Adwords CTR and Bidding

[m0rtal]

There was a post by mystickal somewhere that related to this but I can't seem to find it.

Is it a good idea to start bidding high in order to get the CTR up in the initial stages of a campaign and then gradually lower the bids? Over what period of time?

Also how good of an idea is it to leave search partners on? Do you see the same conversions with google search vs search partners?

[volknet]

Turn context network off right away.

I've spent over $xx,xxx this year in PPC marketing for google (for different sites I own)

The best / most profitable thing you could do is turn off adwords context network.

Additionally, sometimes it takes time to get your QS to a place where you can pay a lower fee.

What I recommend is find a very high converting Ad from yahoo, copy and paste that in adwords.

Use that ad... and create a bunch of variations off of that.

This high CTR will keep your QS fairly high.

Additionally, sometimes when you start there is nothing you can do except bit the bullet and pay the higher fees. Make sure to try lowering you CPC each day by a few cents... If it remains active keep it.

One thing I did find is that a lower CPC isn't always better.

If you drop past the first page, your leads really start decreasing and your CTR usually drops down a bit.

[m0rtal]

Thanks for the reply, I always have my content network off, however I'm interested in the search partners network. Google has options for google search only, search partners and content network (which I ALWAYS turn off).

[m0rtal]

Anyone?...

[mystickcal]

Yes you can leave search partners on, just don't content network on, but search partners is fine.

As for the bidding high at the beginning things its kind of a tricky thing that is different with each niche. For some niches I do bid a little high at the start to get a good ctr then I slow lower the bid a few cents every day till I get down to where I like it. Some niches this works and some it doesn't, but you can always expect to lose some money in the beginning as its just a little trick to get your ctr up, more than likely your conversions won't be that great.