that people are being hired to click paid links from home allowing them to make up to $200 a month.

What an impact click fraud could have in the future on pay for click advertising since it's estimated that up to 15% of all clicks are fake. It's also estimated that up to 500 million dollars of advertising expenses are being wasted due to the click fraud industry.

What should you look for in a "guaranteed click" service?

1. If they claim to be able to send 20,000 hits to your website, then find out where these hits are coming from.

2. Do they allow sites with pop-ups? If they do not then it may be because they are using an automated click system that does not work on sites with pop-ups.

3. Monitor your site to determine if the clicks that you paid for are coming from unique visitors and not from one machine clicking your site 20,000 times.

4. Make sure you know the conversion rate for your site. You should be making one sale per so many clicks.

5. Check the Better Business Bureau for complaints. You can also Google the company you are thinking of buying your clicks from and search for any online complaints.

6. If you think you are being cheated then contact the company and request a refund. If you do not get it, then file a complaint with the BBB or threaten to.

There are three methods of click fraud.

1. The most common method is the use of online software that is programmed to click on links that are found on websites or that may be listed in search engine results.

2. Another method that is becoming more common is to employ low cost workers from third world countries to click on test links and classified ads.

3. One source of fraud can be much closer to home. This happens when company employees click on their rivals ads to deplete they’re marketing budgets and skew their search results. Eventually, such bogus clicks can add up and dry up a competitors budget.

Paying for traffic to your website may seem like a good idea when you are not experiencing much success, but this is when most people become vulnerable to click fraud. You may want to consider these four tips before handing over your credit card.

1. Make sure you take plenty of time to consider and research the credibility of any offers. Sleep on it.

2. Developing traffic to your website takes time and persistence. Traffic can be found in many different ways, and for free or low cost. Quick fixes do not usually work.

3. Get recommendations from reliable sources on what methods work and what does not. Visit marketing forums.

4. Keep in mind that when you come across a sales page for paid for clicks that they are designed to sell you, whether their service really works or not.

Everyone wants to get more traffic to their website whether it is to increase sales, memberships, or subscriptions. Just remember not to be in a hurry to spend your money, and just be a lot more careful.

About the author: Joe Rispoli,Through years of research Joe Rispoli has put together the most relevant of free advertising resources to get you started on the right path to accomplishing your online marketing goals. Before wasting your money on guaranteed click services visit his site, UcanTo.com for online marketing information such as safelists, free classified advertising, traffic exchange programs, and much more

Copyright 2006 Joe Rispoli

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If you are a google adsense publisher you must have came across with the problem of getting irrelevant or off-targeted ads on your sites. What are the reasons for getting irrelevant ads? How can you stop them from appearing on your sites? Read On and you will find these questions answered.

Reasons for getting irrelevant Ads:

*Lack of content
You all Know that google adsense ads are contextual.Hence keyword rich content is a must to get well targeted ads.If your site has less content that can be one of the reasons why you are getting off-targeted ads and/or PSAs.

*Sensitive Keywords
Sometimes webmaster have to compromise on including keywords which are not related to your niche in their site's content.If these sensitive keywords happens to fall under the category of high paying ones you will see ads related to them on your site instead of getting ads related to the topic of your site.Some webmasters would think that they will benefit from these ads since they have a higher EPC but this is not the case,Since these ads are irrelevant to your site's content your visitors will not be interested in clicking on them.

*poor advertising strategies by advertisers
This is something which not under the control of the publishers.It is found that some advertisers uses generic keywords to bid upon in their advertising campaigns instead of using specific keywords.This results in serving off-targeted ads to a publisher's site.This is neither going to help the advertiser since it will reduce the sales and their ROI.

*Geo-targeting
Geo-targeting in the google adsense is another reason why we sometimes gets off-targeted ads.Some Geo-targeted ads doesn't consider about the site's topic and considers only about the geographic location from where the visitor is.

*comment spamming
This can be another reason for getting off-targeted ads.This happens mainly in blogs.sometimes adsense media bot picks up the sensitive keywords that may be there in the spam comments and serves ads which are related to them and thereby resulting in irrelevant ads for the site.

Possible solutions for Off-targeted ads:

*Keyword rich content.
Each system will have its on methods of getting ads relevant.In google adsense it is more dependent on what you write about than anything else. So having more content with keywords related to your sites niche can help you in getting more relevant ads.
Content without keywords or with sensitive keywords won't help you.

*Use of section targeting
You can use Section targeting to emphasise those part of your content to which your ads to be related.You can read about section targeting here
Make sure to have significant amount of content between your section targeting tags else you will end up with irrelevant ads again.Also note that section targeting can take up to 2 weeks to take effect.
Also be warned about using this feature to emphasise irrelevant content as it might go against the google adsense program policies.

*Section targeting with "weight ignore"
You can use this to mask the your content with sensitive keywords from adsense media bot.Locate the part of your content with sensitive keywords and enclose it between section targeting with weight ignore tags.

*make sure that your site's topic is reflected more from your page titles,headers,meta tags,Image ALT parameter and from your content instead of from graphics and images that appear on your sites.

