A Google Adwords campaign can produce amazing results and can achieve its true potential in Search Engine Advertising when you know how to take a proactive stance against failure, by not simply ‘waiting’ for an outcome or thinking of this as a one-time project.

Many experts and professionals in this area have already mastered the techniques, which is why every ad they publish becomes a hit. However, creating a powerful advertisement, with the best combination of keywords and copy,  does not necessarily require similar expertise from you, but you do need to understand how to optimise your campaign for maximum effect.

Perry Marshall, the author of The Definitive Guide to Google Adwords outlines several strategies and techniques for monitoring, tracking, and analysing the results of each of your campaigns, so you know exactly what to change and when. The steps have already been prepared for you; making the most out of your campaign is hassle-free because many Pay Per Click Program experts have created simple and easy-to-use processes to help you get started.

Start by ensuring that your landing pages are rich in content. Visitors typically click on the advertisements if they think they will find quality and valid information, thus, it is critical on your part to maintain this and to put keywords related to what is actually offered in your ad. This makes it easier to find the page in Google search results, and also helps keep the cost-per-click for the keywords in your ad at a minimum.

Secondly, it is essential that your ad is free from any or all negative keywords. These keywords refer to those that usually attract to your site unnecessary or the wrong kind of traffic. You would not want to deal with visitors looking for ‘freebies’ (i.e. free gardening tips or free gardening events) if your business involves the selling of gardening books and tools, unless of course you have offered a specific free promotion on your landing page. The solution is simple, utilise the Google Adwords Selector Tool and get rid of the words ‘free’ and ‘events’ from your list in order to generate specific, targeted, and profitable traffic.

Next, it pays to regularly track your competitor’s activities by reading their ads. Making sure your advertisement stands apart from the competition is essential for a successful campaign. If your ad sounds or looks too similar to your competitor’s ad campaign, you could be missing a large portion of qualified traffic.

Finally, you should test different creative ad copy and present this using a distinct angle. A good way to do this is through the use of action oriented words in the headline wherein main words are typed in all-caps to ensure impact from the readers. Keeping an eye on your rivals’ ads also gives you an added advantage; using this technique allows you to evaluate which keywords perform better and those that do not generate results.

Optimizing and tweaking your Google Adwords campaign is an ongoing and necessary process, and one that will help you get higher click through rates than the competitors in your niche. Follow all the techniques mentioned here and you can be assured of optimal performance for your Google Adwords campaign.

Optimising your Google Adwords campaign is an ongoing process, but many people resort to a trial and error process that ends up costing them hundreds, even thousands of pounds from their marketing budget as they tweak and refine each ad campaign.

Google Adwords pioneers such as Perry Marshall, the author of The Definitive Guide to Google Adwords discusses this aspect of Google Adwords campaign management in great detail. He outlines specific steps and strategies for getting results as soon as you start your campaign, and offers suggestions on ways to refine your campaign as each day or week goes by.

You don’t have to throw your money away when you learn the tips and strategies that affiliate marketers and Adwords experts already know; you can actually end up spending less on your ads than competitors in your niche by picking specific keyword segments, monitoring your results and changing your ads regularly. Here are some essential tips for getting results with Google Adwords and spending as little money as possible during the process:

First: As much as possible, avoid aiming for top spot placement. Unknown to many, the first spot on the Google Sponsored Search results doesn’t always provide the best conversions compared to the second and third spots. Bidding for the second and third spots respectively, instead of the first one, can afford you greater exposure in your market at a lesser expense. A visitor searching for information is also more likely to scan down the list, so you have an almost-equal chance of getting picked and clicked with your ad placement.

Next, eliminate negative keywords from your list. It’s common to find that you get hundreds of clicks from a particular keyword or key phrase, but with very low conversion rates. This is usually the case when you have a ‘negative’ keyword in your ad, which means that people searching for that keyword and finding you are expecting something different.

Lastly, never bid on broad match keywords. It is a common practice but try to avoid doing this, as you will be wasting your precious time and money.

Refer to the ‘advertiser competition’ results to find the right keywords. If the bar is colored more than halfway, you may find that the bid price is expensive. Instead, observe those that have a low color indicator. Any keyword that is not highly competitive will also allow you to bid for a lower price. You can use the ‘exact match’ feature on the Google Adwords Keyword Selector Tool to drill down your search.

You can utilise a variety of strategies to enhance your Google Adwords campaign so you can make the most of your advertising and to establish market reach. Apply any of these strategies or techniques as you optimise your Adwords program so you can start bidding on winning but with lower priced keywords.

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According to a new report by online intelligence experts Hitwise, there has been a substantial drop in the overall share of Pay Per Click Advertising traffic, compared to the amount of traffic generated from the organic or natural search engine listings.

Whilst total search engine traffic is still on the increase, the market share for Pay Per Click advertising appears to have dropped significantly.

According to the Hitwise Report “the share of traffic coming from Search Engine Advertising is decreasing at the expense of organic traffic.”

“In the four weeks to May 9, 2009, 7.25% of search engine traffic to all categories of websites was from paid clicks. This compares to 9.84% in the same four week period in 2008 - representing a 26% decline in the share of paid clicks. This trend is apparent across 16 of the 17 Hitwise parent categories (i.e. Automotive, Food and Beverage, Health and Medical, etc). The only category that didn’t see a decline in paid traffic was Education, which received 1.45% of search visits from paid clicks compared to 1.39% last year.”

Heather Hopkins from Hitwise says “I’m sure that marketing budgets are tightening up with cost management pressures, but maybe the drop in paid search’s share is more a reflection of changing search behavior. It’s been a well documented fact that organic listings carry more credibility and trust with searchers than their paid listing counterparts – so perhaps this provides more insight into the trend. Tough times force searchers/buyers to become more diligent in researching purchases, which sees them reverting to sources they trust more.”

This trend highlights the importance of making sure that your website is properly optimised and made as search engine friendly as possible. With the proliferation of search engine advertising over the past few years, many website owners have placed Professional SEO on the back burner. This changing search behaviour suggests that now, more than ever, that website owners should consider moving their Web Page Optimisation efforts higher up the list of priorities.

However, whilst search engine advertising may be losing some of its share to organic search results, it is still driving sizable traffic referrals – and should not be ignored.