Unethical marketers have forced Google to put a policy of continuous evolution in place for its search engine. The Adwords marketplace in particular has become a massive revenue generator and resource for buyers to find sellers, and their latest restructuring addresses some deep problems caused by online marketers.
A lot of Internet marketers have used predatory bait and switch strategies to great success over the years. Their technique was simple – they would run a large amount of Google Adwords that were heavily promotional or pushed content and services that did not match up the destinations the ads linked to. Some of these individuals got very effective at creating a high, affordable click rate to websites that could turn a portion of traffic into unrelated product sales or email list members.
Google took notice. At the same time the Federal Trade Commission started monitoring ludicrous income claims, bait and switch strategies and predatory advertising. Both parties’ efforts have made Google Adwords a safer and more focused marketplace. For online marketing companies operating ethically, it also has created opportunities and challenges.
If you’re completely new to this industry or relatively inexperienced at it, we have to give you one overall very important bit of advice. RUN A CLEAN, ETHICAL BUSINESS. The only way you’re going to succeed long term is by operating with a policy of policing yourself and those under you. A great deal of traffic and revenue will be lost if complaints or negative forum postings start talking about you online. It’s not very difficult to do business “cleanly” with a few easy things that you can put in place.
When using Adwords, it’s as simple as just being direct. Your website’s theme and purpose must be somewhat relevant to the keywords you’re focusing on in the Adwords. Your advertising message in the ads must match up to the keywords as well. And your landing page content must match very closely to the ads, or Google will no longer display the ads and you will probably lose your Adwords account.
The driving force behind this is being careful about the copywriting. You’ve already identified the keywords that drive clicks and conversions for you if you’re already run Adwords before Google’s revisions. All you have to do is create super relevant and engaging content that matches up to your ads. Don’t use tactics like keyword stuffing or copying other’s content. Take the time to create real, relevant, coherent copy and text that is interesting and hopefully contains calls to actions. If you’re writing 15 paragraphs on a page, trickle the calls to action in the beginning, middle and very aggressively at the end. Drive your point home in different ways, and promote the benefits of using your service or product. Be very clear and direct and do not make false promises. People are more savvy nowadays, and they will smell a rat. You may want to create your content with somewhat of a Problem – Solution slant.
Online marketing relies upon getting your point and selling message across clearly to readers without any live interaction from you. Successful corporate sales professionals use a method that I have found very effective in my own in-person presentations:
1. Tell them first briefly what you’re going to be telling them (i.e. outline what the topics are and give a hint of the overall benefits from the beginning).
2. Now tell them (i.e. provide details, full benefits, exposition and education).
3. Now tell them again what you’ve just told them (rehash #1 with the real benefits laid out tied to the initial topics).
Write the content naturally, then go back and review it and make some switches so that you’re targeted keywords appear throughout the text in a way that reads correctly and makes sense. In doing this, you’ve now conformed to Google’s new policies while creating good, enticing content.
This all makes sense, right? Google and the FTC want Adwords to be a viable, undiluted resource where traffic can find goods and services that match their needs. By following easy guidelines at the content level, you won’t have any difficulties in making Adwords an ongoing part of your marketing.