*Use your keywords in your page titles,headers and the words near to where the ads are going to appear.

*Don't use generic names as your page file names.For example,if your page is about "Making money with adsense" you can name the file as "making-money-with-adsense.html" or something like that.

*Use Competitive ad filter
You can always use competitive ad filter to block unwanted ads from appearing on your sites.Make sure to use it in a wise manner because a deliberate filtering can affect your EPC.

If you are an adsense publisher it will be worth taking a look at this List of Common Adsense Mistakes.

About the author:Sushith Mundayadan,Publisher of Tips To Run A Money Making Website Or Blog has a wealth of experince in online money making. The content in this article was developed from his experience in these businesses and his continual research into further business improvements.

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On Friday, July 15th all Google advertisers got the email message entitled “Google AdWords(TM) Announcement: Keyword Evaluation Changes”. Now, I don’t know about you, but whenever I get a message from Google concerning Adwords, everything else seems to take a backseat.

So we’ve decided to give you a heads up on what you can be expecting in the future, how you can expect these new changes to effect your advertising efforts, and what you should be doing to make sure that you can compete after they’ve been implemented.

First, here is a brief summary of the changes so you understand what exactly is going on:

1.Keywords will simply be active or inactive, instead of Normal, in trial, on hold, disabled.

2.There will be a minimum bid for each of your keywords based on the keyword’s Quality Score which, in turn, will be based on your ad’s click-through rate. The higher-relevant, more targeted, ads will have higher Quality Scores and lower minimum bid amounts. The less-relevant and less-targeted keywords and ads will have higher minimum bids. Now the difference from Google’s old way of doing things is that you can now activate your keywords no matter what. Before, it was up to Google. They would simply place your keywords on hold, and you didn’t have a choice, but try to optimize your ad. Now, you can get that keyword to run, regardless of its quality score…but you’ll have to pay a much higher price per click.

What does all of this mean for the advertiser? Well, it means a few things, and it would be foolish to say that these changes were all good. They are definitely all good for Google, and that is to be expected.

1.Google says that they believe these changes will result in higher-quality ads. Maybe this is true, and maybe it’s not. What is true is that the educated advertisers will save money under the new rules. People that know how to group ads and get higher CTR’s will have to pay less for the same ad rank as those advertisers that do not know such techniques. That’s a good thing for small advertisers who spend time organizing their Adword accounts.

2.But… on the flip side, it also means that big advertisers with big budgets can now come in and write ineffective ads and get good placement. Notice above, we didn’t say that this change was all necessarily good for small advertisers. What is true is that small advertisers will have to become more educated to compete. Big advertisers care about branding. They want to have the number 1 ad slot, and most of the time, they don’t really care what it costs. Now, in the old days, if their ad wasn’t getting clicks, the ad simply wouldn’t get shown (good for the small advertiser). But now, they can just pay more to have their ad shown. This was a good move by Google to get a lot more money in their pocket.

3.Conversion rate becomes the key. If your site converts, you can afford to pay more per click, in turn, you can compete. If your site doesn’t convert, you’ll be eliminated by the big advertisers and/or the smart advertisers. That’s the bottom line. The first step is not getting the traffic to your site like so many teach. But conversely, it’s getting your site in a position to support the clicks.

Here are 3 action steps you can work on to make sure that you will be competing in the Adwords game for some time to come. We realize that each of these steps can be broken down into months of work, but don’t let yourself get caught up in too many details. Just focus on these three things before you start getting too in depth with changing your Adwords accounts around, give each of them a quick rehaul, and make sure you know your numbers.

1.You need to get educated and learn the system. Grouping keywords, writing good ads, keyword selection, it’s all equally important and will play a large role in the future of your Adwords campaign.

2.You’ll also need to get your site converting well enough to support these clicks. Otherwise you’ll lose money very quickly. The formula is [number of sales made / visitors to your site]. On the internet you should realistically be aiming for about 1%.

3.Finally, you need to determine the visitor value of your site. This will tell you how much you can afford to bid on clicks. The formula is [dollars made by your site / visitors to your site]. Plan on bidding about 50% of your site’s visitor value.

So, in summary, if you want to compete in the Adwords marketplace in the future, you need to take action, actively monitor your account, and know your numbers. Your goal is to run a profitable business. If you focus on the three action steps above you’ll know your place in the market, you’ll be ready to compete, and you’ll make money using the new Adwords system.

About the Author: John Rooney and David Nevogt are well known ebook authors that focus on internet-based niche selling. If you have a website that is not performing or you want to learn how to frame a profitable business around an online product, subscribe to the newsletter at http://www.ebooksaleskit.com

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Very often big business houses fight about the quality of their products in advertising media. It is a sign of bitter competition and these fights are settled somehow in or out of the court. On the Internet, where detection is difficult due to it being a virtual medium, the competition takes a different pitch. Here the competition is killed by fraudulent means.

Internet has always been a thriving place for fraudsters, for instance, dubious websites pretending to be the legal websites of other businesses or organizations, extracting personal details like credit card data of online users only to siphon off money from their accounts. The reason for such proliferation of fraudsters is the masked protection offered by the medium itself.

