Turning clicks into customers

If you're like most advertisers I've talked to, I'll bet you're looking for pre-qualified customers - in other words, people who are actively looking for the very thing you've got to offer.

Here's a short quiz that hints at the secret of attracting these customers:

Given a choice between the two potential customers below, who would you rather have click on your ad?

• User #1: someone who has searched for something only slightly related to what you offer, and who clicked on your ad in the hopes that you might have it.
  
  
• User #2: someone who searched for exactly what you have to offer, and who clicked on your ad because they're certain you have it.
  

If you chose User #2, then you'll be happy to know that AdWords gives you the control you need to reach this potential customer. Here's the simple secret:

Make sure that you create highly targeted Ad Groups. What are those? Well, a targeted Ad Group is simply a carefully chosen list of specific keywords, all regarding a particular something that you wish to advertise, combined with a crisp, specific, and well written ad about the very same thing.

When you advertise in this targeted way, users searching on one of your keywords will see an ad about the exact same thing they've just searched for. And when they click on your ad, they effectively arrive at your site as a pre-qualified customer; they're already interested in exactly what you have to offer.

Want more tips like this? Take a look at the Optimization Tips page in the AdWords Help Center.

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew