Anyone who is experienced with Internet marketing knows that with the right approach running a Google AdWords campaign can be an excellent way to drive traffic to a website. But, many advertisers make the mistake of thinking that Google will do all the work for them; they also underestimate the level of ad blindness that Internet users have these days. You see, Google Adwords is not as effective as it used to be.

logoSo, how can you avoid the common mistakes and maximize your Adwords campaigns? Here are 7 key points to keep in mind:

Choose and manage your keywords wisely. This is where a lot of advertisers get off track, and there are several things to consider. First, make sure your keywords are targeted to users who are in a place to conduct the desired action you are looking for, whether you are looking for people ready to buy a product or service you sell, or they are looking for the information you are offering and will sign up with their email addresses to get it. You should also pay attention to negative keywords. AdWords lets advertisers choose those keywords they do not want their ads showing up for. When choosing the keywords you want make sure you also consider broad match, phrase match, or exact match keywords. For example, if you run a small business selling handmade soaps, you probably aren’t interested in showing up for searched like “laundry bar soap” or any soap-related queries that don’t directly relate to what you sell. Finally, make sure the ad copy ad copy matches the keyword you are targeting. The more the text matches the keyword, the more likely people will click on it.

Write ad text that is compelling. Bland or boring ad copy simply won’t do it these days. But this doesn’t mean it has to be sensational, either. Work on crafting simple, relevant, calls-to-action, that are closely connected to the keywords being targeted as well as the desired action you want users to make.

Measure and track conversions. One of the keys to success in online marketing is staying on top of your campaign’s effectiveness. This includes things like reach, click-throughs, and conversions. You need to be constantly collecting data, analyzing it, and using that information to determine where you are making mistakes as well as what you are doing right so you can direct your resources to the strategies that are paying off.

Think about the landing page. Another big mistake that advertisers make with AdWords is not directing customers to a well-crafted and tested product or category page. Instead, they direct anyone who clicks on a ad to their main homepage. This is especially important if you are directing people to an ecommerce site with many products and categories.

Don’t overlook the power of remarketing. If you are already getting a significant amount of targeted traffic to your site, then remarketing is definitely something you should be looking into. Remarketing lets you tag the users who visit your site and then gives you the ability to show relevant follow-up adds as they visit other sites, the goal being to get those people to re-visit your site.

Pay attention to what the competition is doing. Another mistake a lot of advertisers make is not paying attention to the ads their competitors are using. You need to know who is competing with you, what keywords they are using and how, what the ad copy is like, and how they have set up their landing pages. In order to get some of this information, you should check out a site called iSpionage, which will give a lot of useful information about the way your competitors are carrying out their Adwords campaigns.

Have reasonable expectations. As I mentioned at the start of this post, an Adwords campaign will only be successful with an investment of a significant amount of time, effort, and money. You have to do your research, test things out, and have a big enough ad budget to tweak things until you get it right.

Running a successful Adwords campaign is a process, but if you are willing to dedicate enough effort and resources into this process, chances are pretty good you’ll come out winning.