In PPC advertising, frauds happen in the form of unknown individuals or groups clicking the advertisement with no intention of buying the services, only to deplete the account of the advertiser. The malicious intention is to kill the competition by depleting the advertisement budget, thereby making the businesses removed from the advertising space. It is estimated that 20% of all clicks are fraudulent.

Just who is involved in these frauds? Sometimes it could be some strange individual clicking at an advertisement for unknown reasons. The reasons could be behavioral anomalies, just like addictive shoplifting, a complete dissatisfaction of the products leading to take such action, etc. The above case would be rare and the effect minimal. The effect would be disastrous when it is organized.

A big business with a huge advertisement budget may organize this crime by hiring people (IndiaTimes, a daily in India, reported about this in an article) or with the help of software, just to click at the advertisements of the competitor in order to remove it from the host site. It could also be the service provider who is doing the same to generate revenues. In any case, the victim is severely drained of the resources without the energy or a way to fight back.

What are the mitigation strategies? The host sites provide unique IP tracking software that would detect multiple clicks from the same IP and therefore not deduct money from the account. At the individual or business level, it is advised to track the budget and if the account is depleted suddenly by a huge amount without any sales being realized, to take up the matter with the host, to get a refund, and to keep mining the log files of the server for the purpose of identifying multiple clicks. When it is not possible for businesses to do it by themselves, specialized services are available who keep track of clicks, report to the websites and get refunds. Software is available that sends a warning message to the IP address from whence the fraudster is working.

About the author: Marcus Peterson PPC Advertising provides detailed information about PPC advertising, optimized PPC advertising and more. PPC Advertising is affiliated with Cheap Internet Web Hosting.

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If you have just set up a website one of the first questions you will ask is “how do I get traffic to my site?”. There are a number of methods of accomplishing this. If you are knowledgeable about search engine optimization (SEO) you can optimize your webpages for certain keywords and get lots of links to your site. Then all you have to do is wait (for months/years!) and you will receive free traffic. You can also try things like posting in forums with a signature, advertising on free classifieds sites and writing articles to submit to directories. All of these methods can generate free traffic, some more than others.

However, if you don't want to wait and need large amounts of traffic, you can buy it. This means submitting ads to search engines such as Google (the biggest search engine in terms of traffic), ads that link to your website. Your ads only show up when people type in the search phrases that you have selected into Google. You pay Google each time someone clicks on your ad. Google's paid search advertising program is called Adwords. From this short description the main pros and cons of Adwords are apparent:

Pros:

1. Immediate traffic: You can start getting visitors to your site within minutes.

2. Lots of traffic: You can send thousands of people per day to your site with Adwords.

3. Targeted traffic: You select exactly which keyword phrases will trigger your ads, therefore you only show your ads to qualified visitors. Thus the people coming to your site are looking for exactly what you have to offer.

4. Geographical targeting: You can choose to show your ads only in specific countries, states or towns.

There are also some less apparent benefits of using Adwords to drive traffic:

1. Flexibility: If you have SEOed a webpage for certain keywords its not so simply to change. With Adwords you can change keywords, ads and landing pages instantly.

2. Optimization: Adwords makes it easy to split test ads, monitor campaign and individual keyword performance, and make unlimited instant adjustments to all parameters.

3. Fine tuning: Its easy to do things like send people to different webpages based on their search phrase, make separate bids for every keyword phrase, exclude specific words from search phrases and choose exactly when you want your ads to be showing.

These pros combined together give the major benefit of adwords: Profitability - Its possible to make a 100% (or more) return on your Adwords spend.

Cons:

1. Cost: Adwords isn't free. I spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on Adwords.

2. Complexity: The features that make it powerful and useful also mean that it takes a while to learn to use effectively.

These 2 cons combined mean that you have to be careful using Adwords. Many people have lost hundreds or even thousands of dollars using adwords without a proper understanding.

There are other problems with Adwords such as being at the mercy of instant rule changes by the search engines and competition from other advertisers, but these disadvantages are shared with SEO, the most effective source of free traffic.

In summary Adwords is a very effective tool for driving traffic to your website provided you have the time and motivation to learn its complexities.

About the author: Paul Bush is currently making over $20,000 per month using Adwords and other paid search programs. A guide to using Adwords for making money from online affiliate marketing is available at http://BeginPPC.com

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Google AdWords ads connect you with new customers at the precise moment when they're looking for your products or services. According to Google, the Google Network reaches more than 80% of Internet users.

With Google AdWords you create your own ads, choose keywords to help match your ads to your target audience and pay only when someone clicks on them… this is what is referred to as “pay-per-click” advertising.

Google AdWords is a perfect way to advertise, if done correctly. Many companies waste hundreds or thousands of dollars every month on “unwanted clicks” that are not truly generating “targeted clicks” for their business.

If setup correctly, Google AdWords can be a great resource to reach hundreds or possibly thousands of users looking for your exact product or service, which will lead to increased sales. The key word here is “exact”. I have found that through my experience of setting up Google AdWords campaigns for my clients, the best successes have been generated by the campaigns that use very specific keywords rather than generic or broad keywords when describing a product or service.

