Adwords etiquette

[Focused]

Apologies if this has been covered before. Is it acceptable to have a keyword in Adwords that has nothing to do with your services but which might get your ad in front of the people you want to attract?
For example, if I was selling golf equipment and think that a good market might be accountants, is it OK to have ICAEW as a keyword so that anyone searching for ICAEW will see my ad pushing golf equipment?

Focused

 

[nass]

Sure it is - but you'll find that you get a very low takeup rate. Have a look at placements - it's a way to get your ad into sites where your type of people might be.

 

Apologies if this has been covered before. Is it acceptable to have a keyword in Adwords that has nothing to do with your services but which might get your ad in front of the people you want to attract?
For example, if I was selling golf equipment and think that a good market might be accountants, is it OK to have ICAEW as a keyword so that anyone searching for ICAEW will see my ad pushing golf equipment?

Focused

There isnt an etiquette issue as nass says...

But there is a conversion issue.

Mindset marketing is a useful way to think about adwords.
And thinking outside the box is good!! - if i have a criticism of
many adwords pros, they dont seem to have any innovative flair!!

So you could for example get cheap traffic for the mortgage market by targetting "home decorating" because many people decorate before selling up, and those who sell up often want a mortgage.

If you do this you have to offer something appropriate..which gets only those who want what you sell

So offer the guide for example

"decorating to sell your house?
free guide explains what matters to price
www.yoursite.com

Then build a list in exchange for the guide , and offer information and products relevant to the mindset of someone moving (including the mortgages!!)

Hope this helps...

I have got oodles of cheap clicks in many very expensive markets, just by thinking like that....
SO thinking outside the box is good!

 

[32cardinalpoints]

I've just come across your post and thought I would give you some feedback.

Yes it is fine to use keywords (not related to your services) for your Google ads to help you get listed, however i do not see the point in doing this, if visitors are clicking on your ads for specific keyword phrases and they visit your site and do not find what they are looking for within - the visitor will only exit from your site costing you money and giving you a poor ROI (return on investment).

It is much better to have keywords related to your site content as this will help towards a better ranking score and will help to reduce the CPC (cost-per-click) over time on your ads setup. Try and direct the customer to a landing page which has relevancy with a clear call to action to help increase your goal conversions i.e. enquiry, order or newsletter.

I hope this helps?

Paul Flaherty
Compass Search Engine Optimisation

Apologies if this has been covered before. Is it acceptable to have a keyword in Adwords that has nothing to do with your services but which might get your ad in front of the people you want to attract?
For example, if I was selling golf equipment and think that a good market might be accountants, is it OK to have ICAEW as a keyword so that anyone searching for ICAEW will see my ad pushing golf equipment?

Focused

 

[Focused]

Thanks guys. Much appreciated.

Focused

 

[AdwordsPro]

... and you will also probably have a low quality score for your ad triggering on ICAEW unless you include that term on the landing page. So that will make your ROI even worse.

Distribute your funds between the different approaches suggested here (plus the obvious 'best keywords' approach) and track the ROI for each - then rebalance your budgets accordingly.

As an example of the 'best keywords' approach (obvious though it may be), if you sell gold earrings, then you might sell some by triggering ads on 'earrings', 'pearl earrings', 'silver earrings', 'jewellery', 'ear infection' ... but you'll probably sell most by triggering on 'gold earrings'.

Hope that helps.

 

[Mike Seddon]

if i have a criticism of
many adwords pros, they dont seem to have any innovative flair!!

Who you calling flairless! You should have seen me in the seventies!

Actually, some fine advice in your post. Thinking outside the box can corner some very nice markets and cheaply.

I find just sitting down trying to describe the type of person I think will want a product I am pushing can really help. Listing things like, what else would they buy, where are they likely to live, what would be their politcal beliefs. This might seem mad but occassionally it gives you a real insight into where else you should advertise.

Just my two cents