I’ve started running a pay-per-click campaign using Google AdWords. It might seem like a gratuitous attempt at self-promotion but in actual fact, I’m attempting to prove a point.

In recent attempts to source additional contract work in the SEO and SEM fields, I’ve been quizzed by all-knowing (but I’m sure, well-meaning) job/contracting agencies as to the recent PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns I’ve managed. I have a Degree in Economics - as if I can’t run a PPC campaign. If it requires a University degree to use Google AdWords, Google is in big trouble - not to mention, me! My response was usually “if I felt a client needed a PPC campaign, I would put one in place”. This doesn’t seem to cut the mustard, so I decided to start a campaign, and document my efforts here.

I have run PPC campaigns previously, as owner of a successful Australian web hosting company. I’ve not been involved with AdWords recently because of an apparent lack of return-on-investment.

Day 0 (Wednesday):

I’ve set up my campaign and used a fairly random set of Keywords (although they were all recommended by Google). My Keywords are:

  • digital marketing
  • online marketing
  • ppc campaign
  • self promotion
  • website promotion

I’ve decided to only have the ads show on Google search results. When I’ve run AdWords before I found that the Content Network proves very expensive, and very ineffectual. I might try the Content Network sometime in the future.

I’ve set a HUGE daily budget of $2.00. The Max. CPC (cost-per-click) has been set to $0.65 which seems to be the minimum amount I need to bid in order to have my ads. displayed. I didn’t realise I was worth so much! I could edit the CPC for individual keywords but I’ll leave that for another day. All the destination URLs are also set the same to this page (which maybe is how you ended up here). I’ve also (for budgetary reasons) set the ad scheduling to run 2 hours each weekday. It’s turned off over the weekend. Scheduling is as follows:

  • Monday - 8am to 10am
  • Tuesday - 10am to 12pm
  • Wednesday - 12pm to 2pm
  • Thursday - 2pm to 4pm
  • Friday - 4pm to 6pm

My first ads should be displayed tomorrow. Let’s see how they go.

Day 1 (Thursday):

Fantastic! The ad. was displayed for 2 hours, during which time it was displayed ONCE by Google at Position 11. Any position past number 10 is not actually displayed on the organic search page, so it does make me wonder why it would even be displayed at all. I’m curious as to whether Google has any statistics available regarding how many people actually click through to see “More Sponsored Links…”

I also notice that Google puts LOTS of emphasis on maximising Click-Through-Rate (CTR). That’s a ratio of the number of ad. clicks to the number of ad. impressions. The higher the CTR, the more money Google makes. However, I’m more interested in Conversions (maybe we could call this “Click-Through-Conversions”). Unfortunately, an ad. that works well for me (for aguement’s sake, lets say it converts to a sale everytime it’s clicked on) may have a lousy CTR and consequently can end up getting dropped by AdWords. It seems Google (those bunch of amateurs) and me might be at cross-purposes.