Also, it is very important to analyze if your product is local, national or global. Google AdWords allow you to only have your ads displayed for your selected areas. You can specify a single state, and entire country, multiple countries, or the entire Internet world; it’s completely up to you.

Let’s take an example to help paint the picture of what not to do. Say you were a real estate agent that sold commercial real estate only in New Jersey. If you purchased keywords like “real estate” and had them displayed throughout the US, then those would lead to what I refer to as “unwanted clicks”, causing you to pay for unnecessary visits to your site.

What should be done is this; first, the keyword “real estate” is too generic and does not specifically describe your service of selling “commercial” real estate. Secondly, you should only have your ads displayed for New Jersey Internet users only since this is the only state in which you sell commercial real estate. A much better version of this would be to purchase a keyword like “commercial real estate” and setup your ads to only display in New Jersey, hence leading to targeted clicks.

Does this make sense? The overall goal of Google AdWords is to direct “targeted clicks” to your website and that is how you should look at it 100% of the time. The goal should not be to acquire as many visits to your site as possible but instead, to acquire the best quality of targeted clicks. As I stated before, Google AdWords is pay-per-click advertising so you should only focus on having keywords that will direct “targeted clicks” to your site, this way you pay for these clicks and not the “unwanted clicks”.

If done incorrectly, Google AdWords can cause you to unnecessarily spend precious marketing dollars. But if done correctly, Google AdWords can allow you to open your doors to a whole new means of selling your products and services online.

Google AdWords is a must have in your arsenal of advertising campaigns. So be sure to focus on your product and service and fully analyze what your target audience will be searching for on the Internet. This is what should be your list of keywords…. It’s that simple!

I wish you all the best of luck advertising your products and services.

Go get the sale!

Click here to automated your Google and Yahoo Sitemaps today.

About the author: Hudson Horizons is an e-business product, solution and marketing company specializing in creating highly sophisticated customized websites, web-based software applications and providing e-marketing services for small and mid-sized businesses. Our vision and ultimate ambition as a company is to always strive to be "The New Light for e-Business." By offering new, innovative and extremely competitive products and solutions to our customers, we provide better ways to run and operate their business online.

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There are many ideas springing up concerning what AdSense will look like in the future and how the system will change as opposed to what it is now.

First of all, it is clear that targeting algorithms will become even better and more powerful then they are now. This has clearly been seen with the Google search engine itself over the last few years and it should be of no surprise as this happens with AdSense. Advertisers will appear in more appropriate results and those advertisers who manipulate their content to allow high paying keywords to appear may struggle to do this unless it is actually appropriate to their content.

Another thing which is bound to happen is more protection for AdWords advertisers concerning click fraud. Google acknowledges this to be a very key issue that it needs to address as quickly as possible and there is no doubt it will happen as fast as possible. At the moment those who have high levels of traffic, can easily disguise IP addresses and increase CTR ( Click Through Rate).

Google is always keen on improving its products and this has been seen before in AdSense. The search engine company has introduced site-targeted AdSense CPM, "smart pricing" and domain blocking and there will probably be improvements that have already been added by other similar sites.

One such example is the option for the advertiser to have more control over where the content is being displayed. This could mean blocking your site from displaying on several addresses that host AdSense banners.

Another idea that has been advanced is that Google will integrate AdSense in other forms of media like newspapers or television and so on. While this might seem to be more on the science-fiction side of the facts there's no indication that this might not happen.

Google have access to an international array of over 150,000 advertisers of whom may choose to penetrate offline markets in different countries. Google has a strong network of advertisers and they may choose to appoint or allow offline distributors to create a format for Adwords advertising in content, in search and now offline.

More options could be implemented for AdSense publishers, allowing them to specify keywords of their own. While Google has been reluctant of this there is no indication that this will not happen in the future.

Also, many people are demanding a clear specification of the pricing policy of AdSense. Google has given no indication of why this is not public information but at this moment it seems highly unlikely that such information will ever be present on Google AdSense.

Another feature that could find itself into AdSense would be letting website publishers see which links are generating clicks on their website and based on what keywords they arrive there.

This could end up being a major issue that could threaten the entire system as it could perhaps encourage more adsense only websites as profits become more transparent. Many people may make AdSense only sites, designed just for making profits through AdSense.

While this is already happening today, it might be foolish of Google to put such tools in the hands of its publishers.

However, one thing that could happen is a way for users to fix their issues with low AdSense generated income on their site. This could be done through an on-line wizard or something similar that would make suggestions to website owners based on their contents.

But the major buzz word of the day is RSS. The possibility of sending targeted ads directly to users without requiring any navigation on their behalf is becoming a reality with RSS. And there are clear signs that Google isn't going to let such an opportunity pass by.

This is what "interactive television" and similar items have been trying to do for quite some time now. But the Internet would be a much better medium for this, because there are no mediums quite as interactive as the Internet.

But in the end, this is mostly speculation and we are bound to have Google surprising us with new features we would have never thought of.

