CHALLENGE

Regina Kahney, CEO of the Internet marketing and Web development firm Marketorial.com, believes deeply in testing marketing methods before telling clients to use them. She says, "I like to try things out before I recommend them to clients. I'm on all sorts of mailing lists like Search Engine Watch and WebPosition Gold's and they mentioned Google's self-serve campaign." So, Kahney decided to test Google to promote her two-year old firm's services to new clients.

CAMPAIGN

Kahney signed on as a Google AdWords client through their online form (see link below) and ran a test campaign for two months late Fall 2000.

Google allows up to three AdWords text ads per keyword search, and advertisers have an extraordinarily small space to make their impression in. Creative limits are 25 characters (including spaces) for the headline and just 35 characters for two text lines plus a 35-character-or-less URL. Luckily, advertisers can easily change and test new copy online. Kahney says, "I experimented. You can tweak as often as you'd like; it's all self-serve."

The tweaking is worth it because your ad's ranking on a Google page is determined strictly by how many people have already clicked on it. In many cases, by tweaking, Kahney was able to get her ads listed above famed marketing ezine Iconocast's. (Yes, we contacted Michael Tchong for this article, but he declined to comment.)

In order to choose the best keywords, Kahney checked her own site's Web logs to see what search terms visitors were already coming in from. She also visited Go2's Search Suggestion Box which allows you to find out how many visitors have searched under specific terms in the past month. (See link below.) Just like her copy, Kahney also "kept on tweaking keywords."

Last but not least, Kahney tweaked her Web site. She says, "I rewrote a lot of the site and did a lot of copy changes. So much success has to do with your landing page."



RESULTS

Kahney's very pleased, "We may do more things with Google, but I'm stopping now because we are overwhelmed with business." If the best sales leads Google generated end up being even minimal accounts, Kahney estimates her return on investment will be "at least 500% profit. It's well worth the spend."

COST: As Kahney says, "The beauty of the program is that you can change the amount at any time." All you need to open an account is a credit card -- and best of all no minimum deposit is required. So you could test a campaign for just $50!Pricing for AdWords is based on the position in which they're shown.

As mentioned above, Google positions your ad based on how many users click on it over time. Current rates range between $10-$15 depending on whether your ad gets the top, middle or bottom position.

Useful links related to this article

To learn more, or set up a test campaign for yourself, go to:
https://adwords.google.com/AdWords/Welcome.html

To see which keywords are popular at Go2:
http://inventory.go2.com/inventory/Search_Suggestion.jh
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To learn more about Marketorial.com
http://www.marketorial.com