• Site Pro News , Monday, January 7, 2008 4 PM

AdWords may be the most powerful and widely used search marketing platform, but it's still a bad channel for advertisers to invest in if they can't get a good ROI. Leighton James illustrates a number of the mistakes search marketers can make when using AdWords--from failing to direct users to customized landing pages, to running campaigns on the content network without modifying bids--and how they can erode the bottom line.

Avoid the trap of crafting long lists of generic keywords and work to develop a highly targeted set of words for your niche. "Don't trick yourself into thinking that broader is better," says James. "With AdWords that's just not true."

Don't forget to include said keywords in both the headline and body copy of the ad, and try out all of the matching options that AdWords offers, as broad match may work best for some campaigns, while negative, exact or phrase matching will net greater conversions with others.

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