Is It Worthwhile To Use Google Adwords To Promote My Website

chrisinbc · #1 (**permalink**) 10-13-2009, 02:00 PM

Hello,

I'm considering using Google Adwords to promote my website. I was thinking of promoting a couple of my pages that have affiliate links. Had anyone had success doing this? I don't have a lot of money right now to waste, as I am on Disability from work. Should I perhaps look at other methods of promoting my website? Any advice, ideas, comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

Chris H.

ssmorgan · #2 (**permalink**) 10-15-2009, 02:40 AM

Chris,

Making Adwords profitable is a learning process. Success in it depends on a lot of factors that include the topic of the website, the keywords you use, and the quality of the landing page.

I think Adwords is a cool tool worth learning. I would recommend signing up for an account, so you get a feel for how it operates. In the meantime, try to find some free blogs and tips (including tips listed in this category of Website Babble) and when you feel comfortable to proceed with a small campaign with a few targeted keywords, while keeping an eye on your budget/ad spending.

And remember that paid traffic that doesn't buy anything = wasted money.

So don't fall in the trap of bidding on very general keywords that get tons of hits, but no sales.

Also, expect to spend some money at first that you won't recover immediately. It's part of the learning process.

Good luck, and let me know what you decide.

Sherif

jay144 · #3 (**permalink**) 10-15-2009, 04:55 AM

Google Adwords is very tricky and you can end up losing some money because you kind of have to test it out. There are a lot of other free things that you can use. For instance Twitter.

I wouldn't just jump into adwords.

seoconsult1 · #4 (**permalink**) 10-15-2009, 06:45 AM

If you try to do some new thing then you always ready to loose some money. I also do it in past but Google reject my pages that time.

They told me that the page which using as landing page is affiliates pages and you can't promote 3rd parties on your ads.

chrisinbc · #5 (**permalink**) 10-15-2009, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ssmorgan

Chris,

Making Adwords profitable is a learning process. Success in it depends on a lot of factors that include the topic of the website, the keywords you use, and the quality of the landing page.

I think Adwords is a cool tool worth learning. I would recommend signing up for an account, so you get a feel for how it operates. In the meantime, try to find some free blogs and tips (including tips listed in this category of Website Babble) and when you feel comfortable to proceed with a small campaign with a few targeted keywords, while keeping an eye on your budget/ad spending.

And remember that paid traffic that doesn't buy anything = wasted money.

So don't fall in the trap of bidding on very general keywords that get tons of hits, but no sales.

Also, expect to spend some money at first that you won't recover immediately. It's part of the learning process.

Good luck, and let me know what you decide.

Sherif

Thanks so much for the thoughtful, good advice Sherif! I really appreciate it. I think before I spend money on Google Adwords I'm going to do some work on SEO, increasing the amount oif unique content, and linking from individual pages of my website to related pages to try to increase page views.

Chris H.

Sue52 · #6 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 01:37 AM

Yes I agree, you have to be prepared to spend some money to learn Adwords as I have done, but it has been a good learning process, I understand keywords more than I did before and this is helping me with my SBI website.

SouthamptonAngel · #7 (**permalink**) 11-03-2009, 09:23 AM

I would agree that Adwords isn't the easiest place to start, although it can clearly earn you plenty of money over time.

It sounds sensible for you to concentrate on SEO efforts to begin with and then maybe progress to use Adwords over time.

Sue52 · #8 (**permalink**) 11-03-2009, 10:29 AM

Hi Chris, I think in the long run it is certainly worth while using adwords in the long run and a good idea as the last user suggested to get an account and see how it works. But if you are a bit short on money I wouldn't suggest you do anything with it until you've made some. I used adwords to promote other companies website and it cost me money, not a lot but I haven't got money to waste either, having said that it was a good learning curve and I understand more how the search engines work.
That is why I am now an SBI'er

I want to make money not spend it!

There of lots of other things you can promote on your website that won't cost you money.

Best of luck

Sue

chrisinbc · #9 (**permalink**) 11-03-2009, 07:17 PM

Thanks everyone for replying to this thread. I really appreciate it. I spent $150 on a Google Adwords campaign that lasted about seven days. I had a fair number of clicks to one of my affiliate links, but no conversions. I made perhaps $4.00 in Google Adsense. So, I basically lost $150, which is about half of what I could have spent purchasing SBI. I did learn that if my site ever gets a decent amount of traffic, there is one affiliate link where I could potentially make a few dollars.

On a positive note, I've put a lot of effort lately in trying to improve my site, by revising content, adding pictures, and trying to make my site easier to navigate. Still a lot of room for improvement though.

I must admit, I do get discouraged sometimes and wonder if my time and money could be better spent doing something else.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Chris H.

Sue52 · #10 (**permalink**) 11-03-2009, 11:33 PM

Hi Chris, I took a look at your website, looks really good, you are obviously more expert than me, I am just a beginner at all this. I found your blog really interesting, sounds as though you have tried a few ways to make money. The danger is to go with these people that tell you you can make thousands in your first week, afraid I haven't fallen for that. I have subscribed to stockphoto as I am lookiing for new images for my website, so thankyou for that.

I too get discouraged at times but I am glad that I subscribed to SBI, I really enjoy using programmes like photoshop and this is a great opportunity to use my creative skills and I hope, make some money.
At least you still have your job to keep some money coming in. I haven't been able to work for 12 months through an illness so if I can get my website bringing in good traffic and making money then I will be very happy.

Have a great weekend yourself

Sue

yackojo · #11 (**permalink**) 11-04-2009, 02:31 PM

hi,
Adwords is very good but if you are a newbee you need to be very very careful, you need to know what you are doing else you'll lose tons of money on it overnight.

take your time, try other methods before jumping in adwords.
good luck to you

chrisinbc · #12 (**permalink**) 11-04-2009, 05:30 PM

Thanks for the complements and feedback Sue52. Glad I was able to help you out with finding istockphoto on my blog. Best of luck Sue with SBI. From the success I've read on SBI and some of the SBI web sites that I have visited it looks like many people have done very well.

Yes, you are very right yackojo about losing money very quickly with Google Adwords.

I had one piece of good news though. I made my very first affiliate sale yesterday, so at least it wasn't a total loss. Just have to figure out how to direct traffic to where the affiliate ad is located or perhaps move it to some more heavily visited pages on my web site.

Chris H.

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