7 Common Adwords Mistakes Newbie Advertisers Make.

When introduced to Adwords for the first time I probably made all the mistakes in the book. Other adwords newbies have also asked me questions about their campaigns too and I've notices that they also make the same mistakes.

Lots of people are throwing away their money and making these common Adwords mistakes.

1. Not using a unique landing page for each adgroup - Most 'new to adwords' advertisers are direct linking. There is a right way and a wrong way to direct link. Direct linking can be ok for testing a campaign but only for that reason. You should always try to get a domain and make a separate landing page for each adgroup that is relevant to the keywords you are using.
2. Keyword dumping - Possibly the most common mistake is getting a large list of keywords that don't have anything in common with each other and dumping them all in one adgroup. If Google cant see any relevance they will give you high bids so if you're wondering why your keywords are all $5 and $10 then this could be the reason. Your Ctr will also suffer.
3. Not using negative keywords - Its possible that you're paying for keywords that you're not advertising under but Google is showing your ads for anyway. This means that you're paying for unwanted traffic and using negative keywords can save you a ton of money on clicks. Negative keywords tell Google not to show your ad if the person types your keywords along with the that negative. eg. your ad wouldn't be shown for "free adwords guide" if you chose to use -free as a negative for the adgroup 'adwords guide'.
4. Not split testing - When you're using your money to generate traffic then you must split test in order to get the best results you can. Split test your ads by making two and replacing the poor performing one. Split test landing page headlines, offers, call to actions, layouts but only changing one variable at at time. You will be able to see what is causing you to lose conversions and split testing can be the difference between a losing campaign and one that makes you $100 a day.
5. Advertising on broad keywords - 'make money' - possible the most common keyword advertisers try to jump on when they now start out. Broad keywords usually have a lot of traffic which is untargetted. This means wasted clicks and very low conversions. Instead try to use targetted keywords that are close to the end of the buying cycle. These are usually long tailed keywords that have less competition and thus you will pay less for each click.
6. Not researching the competition - If you're not researching your competition then you are letting them take advantage of you. Its like picking a fight with a blindfold over your eyes. Your competition is watching you - they're looking at what you're offering, they're looking at your ads to see how they can do a better one, collecting opt ins so they can take your potential customers and sell to them anytime and a lot of other things that you may not be aware of. Because they're looking at you they might be having a better campaign than you are and if you do the same you could end up being the winner in your niche.
7. Fighting for #1 - Studies have shown that the #1 spot is the not the best spot to be for conversions. If you want traffic then this may be the spot to be but conversions should be your main focus. Searchers usually click the first result they see and won't usually buy without checking out a few more offers. The best positions to be are usually positions 3 - 7 on the first page. If there aren't any other advertisers then this is the only excuse for being in position #1 providing that the keyword brings you money.

There are other mistakes being made but these are the most common. Correcting these mistakes can greatly improve your campaigns and increase your roi so if you're guilty log into your Google Adwords account right now and do something about it.

It also means that you would greatly benefit from reading Beating Adwords which will allow you to save a lot of money by giving you a solid approach to building winning adwords campaigns.