I’d an interesting question come in from Rick that represents a bit of an extension to the information about selecting keywords in my Google Adwords For Beginners article.

I’m just starting and so far have 3-4 campaigns under my belt with $0
income so far. Just Search PPC to understand the process but what I’ve noticed
is that early on I bought keywords that were short and only used 100 or so but
then I heard that some people are utilizing up to the max of 40,000 keywords.

PS There’s so much to read and yours and Amit’s sites are pretty much my guides
everyday. Thanks for sharing and I hope to do the same once I start to make more
then $0/day

Hi Rick, and thanks for the compliments about my dear old blog. It’s really nice to feel appreciated!

Your current confusion is one of the unfortunate side effects of learning all about affiliate marketing online. There’s so much information knocking around (much of it conflicting) that its all too easy to get confused and wonder if what you are doing is actually right. Before we go any further, I think it’s important to say that you should always try and treat what you read as subjectively as possible. Much of the information you read can’t be applied generally. It may only pertain to one sector or even one individual.

I tend to take a bit of an “slow build” approach to the number of keywords in a campaign. First of all I look at very, very tightly targeted search terms and spend a lot of time winkling out as many of these low volume keywords as possible.

I then apply them to the campaign and let it run for a week or two. Once my trial period is over, I look at epc’s (earnings per hundred clicks). First of all I look at the overall EPC for the entire campaign. If it’s really healthy overall then I will broaden the reach of my search terms to attempt to get a higher volume of sales at a reduced EPC whilst still turning a profit.

If the EPC is not healthy I’ll do a detailed analysis to see if there are any keywords within the campaign that were doing particularly well. I will then switch off anything that’s just not performing and seek to expand upon the areas (if any) that are bringing in good levels of profit.

So in short, it’s quality as opposed to quantity of search terms that make for a successful campaign. If you blanket your campaign with every search term you can think of, you’re likely to spend a whole lot of money and possibly be looking at a negative number for your profitability.

Good luck with your first profitable campaign… it can take a few tries to get it right so keep in there and you will eventually find your feet!