You need to have optimized niche website templates for best results. You may find the best adsense templates and blog templates at AdsenseTemplates.com (They are offering 100 fresh new templates every month.

About the author: Carl Hoffman is a retired Army Sergeant Major who has over 20 years of sales and marketing experience. He has many online ventures and author of many articles on sales, leadership and marketing.

Looking for a online business or building upon an existing one visit him at: http://www.CEHoffman.com

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Making money with Adsense is all the rage now. And there are so many different ways to make money from Adsense But no matter what type of website you have, you must be displaying the Google ads, getting traffic and traffic that clicks on your ads to make any money.

So to help you along your way, here is a method you've probably not tried and most people probably won't as it does take effort and time. This will make it easier for you to be successful with it.

You see, most people seem to want to keep switching from automatic software generators to bombs to portal sites to directory listing sites, which is fine, but the best way is to stick to creating unique content that's informative and of high quality.

This method is not the only way to make money with Adsense, jeez there are probably hundreds and hundreds and lots that we all have not even thought of yet. But as I said before I really feel that this is the best method for long term success, simply because it's been working well in different ways since I began Internet marketing a while ago.

What you need to do is create a site that has thousands and thousands of pages of content on all sorts of subjects and then you get your traffic for free via organic search engine searches, which is all well and good if you want to wait awhile, but this article is all about making money quickly.

Every page on your site should have an adsense box on it and that is how you will make your money.

Now, trying to write thousands of pages of content yourself before making any money would be difficult, you'd lose interest very very quickly and even if you tried to buy that much content would be lunacy.

Plus to build a publish a website with that much content would alert the search engines who would think you are spamming them.

I've always preferred to make money constantly even if the project is only half done or in progress. I find it gives me incentive to keep going.

So this is how you need to approach it.

1. Register a catchy domain name, something like fiveminuteguides.com or learnitnow.com

2. Start writing little 500 to 750 word action plans or checklist on all sorts of topics such as your favorite hobbies and other interesting topics.

3. Publish your website with your articles and remember to add your Adsense boxes, one in the middle and one of the right hand side.

4. So you've published your site up, you have a page up on a certain topic that had a fairly high search rate and Adsense payout rate, now what? How do you make money with this page.

Write articles! For every one fly fishing type checklist write 10 to 20 articles on all sorts of subjects to do with your topic.

But how do you get people from reading your article to going to your website?

Well, not only would you mention your site within your article, (slip it in humbly) you also have your article byline you can use for that purpose.

For example

"For a complete checklist for your first fly fishing trip visit blah.com"

or

"For a complete step by step checklist for catching large Trout visit blah.com"

So not only will you make money instantly from your website, you will also build tons of quality content over time and you will have hundreds maybe even thousands of articles all over the Internet working for you around the clock and your site will do a heck of a lot better in the search engines due to all the incoming links!

This is a very rough outline, but you smart people out there will be able to run with it and add new ideas I haven’t even thought of. This is one of those money machines that will make you money on demand pretty much for the life of the Internet.

About the author: Justin Bryce runs a number of websites for Internet Marketing. If you want to save time writing articles or just grab private label articles go to www.nicheprivatelabelarticles.com Plus you can check out Jeff Paul , Jim Fleck , Mal Emery (www.lazy-internet-marketing.com)and other top internet marketers.

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Google AdWords Strategies & Tips contains the techniques, information and secrets for building a highly-effective campaign that minimizes your costs. Increase your click through rates (CTR), keep your costs reasonable and outsmart your competitors by taking advantage of the tips and strategies that we have learned by running AdWords campaigns for many of our clients.

A cost effective way to advertise has great flexibility on the part of the advertiser, he/she can make it running in minutes and can change ads whenever feels doing it after tracking the response of the visitors and the conversion rate. However testing keywords and ads to improve the conversion rate is a never ending process and one has to be very selective and alert in choosing the right ‘keywords’. You can be running an ad campaign at Google in minutes! Well to make your ad word campaign successful and worth spending I present some keen facts and suggestions to be considered while developing ad word advertisements.

You should be very specific while choosing your keywords in the ads because being general in advertisements will bring traffic to your site but not many actual buyers in other words the conversion rate will be very less or your return on investment will be less.

Target the right audience by selecting the language and countries that you want to target. For example, I exclude all countries where English is not understood by a large percentage of the population.

Always link to correct pages for example if you are advertising a particular product then link to the page in particular that is selling that product and not to the site’s homepage. User will never like much browsing and will ultimately leave for your competitor if isn’t able to find the desired information. So link to particular pages.

Track The Return-On-Investment Of Each Ad oogle tracks the click through ratio of each ad. But it doesn't track the conversion ratio.

Use a special tracking link in each ad to track its conversion ratio. For example, you could attach each ad with an affiliate tracking system link. Make sure each ad produces a return-on-investment.
Offer the benefits that your product will give the consumer because many times users are looking for those benefits and will be induced to your site. For example learn free, earn at home, become an expert, lose weight etc. Try to include such benefits in the ads and see the results soar.

Include Targeted Keywords In Your Ad Include the targeted keywords in the headline and the description of the ad. Google will highlight searched keywords in bold in the ad.

