Last week I blogged about “What Should My Budget be for Adwords?” I tried to keep it brief but it’s not always a straight forward question when there are so many factors that affect whether a budget will be sufficient or not.
Adwords will of course tell you if you are limited by budget but it’s always good to try and get it right from the start, though of course you can only afford what you can afford.
Here are a few other factors to consider:
Adwords improves with time:
You won’t be in month one where you will be in month six, likewise, an account will be performing better after a year of data & optimising than it was in month 6. Always bear in mind that with good management, an Adwords account will grow. Some factors may mean that there are fluctuations so month-on-month not always be a climb but certainly year-on-year you will see improvement. Of course, that will take time to form and when picking your initial budget, that will not help BUT always bear in mind that your worst performance will likely be in the first 2 months and allow for that.
Lifetime value of a customer:
Aways a point of contention, you cannot always see a sale as a one off. In many cases a conversion from a new visitor will lead to future conversions from them. Often they will come back organically or via your brand name and make a purchase / enquiry. Don’t just see it as a one off sale or enquiry… It could lead to a lot more in the future.
Established competitors are dictating keyword bids:
It stands to reason that if you know certain keywords perform well because you have a solid account with data indicating that the returns are profitable then you will bid whatever it takes to keep that traffic coming in. Your competitors will likely be in that position already and snapping those top spots may cost a lot and initially see little return. Look at other keywords until you can brave the budget!
Pick your fights wisely:
Sadly, your competitors will likely have been running Adwords for longer and in many cases may have marketing departments dedicated to their online efforts. Following on from the keyword bids mentioned above, you cannot expect to take on the big companies’ budget until you see a solid return. It’ll take time and in some cases it may never be possible.
Branded keywords are nearly always worth bidding on:
I blogged about this the other week. Branded terms can be seen as a waste of money if you organically rank in position 1 already but it’s actually one of the smartest things you can do! Have a read and decide for yourself.
Conversion lag can skew stats:
Not all sales are immediate, in fact some can take quite a long time to filter through. Find out what conversion lag is and how it can affect budget here.
Seasonality plays a part.
Search volume is VERY seasonal in certain industries will a general trend to be at the highest on the run-up to Christmas and a fall around the summer holidays (July – August.) Use Google Trends to research your key terms and bear this in mind. My recommendation would be to optimise get new campaigns set up during the quiet times so you capitalise on the busy spells with campaign that are well optimised!
Conclusion:
There are of course a huge number of factors that will affect what your budget should be. The bottom line is, the higher the budget, the quicker you get the data and the sooner you can have an account performing well. But always try to spend what you are comfortable with and try to allow for the above points.
It’s not all that straight forward picking a budget but you can chop and change it accordingly so relax and give it a go!
