Ok, just for shits and giggles here's my full on campaign arbi test with niche, keyword list, page, ads and everything.
Step 1 Choose your niche.
I was conservative before and picked smaller niches because I was afraid of competition. More experienced people say to go with higher paying topics in investment and finance. I chose "forex trading" as my topic because of high average CPC and decent search volume. Basically, anything that has enough searches and clicks for you to make a profit. 5staraffiliates has a free tool to help you quickly see Adwords click costs and clicks per day to give you a rough idea whether your niche is a high payer. I've never had any problems getting niche ideas but if you are totally stuck or really lazy Nicheaday will email you a daily niche topic with Overture monthly search count and highest PPC bid.
Step 2 Find some keywords
I use KeywordCountry because Jon uses it. It's not cheap but seems the best for arbi. The keyword lists are more focused and there is a great "avg. CPC" column that gives you a more realistic payout guesstimate. I try to find terms with high average CPC combined with high number of searches and high volume clicks.
There are free keyword tools but they do not have the depth and thoroughness of the paid ones. Instead of going on about keywords I point you to this thread which covers the topic.
Keyword list from KC.
http://www.speedytaxtips.com/forex-trading/imgs/forex-trading-keywords-original-list.txt
Step 3 Build a page
I use Dreamweaver to generate my pages and have several templates for arbi. One of the members here, lerchmo has generously donated a free automated script if you want to go that route.
My page for this test is:
Forex Trading Basics for Everyone
Putting some SEO work on the page would be a good idea. Go to SEO Mike's guide here or look at the source on my page.
Step 4 Create Your adsense ad blocks with a unique channel for niche
I usually create a unique channel for each main niche for tracking. In this case I've also created a Adsense search box specific to this channel for this campaign to test out Google search clickthrough on this campaign.
Step 5 Write an Article
Surfed and snatched sentences from several sources and added my own. Articles are between 300 to 500 words with a keyword density of around 4 to 6. I use Notetab Standard as a text editor which gives me word count and a rudimentary KD number. I try not to focus too much on KD, just make sure there are enough keywords to pull the right ads. You can scrape and automate this process using lerchmo's script mentioned above.
Award-Winning NoteTab Text Editors and HTML Editors
Step 6 Clean Up Keyword List and Write Ads
OK, This is where I break from the original post. I do not use 3rd rate engines for cheap traffic. I use Google Adwords in the content network for cheap clicks. I do NOT normally run them on the search network. This is a tip I got from (ok bash me here) an ebook. However, if you think a top position can be gained in the search network then run that in a separate campaign.
Other people use 7search, Searchfeed, some use YPN or MSN adcenter or a combination. Essentially anywhere you can get valid cheap clicks for your niche to your page. People have different opinions on each one's effectiveness so you may need to test and find out which one works best for you.
I use Keyword Companion to parse out keyword lists and break them out into separate word groups. The really useful part of KC is that it ties into the Google adwords API and you can do all your list manipulation and ad word campaigns locally. When you are ready you submit all the changes at once. I save so much time doing campaigns this way with KC.
KC is not without it's bad points. The price is $247 and support is not that good. They are based in Romania and support is on Romanian time staffed by non technical people! Also they are run by a affiliate marketing company so you get spammed to death and you are automatically subscribed for a recurring membership, free for first 6 months after purchasing KC so remember to cancel in time. Despite the company's drawbacks, I save quite a bit of time by using KC.
Google offers their own offline tool for creating campaigns, Adwords Editor but I don't find it as easy to use as KeywordCompanion. Still, if you want to save some money Adwords Editor is better than using the web interface and will save you a lot of time.
http://www.keywordcompanion.com/
AdWords Editor
I've used some tricks picked up from books and sites for writing ads. I usually put the keywords in the heading.
If I use the search network I try to use keywords in the ad so they appear sort of as an arrow. See Shoemoney's post for details.
Google Adwords Arrow Trick To Increase Click Through Rates - ShoeMoney™
The arrow trick will not work in the content network because the ads are reformatted.
The keywords must also be in the display url. I use a directory or subdomain.
For instance: www.yourdomain.com/weight-loss
Here is my cleaned up keyword list using KC. I could have broken it up into separate "forex online" or "forex software" campaigns but for this test I've decided to just lump most everything together and just kept "forex trade" terms out.
Final Adwords keyword list.
Set your budget high, as in $500 or $1000/day even though you may never reach it. According to Google "Setting a higher budget will result in more ad impressions; your ads will appear as frequently as possible for your keywords." You will need to keep an eye on your ad spend and watch out for click fraud. I started this test at 3 cents a click in the content network and bumped it to .10. Try not to click on my ads will ya.
My ads.
I usually write two ads for split testing.
I also set the Ad serving option (at the bottom of the image) to Rotate so I can compare the two ads and see which one is performing better. I plan to wait one month for data to collect then replace the lesser performing ad if any need improving.
Don't forget to get a free signup at AdsBlackList.com - Filter them and increase your revenue ! and get a list of MFA sites to exclude in your Adwords campaign. It's in the "Edit Campaign Settings" section. See screenshot below.
Step 7 Watch Your Ad Spend vs Profit
I usually have Firefox tabs with Adsense and Adwords pages running beside each other so I can keep track. Adjust ad spend accordingly. Use ad tracking software like asrep to track individual clicks and impressions. The software will help you see click fraud too.
That's it. This is pretty much Drusam's steps but with the details fleshed out.
I hope some people will find this useful and the PPC experts can give some advice on how to improve it and help everyone learn.