Record the return on investment of each ad to keep your expenses in your pre decided budget and update or change low ROT ads simultaneously. ROI is the base for which you are planning ads and it should not be under looked. Google offers the stats free for the ad words, hence you can use it and calculate the ROI and act accordingly.

Google Strategies:

Significantly improve the position of ads in your Google AdWords Select campaign

Pay less by finding clever, inexpensive new keywords to use

Save hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars on your overall AdWords campaigns

Maximize your CTR Click Through Rate for your AdWords Select campaign

Ensure that you don't get penalized by Google for ineffective, poorly-performing initial ads (this could affect
your ranking for future AdWords placements for months or even years!)

Calculate the ROI for your campaign (using the included Microsoft Excel ROI calculator spreadsheet)

Determine what your optimal daily spend should be for your campaign

Optimize your keyword selection through a variety of techniques

Remove common words, such as "a, an, in, on, it, of, etc." Remove every word that does not absolutely need to be in the ad.

Make every word count

Remember that advertising is a never-ending series of tests. Always track your ads. Never stop testing different keywords and ads to improve your conversion ratio and lower your customer acquisition cost.

About the Author: Samuel Colon, Online Business Man, the owner of http://www.realmoneysolution.com, your online resource to make money at home. If you are searching for a business opportunity so you can work from home, or an online home based job or idea that can help you change your career or generate extra income. Let us help you. We have compiled a comprehensive list of opportunities and ideas for you to investigate.

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Lately many of my customers have been asking me this question: "Which program is better? Adsense or Yahoo Publisher?" It sounds simple, but the answer is not. The reason being is that both programs work well, but both also have different places when considering whether or not to use them for a specific website. Here's why. Adsense has been around for a while now, and at the moment has the lion's share of the market in the PPC (Pay Per Click) game. But anyone who has been promoting them on their websites will tell you that the payouts have also gotten gradually smaller as time has gone on. Why? Well it's easy, they are still the best game in town, so they aren't worried about losing their publishers to another PPC. But then came Yahoo Publisher. Which unless you've been living under a rock for the past ten years, you already know the name, and know how big that company is. And with the purchase of Overture, Yahoo is coming into the game well equipped and ready for a fight. So, what's the difference between the two? Here is what I've been able to learn from my own websites. Yahoo, overall, is paying more per click then Adsense. But before you jump from this article and start changing your code, read on a bit more. Yahoo Publisher seems to be paying more then Adsense on similar content, BUT... Their ads are not nearly as contextually targeted as Adsense. So this can present a problem for website owners. For example, if you have a website that it's primary topic is 'HOME MORTGAGES', Adsense will display ads that only link to mortgage sites. But that's not true with Yahoo Publisher. Yahoo Publisher might display some mortgage ads, but also might display a Payday Loan ad (BTW if you need a payday loan, check out this page http://www.thegiftedone.com ), Vonage ads (Vonage must pay them some big money, as they seem to be the default when the script doesn't know what to do), or some other ad that does not relate to the content of your website. How do you choose which program is right for your site? This depends on the site itself and the type of surfers that frequent it. If you have a site that is highly targeted for a certain keyword, then I would suggest you stay with Adsense. This will keep the ads focused and targeted to your customers, presenting them with content that they will click. If they came to read about cooking recipes, they probably won’t click the Vonage ad. Here’s an example of a content targeted website: http://voip.magicanswers.com However, if your site is more of a surfer hangout, where people go when they are bored, or if your site covers a multitude of topics, then you might be better off loading it up with Yahoo Publisher ads. This type of surfer is more likely to click an ad that’s off topic, which in turn would pay you better. At this point what it comes down to is the click thru ratio. If monitored closely, you can determine what your surfers like and what they don’t like. What they click and what they don’t click. If one program is not performing well for you, then try the other. I’m sure that as time goes on, Yahoo Publisher will become more targeted, and surely will be more competitive. With Google’s Adsense as an adversary they have quite a fight on their hands. My advice to you is this. If you have one website, then optimize your PPC links for YOUR website surfers. If you have many, optimize each site accordingly, but do take the time to test each program. Find out which one will pay you more. Whether you own a giant corporation with hundreds of websites, or a home based business branching out to the internet, the bottom line is always the bottom line. Which comes down to the paycheck. A simple test might lead you to more money, which is always the goal.
About the Author: Chuck Crawford is an established expert in web design, traffic development and website financial analysis. He has been helping people design and develop their internet business since 1996. This article may be reprinted freely as long as all links remain active. http://www.affiliatewebsitedesign.com http://www.magicanswers.com http://www.thegiftedone.com

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One of the most common questions asked on forums and discussion lists concerning Google Adwords is should content network be turned on or left off? Here is what has worked well for me and others.

Content network on or off?

Will it help you make more money or are you just throwing your hard earned advertising dollars down the Google tubes?

Many of the gurus tell you test, test, test! And while that is true, I am not going to leave you hanging there.

Here is a solid plan for implementing Google Adwords content network.

