Google adwords and site recommendations

[akilcoyne]

Hi All,

We just launched our website www.misamu.com which is a womens clothing website ladies fashion. Any comments would be appreciated!

One thing is that we have set up google adwords and generated about 400 click throughs in the last 3 -4 days (not cheap!). Problem is that we are not getting any sales from these click throughs. I suspect its because of the type of keywords and our targeting. For example we have the [designer names] in exact match of the brands we stock and also the usual [online boutique] type of keywords.

We have about 20 keywords in total. Could anyone recommend how many keywords should be used and also would a weekly budget of about £150 be suffice? I have read that the follow through for sales is roughly 1% is that correct?

Thanks,

Adam

[pinbrook]

in order not to let your adwords budget run away with you, you should be targetting keyphrases rather than generic words.

eg "Levis" too generic, is the person looking for jeans, a jacket, the latest advert ringtone? a waste of money for you as 3 out of 4 clicks with not be relevant

"Ladies 501 Levi Jeans" more specific and probably a cheaper phrase to target

[Duncan Rounding]

Difficult questions - most of the answers you need are only relevant to your line of business. I recommend you read as much as possible about Adwords, there are many things you can do to be more effective and it should be an ongoing thing - small changes at a time and monitor the effect - try getting a Google Analytics account. The basic principle is:
1. Keywords
2. Ad Title
3. Ad Wording
4. Landing Page

They all are need to tie in together. Use specific terms not broad searches, include search exclusion words.

I have been refining our Adwords campaigns over about 9 months and found that I have reduced the spend by about 80% for the same return. We use about 600 keyword phrases with about 40 different ads - each with a specfic landing page.

A few comments on your site:
http://www.misamu.com/acatalog/whats_new.html - has no info.
http://www.misamu.com/acatalog/login.html - image missing

Nice clean site - I wish you well.

[akilcoyne]

Thanks very much for your comments much appreciated and also thanks for pointing out those two problems.

Regarding a budget and taking your comments regarding specific keyword phrases would a budget of £300 per month be suffice or am I heading into length of strings terrority?

Thanks,

Adam

[pinbrook]

I am afraid, it is length of string time. No-one here is going to attempt to set a budget for you.

I would look at the new keywords you want to target and work forwards from there. If 1000 click throughs cost you £300 and results in no sales, there is something more astray than your budget.

Set yourself a daily limit and test the water on a daily basis. If £10 per day results in a good click through and sales but the money runs out ay 4pm then you may want to up the budget as it is clearly paying for itself.

As Duncan says it is not an exact science different products result in different click through results. Be prepare to work at it for a good time scale to work out the best level for your business.

[PA.com]

You may wish to try and save some money by disabling the click-throughs generated by the Google Network ads, and just retain the 'proper' Google search ads. (Adwords, by default, includes both these types of advert).

I used to find the Google Network adverts very expensive and not very effective. Disabling them may help you save some money while you work out your keyword profile.

[Phoenix164]

How is this done?

[pinbrook]

There's probably an option somewhere within your adwords account where you can turn this on or off

[chris ashdown]

Adam

Couple of things

You are based in Ireland but use a com address, What is the market area you are looking at, Ireland, IR and UK, Europe, World Wide.

If you are looking at more than Ireland then the UK could be put off by only using the Euro

As the .com this could cause you a lot of hits from the USA who treat all .com's as there own, where as a .irland or .uk does indicate country

There is a place in adwords where you can limit the countries you want to target

As a seller of garments, just a word of warning, you can expect a least 5% of goods to be returned by women for the wrong size (happy to exchange but some object to second postage) and about the same again for other reasons often vague but garments may show its been worn for the party etc and then returned. Whith you more expensive garments this may ba a significant problem and plans drawn up on how to deal with it.

Therfore suggest

Prices in two currencys if trading to uk

Include a accurate size guide and where say size is mentioned indicate bust size in inches and cm

Think if .com is your market place or a more local dot more appropriate

Dont let adwords sell you outside the area of your sales area
Price your adwords to be on the first page but keep away from the top 3 or 4 places on popular keywords as they eat your money for little extra clicks and as long as you are in the first page that is ok

Publish a good returns policy

[Ghome1971]

Adword Listings Have Changed

My orders have dropped by 50% in the last few days. I checked Google and noticed they have reconfigured their sponsored links. They are not down the right hand side now. They have maybe one or tow at the top of the page then a few at the bottom. I have had to double my click price to even appear at the bottom. This new click prices really make my business inviable. Is anyone else affected?

[Duncan Rounding]

I just checked now - I can't see any changes in Google Adwords layout. Do you have an example capture you can post?

[pinbrook]

you can expect a least 5% of goods to be returned by women for the wrong size (happy to exchange but some object to second postage)

too right! I always order 2 sizes and then return the incorrect size (often return postage is free) - if I am ordering from a site I've not used before

[Ghome1971]

Listing Layout

If you do a search on cool baby clothes in google you will see that there are no sponsored links on the right hand side of the page. One or two on top and the rest at the bottom.

[Duncan Rounding]

Not in the Google sites I've tried - such as:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cool+baby+clothes
http://www.google.com/search?q=cool+baby+clothes
http://www.google.fr/search?q=cool+baby+clothes
http://www.google.com.au/search?q=cool+baby+clothes

Can you do a screen capture and post it?

[chris ashdown]

too right! I always order 2 sizes and then return the incorrect size (often return postage is free) - if I am ordering from a site I've not used before

Thats one of our problems in that ,the old catalogues always had free return pickups, and M&S always take back an item without any reason or time scale. both work on high markup sales and can afford the returns

We poor mortals have the choice either to charge the earth and include free returns or make the customer pay as we work on low margins