Hello dallasbabe-ga,
I have examined your question and the Modernbook site, as well as
Google's descriptions and suggestions for the AdWords program, and
other commentators' suggestions.
I think that the most important thing to keep in mind is that you
don't need to get the keywords and ads exactly right at first, or even
later on. You can test whether certain keywords and ads produce good
results, and then change the keywords or ads that are less successful.
(Ideally, you should read all of the information that Google provides
about AdWords before you begin, and then consult it as needed
afterwards.)
"Adwords - Account Maintenance: Common Tasks"
Google
https://adwords.google.com/select/faq/tasks.html
It is clear from your question that you know about the keyword
matching options, which are listed here:
"Google AdWords FAQ - Account Set Up: Keywords"
Google
https://adwords.google.com/select/faq/keywords.html
I'm not sure whether you have tried the keyword suggestion tool:
"Google AdWords Keyword Suggestions"
Google
https://adwords.google.com/select/main?cmd=KeywordSandbox
If you enter the list of keywords that you've identified, you will get
a large list of suggestions, including the following ones that seem
somewhat promising:
discount magazines
fine art photography
fashion designers
books online
nude photography
magazines online
glamour photography
design magazines
fashion photographer
men's fashion
women's fashion
erotic photography
photography galleries
photography nude
art photography
fashion photography
erotic art
There are probably other keyword combinations in this list that will
strike you as possibilities as well.
If you combine these terms, the terms listed in your question, and
other terms that you have mentioned in the text of the question -- for
example, Bay Area, haute couture, and store -- you will end up with a
pretty overwhelming list. I sense that you want a manageable list, so
I will make some suggestions for pruning the number of keyword
combinations.
I think the best (even though imperfectly written) advice I've seen
is:
"Avoid keywords that are too general ... like 'business' or 'free'.
[Tailor] each keyword to your offer and use relevant terms/words in
both the title and the ad body."
"Google Adwords: Higher Traffic and Sales in 2 Hours or Less!", by Ben
Chapi (2001)
The Write Market
http://www.thewritemarket.com/articles/chapi.htm
While this advice (like many others) relates to AdWords before it was
changed in significant respects in 2002, I think that it still
applies.
If a million people (perhaps an exaggeration) are placing ads with the
keyword "books", the chance that this keyword will help you is quite
small. By contrast, if you use the keywords <photography books>, you
will have a better prospect for success. Perhaps you will do even
better with <fashion photography books>, or perhaps that is too narrow
-- you can experiment to find out. In any event, you should create
ads that will be attractive to the person who searches for those
keywords.
My feeling is that you can eliminate the single-word keywords, such as
"books" and "art". There are many advertisers who will compete with
you over these general keywords. Moreover, most people who search for
"books" or "art" will not be interested in targeted ads for particular
types of books or art, or in ads for books or art in the Bay Area.
I suggest that you combine those single words with words that are more
descriptive of your store. Relatively few people will search for <bay
area photography magazines>, but those who do will likely be
interested in your store. (Incidentally, one thing that you should
consider is whether you want to include the specific town where your
bookstore is located, or even San Francisco or SF, as part of your
keyword combinations.) Or, supposing that your store features the
Leonard Nimoy photography book like Modernbook does, then the keywords
<nimoy photography> or <nimoy photographs> might work well.
Terms like "discounts", "specials", "free shipping" and "store" seem
too broad, and are not very descriptive of your store (as opposed to
anyone else's store). They seem like ineffective keywords, even in
combination with other keywords. Perhaps they can go somewhere in the
ads.
You probably noticed that I have enclosed some keyword combinations in
angle brackets. In fact, you would have to decide between square
brackets, quotation marks, or nothing at all. (I used angle brackets
because I did not want to pre-judge the issue.) I haven't seen much
advice on this topic, so I'm going to rely on my experience as a
Google Answers Researcher who spends a lot of time searching on
Google.
Quotation marks seem best for words that will always be in a
particular order, one right after the other. In contrast, no marks at
all is best for a set of words that might show up in different orders.
So <haute couture> or <contemporary art> should go in quotation
marks, while you could try <fashion photography magazines> either with
or without quotation marks.
The square brackets and minus signs seem risky to me, unless you're
quite sure that you want to target people who type specific words and
nothing else, or to exclude people who type a particular word. I
suppose that you could reasonably say, 'I don't want people who are
searching for fashion photography studios, so I'll put a minus sign
before "studio" or "studios" after the keywords "fashion
photography".' But I think that the better strategy would be to
include a positive keyword along with "fashion photography", such as
"books" (or even just the phrase "fashion photography books", though
some people might search for <books on fashion photography>.)
This would be my initial list of 27 keyword combinations:
"modern art" "bay area"
"modern art" books
"modern art" magazines
"modern art" postcards
"modern art" "greeting cards"
"modern art" gallery "bay area"
"contemporary art" "bay area"
"contemporary art" books
"contemporary art" magazines
"contemporary art" postcards
"contemporary art" "greeting cards"
"contemporary art" gallery "bay area"
"urban lifestyle"
"metropolitan lifestyle"
"haute couture"
"modern architecture" books
"modern architecture" magazines
fashion books
fashion magazines
design books
design magazines
photography books
photography magazines
"fashion photography" books
"fashion photography" magazines
"landscape photography" books
"landscape photography" magazines
[Note: Words inside quotation marks would go on one line; any other
keywords should go on a separate line. A keyword combination like
<"modern art" gallery "bay area> should be distributed over three
lines.]
In addition, or instead, you could add "bay area" (or some other
geographic designation) to the keyword combinations that are currently
lacking them. "Modern" or "contemporary" can be added where you think
appropriate -- perhaps a combination like <architecture books> is too
broad in comparison with <"modern architecture" books>. (Words like
"nude" or "erotic" would probably be less successful, given the
competition with adult-oriented web sites.) Other specialized words
can be included (like "nimoy" in the example earlier) if you have more
targeted ads.
I suspect that tinkering with the combinations, and comparing the
results, will lead you to the combinations you want.
Perhaps others will comment on this question -- the more opinions (as
long as they are informed opinions), the better. Moreover, you will
likely receive good comments, and find some good prior advice, at:
"Google Adwords"
WebmasterWorld
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum81/
- justaskscott-ga
Search strategy:
Browsed Google Adwords pages
Searched on Google for:
adwords keywords
adwords keyword |
