Google AdWords, and paid search in general, can be very time-consuming and difficult to keep up with. It is not recommended to jump into an AdWords campaign without knowing a lot about how AdWords works, or even your client’s business.
Having said that, here are some tips from Diane Pease at searchenginewatch.com on how to make sure your AdWords campaign runs as smooth as possible:
Be proactive:
If you’re not willing to invest the time necessary to run an effective AdWords campaign, then you should probably spend your time and money elsewhere. Operating an effective AdWords campaign requires constant monitoring and adjustment. Using a “set it and forget” approach does not work with paid search.
Know your client and your competition:
You may think you know your client well, but do you really know enough about their business to run a paid search campaign? Do enough research so that you know not only what your client does, but who their target audience is, what makes them different from other companies in their industry, and which keywords are most relevant to their business. And of course, it is important to know their budget, and if it will be enough to target the terms they wish to.
Likewise, know your client’s competitors as well as you know you client. There are plenty of tools available that can help you get an idea of which keywords your competitors are targeting, and get a rough idea of how much they are spending so you can adjust your budget accordingly.
Stay up to date on AdWords:
AdWords can, and does change fairly frequently, so it is important to stay up to date on any changes that may impact your campaign strategy. The official AdWords blog is one of the best places for any news or changes regarding AdWords.
These are just a few of the ways one can run an effective AdWords campaign, but also some of the most important. One thing is for certain: you will only get out of AdWords what you put into in it, but the rewards can make the time and effort worthwhile.