Google AdWords

Today, I started a Google AdWords campaign for Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer. I've never done this before, so I'll be learning through trial and error. We use it for absoluteclasses.com and have had some success with it, so I figured, why not try it for my books?

I'll chart my progress here. I'm not sure how to track whether or not it actually produces sales, though-- right now, all I know is how many impressions my ads get (that is, how many times they're shown) and how many times people click on them.

I've placed three ads:

Write Articles, Get Paid
Experienced writer teaches you to
earn money writing for magazines.
www.jennaglatzer.com

Get Published, Get Paid.
New book teaches insider secrets of
what magazine editors want!
www.jennaglatzer.com

and

Write Killer Queries
New book teaches how to land major
magazine assignments + free bonus!
www.jennaglatzer.com

Thus far, the ads have gotten 267 impressions and only one click-through (on the first ad).

It cost me $.15 for that click. I've allotted a total budget of up to $1.75 per day for this campaign, and you're apparently allowed to create as many ads as you want to see which ones produce the best results. They'll alternate which ads they show.

My non-scientific tracking method for now is to see if my Amazon rank changes much. Currently, Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer is ranked 5,417. It fluctuates daily, though-- yesterday it was around 4,000 and earlier in the week it was about 9,000. (This is why it'll be hard to track whether or not the AdWords really have an impact on sales.)

Anyone else ever try this method?

OK, I changed around all my ads and have now gotten 55 clicks to my book's page as a result. However, my Amazon rank has dropped! It's now about 16,000. I don't know if this is the case, but I'm guessing it's because I got my first 4-star (as opposed to 5-star) review. It's a very positive review, but ever since that lack of a star appeared, the rank has dropped. You think it could have that much of an impact?

Hi Jenna,

Your ad copies sounded good to me. Too bad about the Amazon ranking - just take a look at mine and I'm sure you'll feel much better about yours *grin*.

I never have quiet understood their system. I'm ashamed to say that I don't pay much attention to my ranking - guess I should. I'm at 1,453,744 now. Not great, but maybe it will improve once Amazon actually receives a shipment of my books to sell. I'm STILL waiting on the printer. *Sigh*

I'm 99.9% sure it's not affected by stars or lack of Jenna. It goes strictly by sales. I've been hovering around 25-35,000 for weeks now and I'm thinking it only needs a couple of sales a week to stay in that area. If you were to sell 5-10 books over a day or two you'd be back into 4 digits again, or near.

I'm 99.9% sure it's not affected by stars or lack of Jenna.

Click to expand...

Oh, no, no, I meant could it be that people aren't buying the book because of that one review on top?

I watched it happen with Words You Thought You Knew-- the sales were very good, then I got one negative review and the rank dropped tremendously, overnight. Then I got a bad "review" from someone I banned from this board-- definitely never read the book-- and after that point, the rank went to about 300,000 and never recovered. Those reviews make a huge difference in sales.

But I wouldn't have expected that with the new review on Make a Real Living because it was a positive review-- it just was 4 stars instead of 5. Nonetheless, my rank's dropped ever since it appeared, and I've been publicizing the book more than ever. Could be a coincidence.

Kali, yeah, your book's showing up as out of stock at Amazon-- makes a big difference. Not a lot of people will order a book if they don't think they're going to get it within a week or so. (I ran into the same problem when my publisher ran out of one of my books and it took a month for them to do another printing-- ugh!) But it sounds like a terrific book, and congrats on the super reviews! I may just have to get a copy. Is it going to be on Barnes & Noble's site? (Just asking because I get gift certificates there when I spend a certain amount on my credit card.)