You want to start Off your Adwords campaign with a high cost per click. For anyone on a marketing budget, that certaintly sounds counter intuitive. But the simple truth is you are looking to save money in the long run.
Setting an initial high cost per click is one of the best kept secrets of the Adwords industry. Your quality score for any keyword is largely determined by the number of consumers who click your ad. Google allows the marketplace to determine the best ads in a Darwinian survival of fittest game. The more clicks your ad gets per impression, the more Google increase the quality score.
Lets assume you’ve already optimized your Adwords ads and landing pages according to the Adwords Strategy Guide. When you do so, your ad starts with a high quality score. This is important so that you will get better ad positions and more traffic for a much lower cost.
But if you bid a low cost per click your ad is going to show at lower ad positions. That means your get impressions, but since you are not in the top 3 ad positions you are going to get fewer clicks. Impressions without clicks lowers the CTR. Lower CTR causes Google to think the ad is not relevant and lower the quality score. You need a CTR of at least a half percent.
Instead, you start with a a high initial cost per click. You bid for the top three ad positions, or perhaps the top ad position. Keep in mind you’ll still get the top spot cheaper with the Adwords Strategy Guide than without out. Now your getting many clicks per impression and your CTR is on the rise. Your quality score goes up.
About two weeks after the launch of your campaign you can begin to slowly lower the click per click. Your high CTR will allow you maintain your top three position while the cost per click is dropping. As long as the CTR remains high, you can keep dropping the cost per click and still maintain your ad position.
You will have a few weeks of a high cost per click. However, in the long run you will be able to have cheaper costs per click because of the CTR you captured in those first few weeks.
