Sunday, April 18, 2010

Do you click?

A few months ago, I received an offer in the mail at my press address: start advertising with Google Ad Words and get a $75 credit to the account. Well, always interested in new marketing approaches that will get my book some visibility with more readers, I decided to take advantage of the offer.

The way it works is that Google will match your ad wording and your keyword triggers to Google searches or Google paid-placement ads. Your ad will be displayed if certain criteria are met, and if a person is interested, they will click on the ad, which links to a pre-specifed page (mine is my Amazon book page). If they click, then I pay a fee, up to a pre-specified limit.

I created a few ads, selected some keyword triggers, and then tracked the status online, via the Google Ad Words user interface over the course of a couple of weeks. Here's what I found:

1. I can't conclusively tell yet whether sales went up or down on the paperback edition, but I suspect they went up (at least a little) on my ebook. I don't have up-to-the-minute tracking capability for these electronic sales, so I will have to wait until the end of the month to know for sure.

2. One ad worked MUCH better than the others in terms of getting clicks. But not noticeably better in terms of book sales (as far as I can tell). Evidently the product didn't live up to the advertising.

So, here's what I want to know from you guys:

1. Do you pay attention to the ads displayed to the right of the Google search listings? Or the Google ads on blogs?

2. Do you ever click on them?

3. Have you ever purchased anything as a result of clicking on a Google ad?

Also, do you have any suggestions on how I can improve my ad? Here's the one that's worked best so far:

Sweet & Sexy Romance
Discover debut author
Alyssa Goodnight!
www.amazon.com

And a few others:

Witty Regency Romance
Discover debut author
Alyssa Goodnight!
www.amazon.com

Debut Romance Author
Discover Alyssa Goodnight!
Available in paperback or ebook.
www.amazon.com

Three lines only (character limited), plus a link.

Thanks for any feedback or suggestions!

9 comments:

Beth said...

Have never used Google Ads and only clicked on them for a blogger friend (who eventually stopped using them). But if you're seeing some positive results, stay with it. When it comes to marketing books, pull out all the stops!

E said...

I never click on those ads, I guess just to protect myself and my computer. You never know what your clicking on until you get there :(

Stacy said...

Sorry, I never click on the ads.

Anonymous said...

It's such a subjective thing, books, but I would pay attention to "Witty Regency Romance" simply because that's my taste. I've never clicked through and bought that way, though.

Alyssa Goodnight said...

I have to admit...I never click on the ads either. Just figured why not give it a shot?

Moll said...

I purposely don't click on the ads because I know they are ads. That being said. If I do like what I see in said ad, I would go find it myself...but that has actually never happened. ;)

BUT - If I were trying to sell something, I believe you must try every possible channel.

Travis Erwin said...

I do look at the ads and I have them on my blog. It's fun to see what is paired up with my crazy mind. I like the first one the best.

Would you like to do a guest blog at my place in a week or two to promote you book and offer a link. I have an interview today and another guest post next week so I'd like to space it out but I'd be happy to help get the word out. for you.

Sarakastic said...

1. Not really.
2. Sometimes but mostly only when I don't realize they are ads.
3. Probably but again I probably didn't realize they were ads.

Barrie said...

I don't click on the ads. I like your first one best. )