1. Always start with it turned off. You need to be careful because the default when you start a campaign is on. So go into your "edit campaign settings" and un-tick content network. This is really important because if you start a campaign today and are bidding $1 per click on the search network...you are automatically bidding $1 per click on the content network. Many Adwords advertisers, myself included have lost hundreds by mistake on the content network. So again, turn it off!

2. After you have a campaign running profitably on the search network, meaning that you have the right keywords and a landing page that is converting to your satisfaction, then and only then will you test the content network.

3. So, go back into your "edit campaign settings" put the check mark in the content network...but also put a check mark in "content bids" which allows you to set separate prices for content network. Once you save your settings you can put in a separate bid, I usually start with two cents.

4. Then let it run for a day and see what position you are getting and if you are receiving any clicks. In many markets two cents will get you on the first page and get you clicks.

5. Then monitor your conversions. If you are profitable, you can increase your cost per click for better positioning and more clicks. Repeat this process until you hit your target traffic and return on investment. If you are not profitable, just turn off content network all together.

If you follow the above steps, you will avoid any bad wipe outs and at the same time position yourself to take advantage of the extra profit the content network can bring you in some markets.

Fortunes can be made or lost with Google Adwords. Many of the secrets to profiting with Adwords are not written in the Google guide, but you can learn them here http://www.squidoo.com/beatingadwords

If you learn better by seeing and doing, you can get "one on one" coaching for a pittance at The Wealthy Affiliate.

About the author:Travis Sago,You can get a free mini-tour of Wealthy Affiliate at http://wealthyaffiliate.wordpress.com

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You've heard the stories. Click fraud has run rampant on Google, Yahoo, and MSN. This is evidenced by the numerous law suits that have been filed. One of the most notable cases occurred this year when Google settled their own click fraud case to the tune of 90 million dollars. In fact, Google and Yahoo have each settled a class action lawsuit filed by marketers. Click Fraud - What It Is So, what is click fraud and how does it occur? Wikipedia provides us with a definition: "Click fraud occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating an improper charge per click. Click fraud is the subject of some controversy and increasing litigation due to the advertising networks being a key beneficiary of the fraud whether they like it or not." However, I would like to simplify this definition. Click fraud is a crime, plain and simple. Cybercrime, however, is hard to track. Law enforcement has only just recently started focusing on the threat of click fraud. Click fraud is now being targeted by some of the industry's biggest names. This movement has both the American court and government system involved. Business Week recently announced that major brands including Expedia.com and mortgage broker LendingTree.com planned to go public with their disputes over click fraud in late September. Who can blame them? When it's your money that's going out the door, you need to be asking questions. Unfortunately, Google and Yahoo haven't come up with many answers. They have certainly paid lip service, indicating that they have systems in place to deter it, but the click fraud numbers continue to rise. The Threat to a Popular Advertising Model The Interactive Advertising Bureau estimates that 20 to 35 percent of ad clicks are fraudulent. The multi-billion dollar search industry is under attack and the problem is not going away anytime soon. Advertisers are being cheated and the search engines appear to be sitting on the sidelines, leaving much of the responsibility for detecting click fraud with advertisers, the majority of whom lack the tools and knowledge to detect it. The high level of click fraud has undermined advertisers' confidence and some have even pulled their entire ad campaigns. For small to medium-sized businesses click fraud effectively erodes ROI, impacting the bottom line and future marketing initiatives. Click fraud is also the single biggest threat to companies like Google and Yahoo, whose digital empires are largely dependent on their advertising revenues. Google's $6 billion-a-year advertising business is especially at risk. Despite the threat, or maybe because of it, Google is saying little about click fraud and the pay-per-click concept as a whole. While Google maintains its silence, many advertisers and savvy online entrepreneurs wonder where pay-per-click is headed. Click fraud threatens to destroy the very business that Google thrives on. In fact, click fraud losses have surpassed the total loss attributed to credit card fraud in the U.S. Do the current click fraud problems have the power to slow the growth of pay-per-click search advertising or even bring it to a screeching halt? Well, that's hard to say, but the industry as a whole is certainly being crippled by this problem. Pay-per-click may not be the future. Many advertisers are now starting to look at advertising options that offer an uncorrupted alternative. Flat-fee advertising, pay-per-percentage, and pay-per-action are all possibilities, but there is one alternative in particular that deserves attention. This search engine advertising model was first put forward by ExactSeek.com and then promoted through the ISEDN (Independent Search Engine & Directory Network) which ExactSeek founded in June, 2005. The model promulgated by ExactSeek and the ISEDN does not eliminate click fraud but does eliminate the cost associated with it. How the ISEDN Model Works The ISEDN charges a flat fee for advertising, making click fraud a pointless endeavor for scam artists, "paid to read" rings and cutthroat competitors. Your competition could click on your ISEDN listings all day long and it wouldn't cost you a single penny more than what you originally paid. $3-$4 provides you with an entire month's worth of advertising across a network of 235+ search engines and web directories. If you choose to buy in volume, you can even expect some significant discounts. Let's face it, pay-per-click advertising is expensive. There are a number of companies who spend $5,000 to $10,000 per month on paid search marketing. Competition is fierce with many keywords costing $5 per click or more. The problem is then compounded when you consider that 20 to 35 percent of those advertising dollars are wasted on fraudulent clicks. Just imagine. If you are paying $1,000 dollars per month to advertise on Google, $200 - $350 of those dollars are wasted on click fraud. If you want to lower your click fraud costs, you need to buy click fraud monitoring software, which is quite pricey. Unfortunately, few click fraud monitoring companies target small to medium sized businesses. The ISEDN offers an affordable alternative that charges a one-time, flat fee. The initial cost is the only cost. Within this unique advertising model, the sale of any keyword or phrase is limited to 30 advertisers. Regardless of whether a keyword term is sold 5 or 30 times, ads rotate within the SERPs and throughout the ISEDN. The rotation ensures that every ad appears in the top 10 search results. In the worst case scenario, a listing would appear on the first page of results approximately once out of every 3 searches. Of course, you can't expect the same exposure provided by Google or Overture. Google alone receives millions of searches per day. However, if you are looking for a consistent return on your investment without wasting a penny on click fraud, then the ISEDN provides an affordable and lucrative solution. Not to mention, the ISEDN is growing every day. An average of 3- 5 search engines are added every week. As the network continues to grow, your ad automatically receives more exposure. This program gives advertisers the benefit of advertising with smaller search engines on a massive scale without the fear of click fraud and without the hassle of managing multiple advertising accounts. For more information on the ISEDN, visit Exactseek.com or ISEDN.org Summing It Up The rules in search engine advertising are shifting and the winners are adapting. As for Google, Yahoo, and MSN, you can definitely expect to see some changes being made with their paid search programs in the near future. Cybercrime is still a crime and law enforcers are finally starting to take these problems seriously. The pay-per-click model is inherently flawed and must be altered to survive. Google and the other major search engines know that their business will be crippled if they do not adapt. The challenge for them is how to adapt and still maintain those multi-billion dollar bottom lines. Fortunately, there are individuals, groups, companies and organizations more interested in finding and providing solutions to the problem of click fraud than in propping up a flawed concept. Those leading the fight against click-fraud, like the ISEDN, may never see 10 figure bottom lines like Yahoo or Google, but the revenue they do make won't be based on fraudulent clicks and at your expense. About the author:Kim Roach is a staff writer and editor for the SiteProNews and SEO-News newsletters. You can also find additional tips and news on webmaster and SEO topics by Kim at the SiteProNews blog. Kim’s email is: kim @ seo-news.com

