Basic Google AdWords Bidding: How To Bid in a New Google AdWords Account
I always recommend to anyone who is starting a new Google Adwords account to start slow and then work their way up. Here is a recommended process you can use to begin your own account.
Start by going to the Google Keyword Tool. Type in common keywords for your product or service. Then, you will see Google’s estimated cost per click. For example, if you looked up “dog food”, you may see that in the US, the approximate CPC will be $1.91. In a future post, I will discuss something called “head keywords”, like “dog food” and how they affect your competition compared to “long-tail keywords” like “cheap dog food online”.
The next step will be to strengthen your Google Adwords account. You must take a good look at your products or services and then you have to think of how people may be looking for them online. For example, you will want to create more customized potential keywords and then separate them into different ad groups. Words like “cheap dog food” or “wholesale dog food” will need separate ads. (You can learn more about this by reading my post about setting up Google Adwords or learn the idea from an online marketing consultant).
After you have set up Google Analytics and Google conversion tracking, your next step is to launch your campaign. You need to start with low bids. For example, with the basic keyword, “dog food” you should start a low bid at around fifty cents. In about four to six hours, you should get an idea of how much traffic this bid is getting you.
If you are not getting any traffic, then increase the bid to seventy-five cents or one dollar (depending how patient you are willing to be) then repeat the previous step and continue to increase the bids until you are getting enough traffic (should be on pace with your budget – see more a future post called “Setting Your Budget”).
Your goal through Google Adwords is to get as much traffic with the lowest possible cost per click (CPC). This will help you determine which keywords make the most sense for your site. Once you have more clicks and data in your adwords account, then you can move on to my post on Advanced Google Adwords Bidding Techniques.
Consult an Adwords Expert and learn the techniques of an effective Google Adwords bidding.