I will report back with Adwords results.
Step 1 Choose your niche.
I was conservative before and picked smaller niches because I was afraid of competition. More experienced people say to go with higher paying topics in investment and finance. I chose "forex trading" as my topic because of high average CPC and decent search volume. Basically, anything that has enough searches and clicks for you to make a profit. 5staraffiliates has a free tool to help you quickly see Adwords click costs and clicks per day to give you a rough idea whether your niche is a high payer. I've never had any problems getting niche ideas but if you are totally stuck or really lazy Nicheaday will email you a daily niche topic with Overture monthly search count and highest PPC bid.
Step 2 Find some keywords
I use KeywordCountry because Jon uses it. It's not cheap but seems the best for arbi. The keyword lists are more focused and there is a great "avg. CPC" column that gives you a more realistic payout guesstimate. I try to find terms with high average CPC combined with high number of searches and high volume clicks.
There are free keyword tools but they do not have the depth and thoroughness of the paid ones. Instead of going on about keywords I point you to this thread which covers the topic.
Keyword list from KC.
http://www.speedytaxtips.com/forex-trading/imgs/forex-trading-keywords-original-list.txt
Step 3 Build a page
I use Dreamweaver to generate my pages and have several templates for arbi. One of the members here, lerchmo has generously donated a free automated script if you want to go that route.
My page for this test is:
Forex Trading Basics for Everyone
Putting some SEO work on the page would be a good idea. Go to SEO Mike's guide here or look at the source on my page.
Step 4 Create Your adsense ad blocks with a unique channel for niche
I usually create a unique channel for each main niche for tracking. In this case I've also created a Adsense search box specific to this channel for this campaign to test out Google search clickthrough on this campaign.
Step 5 Write an Article
Surfed and snatched sentences from several sources and added my own. Articles are between 300 to 500 words with a keyword density of around 4 to 6. I use Notetab Standard as a text editor which gives me word count and a rudimentary KD number. I try not to focus too much on KD, just make sure there are enough keywords to pull the right ads. You can scrape and automate this process using lerchmo's script mentioned above.
Award-Winning NoteTab Text Editors and HTML Editors
Step 6 Clean Up Keyword List and Write Ads
OK, This is where I break from the original post. I do not use 3rd rate engines for cheap traffic. I use Google Adwords in the content network for cheap clicks. I do NOT normally run them on the search network. This is a tip I got from (ok bash me here) an ebook. However, if you think a top position can be gained in the search network then run that in a separate campaign.
Other people use 7search, Searchfeed, some use YPN or MSN adcenter or a combination. Essentially anywhere you can get valid cheap clicks for your niche to your page. People have different opinions on each one's effectiveness so you may need to test and find out which one works best for you.
I use Keyword Companion to parse out keyword lists and break them out into separate word groups. The really useful part of KC is that it ties into the Google adwords API and you can do all your list manipulation and ad word campaigns locally. When you are ready you submit all the changes at once. I save so much time doing campaigns this way with KC.
KC is not without it's bad points. The price is $247 and support is not that good. They are based in Romania and support is on Romanian time staffed by non technical people! Also they are run by a affiliate marketing company so you get spammed to death and you are automatically subscribed for a recurring membership, free for first 6 months after purchasing KC so remember to cancel in time. Despite the company's drawbacks, I save quite a bit of time by using KC.
Google offers their own offline tool for creating campaigns, Adwords Editor but I don't find it as easy to use as KeywordCompanion. Still, if you want to save some money Adwords Editor is better than using the web interface and will save you a lot of time.
http://www.keywordcompanion.com/
AdWords Editor
I've used some tricks picked up from books and sites for writing ads. I usually put the keywords in the heading.
If I use the search network I try to use keywords in the ad so they appear sort of as an arrow. See Shoemoney's post for details.
Google Adwords Arrow Trick To Increase Click Through Rates - ShoeMoney™
The arrow trick will not work in the content network because the ads are reformatted.
The keywords must also be in the display url. I use a directory or subdomain.
For instance: www.yourdomain.com/weight-loss
Here is my cleaned up keyword list using KC. I could have broken it up into separate "forex online" or "forex software" campaigns but for this test I've decided to just lump most everything together and just kept "forex trade" terms out.
Final Adwords keyword list.
Set your budget high, as in $500 or $1000/day even though you may never reach it. According to Google "Setting a higher budget will result in more ad impressions; your ads will appear as frequently as possible for your keywords." You will need to keep an eye on your ad spend and watch out for click fraud. I started this test at 3 cents a click in the content network and bumped it to .10. Try not to click on my ads will ya.
My ads.
I usually write two ads for split testing.
I also set the Ad serving option (at the bottom of the image) to Rotate so I can compare the two ads and see which one is performing better. I plan to wait one month for data to collect then replace the lesser performing ad if any need improving.
Don't forget to get a free signup at AdsBlackList.com - Filter them and increase your revenue ! and get a list of MFA sites to exclude in your Adwords campaign. It's in the "Edit Campaign Settings" section. See screenshot below.
Step 7 Watch Your Ad Spend vs Profit
I usually have Firefox tabs with Adsense and Adwords pages running beside each other so I can keep track. Adjust ad spend accordingly. Use ad tracking software like asrep to track individual clicks and impressions. The software will help you see click fraud too.
That's it. This is pretty much Drusam's steps but with the details fleshed out.
I hope some people will find this useful and the PPC experts can give some advice on how to improve it and help everyone learn.
I will report back with Adwords results.
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