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Everyone makes mistakes and in Internet Marketing they can prove costly. In this article I discuss the most common ones, mistakes I’ve made in the past and learned from and if you do too, it could save you a packet.

Turn Off the Content Network

Always remember to turn the content network off. You do not want to receive traffic from other sites via Google Adsense links as these attract non targeted traffic. You can turn the content network using the "Edit Campaign Settings" button when you set up your campaign.

Too Many Keywords per Ad Group

Limit the amount of keywords per Ad Group to less than 25 keywords. Having more than 25 keywords can negatively affect your Quality Score as the more keywords you have, the less relevant they are likely to be to your Ad.

Keyword Grouping

Group your keywords around a common keyword and ensure this is displayed in your Ad. e.g. Common keyword:antique maps

Keywords:antique maps,buy antique maps,antique maps sale,antique maps original,find antique maps

Buy Antique Maps Online
Get original Antique Maps
Hundreds of Rare Maps & Prints
www.ancientantiquities.com/antiquemaps.html

Don’t only use Broad Match Type

Google gives you the option of using three keyword match types:- Broad :antique maps, Phrase:"antique maps" and Exact :[antique maps]. Use all three types in your campaigns for each keyword. You then have greater control over how targeted your campaign is.

Don’t set your Daily Budget too low

You should set your daily budget keeping in mind the number of impressions you receive and not just clicks. Remember you will receive a much smaller % as actual clicks and your Ads will be displayed infrequently if your budget is too low.

Bidding for Non Targeted Traffic

Remember you are not in this business to get traffic but to make profits! Do not therefore bid too high just to get a good ranking, you need to ensure that whatever price you bid is covered by your return on investment.

Conversely you still need a good ranking position to get any traffic at all and you therefore need to ensure that your campaign quality score(QS) is good. (I have discussed how you can improve your QS in more detail in previous articles.)

There are many specialised techniques available to improve your QS that are too detailed to cover in this article and you should study further the best guides available. I review the best ones on my web site so feel free to check it out.

Conclusion

The most important thing to keep in mind when setting up your campaigns is relevancy and choosing highly targeted keywords and Ads. You also need to ensure that searchers clicking on your Ads are actually looking to make a purchase, so first ensure that you have researched your particular customer niche and identified their needs.

Good Luck!

PS. Are you pulling your hair out trying to master Adwords? I review the TOP Guides AND you can GRAB your FREE e-book "How To Find Hot Markets & Keywords" here! - http://www.moneyreality.co.uk.

You can also see more articles in this series.

About the author: David Brown is a successful affiliate marketer who has learnt the hard way that THE key to being a success at Internet Marketing is perseverance.

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