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Adwords! It's converting profitably for a subscription site I'm helping out with. Can't wait to qualify for Google CPA - http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/a

Adwords! It's converting profitably for a subscription site I'm helping out with. Can't wait to qualify for Google CPA - http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=60150&ctx=sibling http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=60150...

bkovitz 18y ago
Wow, so AdWords has actually worked for a subscription site. Is this how you got your first customer, or how you expanded the business after the initial few customers? I'm looking for how to get that evolutionary-feedback process started.
- johns 18y ago
  We started with AdWords and it worked pretty well. Start researching what ads show up when you search for things that you think might lead to your site to get a sense of what ads you'll be running up against. We made a big mistake when we launched to not have a free version that a lot of our competitors offer. Our ads would get clicked on, but they'd bounce almost immediately. Once we added the free version, our ad clicks went up substantially, and this time they actually created a free account and the increased volume and retention has led to more sales.
- jakewolf 18y ago
  Launch site, no inbound links, nothing indexed in google, buy ads, get subscribers. Now, 6 months later, pages are getting indexed and starting to rank higher for keywords that actually convert. About about 40% of signups now come from adwords the rest organic. Putting videos on youtube proved to be a quick and dirty way to get visibility in search results while the site was nowhere near the top 500 in search results. Only problem is it's a small, niche market and it's hard to get much quality traffic. Still, an extra 2-3K a month is always nice to have around.
  - kirubakaran 18y ago
    > an extra 2-3K a month This is what I am trying to do. Please share any other tips that you have please.
coglethorpe 18y ago
Adwords/AdCenter has worked for me as well so far. My tips: 1. Use conversion tracking. Dump keywords that don't convert. Try to come up with keyword combos that beat the keywords you currently have. 2. Use negative keywords if needed. 3. Try different ads. Dump ones that don't work and try to come up with ones that can beat those that do. 4. You don't have to be the top bidder to get clicks and conversions. I've done better in terms of conversions and cost/conversion in 5th place than in 1st. 5. In my case, avoiding the "content" network was a great move. My ads only show up in search results, not on parked domains. I refuse to use Yahoo! Search Marketing for the simple reason that they don't let me turn off the so-called content network. What you're doing is direct marketing, so your ad copy in the ad is important as is the copy on the landing/conversion page. Don't be afraid to do A/B testing to see what copy works best and dump the old copy. Write copy that tries to beat the winner and test it.

bkovitz 18y ago

Wow, so AdWords has actually worked for a subscription site. Is this how you got your first customer, or how you expanded the business after the initial few customers? I'm looking for how to get that evolutionary-feedback process started.

johns 18y ago
We started with AdWords and it worked pretty well. Start researching what ads show up when you search for things that you think might lead to your site to get a sense of what ads you'll be running up against. We made a big mistake when we launched to not have a free version that a lot of our competitors offer. Our ads would get clicked on, but they'd bounce almost immediately. Once we added the free version, our ad clicks went up substantially, and this time they actually created a free account and the increased volume and retention has led to more sales.
jakewolf 18y ago
Launch site, no inbound links, nothing indexed in google, buy ads, get subscribers. Now, 6 months later, pages are getting indexed and starting to rank higher for keywords that actually convert. About about 40% of signups now come from adwords the rest organic. Putting videos on youtube proved to be a quick and dirty way to get visibility in search results while the site was nowhere near the top 500 in search results. Only problem is it's a small, niche market and it's hard to get much quality traffic. Still, an extra 2-3K a month is always nice to have around.
- kirubakaran 18y ago
  > an extra 2-3K a month This is what I am trying to do. Please share any other tips that you have please.

coglethorpe 18y ago

Adwords/AdCenter has worked for me as well so far. My tips: 1. Use conversion tracking. Dump keywords that don't convert. Try to come up with keyword combos that beat the keywords you currently have. 2. Use negative keywords if needed. 3. Try different ads. Dump ones that don't work and try to come up with ones that can beat those that do. 4. You don't have to be the top bidder to get clicks and conversions. I've done better in terms of conversions and cost/conversion in 5th place than in 1st. 5. In my case, avoiding the "content" network was a great move. My ads only show up in search results, not on parked domains. I refuse to use Yahoo! Search Marketing for the simple reason that they don't let me turn off the so-called content network. What you're doing is direct marketing, so your ad copy in the ad is important as is the copy on the landing/conversion page. Don't be afraid to do A/B testing to see what copy works best and dump the old copy. Write copy that tries to beat the winner and test it.