Don't Let The Wrong Google Adword Keywords Take You Broke During The Holidays!

Posted by Nick Niesen on November 1st, 2010

Sure, you're looking to get as much bang for your buck from the holiday PPC traffic as possible, and who could blame you? Just make sure that the "bang" you hear is that of the cash register drawer slamming shut, and not your hand slamming against your forehead because of all the money you wasted on ineffective keywords.

Holiday shoppers will click on anything that even remotely looks interesting without necessarily having any intent of buying once they get to the site.

This means if you have hot Holiday keywords, but your sales copy doesn't convert well, you could end up going broke depending upon the cost per click of your holiday key words.

That's why it is so important to hone your keywords so they match exactly what it is you are selling.

Let's say that you sell holiday gift baskets that contain bath oils and lotions. If you choose "holiday gift baskets", you would get hammered by every person who is looking for a fruit basket, sausage and cheese basket, and any other kind of gift basket you can imagine.

Unless your price point is so good, and your sales copy is so compelling that it can convince Aunt Agnes that Uncle Bernie would rather have a basket full of lotions instead of deer meat jerky, then you have a problem and your PPC costs are going to be through the roof.

Here's a good strategy to follow during the holidays when PPC traffic goes through the roof.

Watch your click-through and sales conversion rates carefully. for each keyword. If you are getting a high number of clicks, and a low number of sales, drop that keyword. Remember, the goal here is to make a lot of sales, not draw a lot of wasted traffic.

Choose keywords which reflect the needs of the holiday shopper. If you are currently advertising "jewelery" try "jewelry gifts" or "teen gift ideas" if you sell products for that age group. The idea is to associate your product with the traditional gift-giving holidays.

If you have added seasonal items to your product line then remember to update your campaigns to include these new products. If you have dropped inventory, or are out of stock, remember to pause those campaigns. It doesn't make any sense to pay for traffic if you can't deliver the product.

The most best tip of all is to find competitive "niche" keyword phrases that have a high demand and low competition. With some diligence you should be able to uncover keywords which are capable of generating good traffic but, because the "big boys" haven't discovered them, the bid prices are still affordable.

The best way to accomplish this is to work down your list of current keywords, find synonyms, and then determine how much traffic each of these words generate. It may be a lot of work, but, with a little bit of luck, it will lower your PPC costs and drive better targeted holiday traffic to your site.

If it's too close to the holiday season, and you don't have time for the "lot of work" and the "little bit of luck" method, then you should consider getting your hands on a copy of Keyword Locator, the amazing PPC Keyword mining software program that eliminates both the hard work as well as the need for luck. In fact, it pays for itself the first time you use it.