Friday, January 13, 2006

AdSense & AdWords - What You Should Be Tracking

Full Moon on Friday the 13thI've got my roller suitcase packed and although I should be sleeping, I just wanted to quickly post before leaving for an event in Dallas with Robert Kiyosaki and great friend Chris Widener.

There are a zillion parameters to track if you are serious about contextual advertising. Think of your advertising as a business; that you're responsible for making it run efficiently and to make a good return for your company. If it helps, dream that you work for a major player and they expect you to be a top dog at this. It's like watching Mission Impossible and wanting to do everything like Ethan Hunt.

Here's what I am tracking, or constantly considering, and when I get in Dallas - if I have more time - I'll elaborate.
  1. How much my traffic costs?
  2. Contextual ad company.
  3. Contextual ad format.
  4. Keywords.
  5. Which ads work best?
  6. Content.
  7. Layout.

Okay, what you want to remember up front is that you must make a return on your investment - so in this case - ROI is KING. Because of that, everything must be quantifiable. Think about that, and let's discuss it further.

Talk to you soon!
Dave

P.S. It's Friday the 13th and a full moon. Many people are superstitious and because they believe something will happen, many times it does. By the same token you can change your intentions and believe that you are going to take your ad campaign to the next level. This series on tracking will help you accomplish that.