This quick blog post stems from a conversation I had a few moments ago.
During a consultation my client stated he was ‘buying‘ keywords and not receiving clicks… now, I’m certainly not a psychologist, but could this be a fundamental reason why some Adwords campaigns simply don’t work? All to often I hear similar comments in relation to Adwords. Maybe this is where some advertisers become unstuck?
If you login to Adwords Campaign Manager with the impression (clearly no PPC pun intended 
) that you’re in the process of
BUYING keywords then you’re not finding yourself with the correct mentality in relation to the actual PPC process. You are entering a BIDDING process. At no stage do you own a keyword or keyphrase, and you certainly don’t BUY the keyword. Adwords are offering you the opportunity to hire that keyword in order for you to develop a new business opportunity. You don’t HAVE to hire it, it’s all a BIDDING process.
Try that keyword out, see if you like it. If it doesn’t work, there’s no contract, you simply pause or delete the keyword if you can’t make that keyword work for you.
If your mentality is that you’re in the process of purchasing keywords, your reaction is different to the process of bidding upon keywords.
Correct me if I’m wrong but when I purchase an item which I wasn’t 100% sure about there’s always a certain skeptical nature that enters my psych.
I have a black tie event to attend next week. As always, time is short and I need to buy myself a new tuxedo. I see a nice tux on the rack of my favourite clothes retailer, but there’s no time to try it on, I check the label consider the price and then think ‘what the hell, if it doesn’t fit I’ll just bring it back the next day for a full refund‘. So I take the tux home and try it on the next day, it really doesn’t fit as well as I’d have hoped. But, the journey back to the store is another hour out of my day so I calculate in my head that I’ll still wear it, sit in a dark corner, and exchange it the next day. I’ll blame myself for not trying it on in the first place. The suit cost me a total of £250… and I wear it for the evening event.. the next day I completely forget about the tux and lo and behold a month later, the tux slips my mind and I’m lumbered with a £250 ill-fitting suit never to be worn again.
Now, lets look at a different scenario.
I’m in the same store, looking at the same suit but this time, there’s the chance to hire the suit for just £50! Perfect. Off a trot home delighted in the fact I’ve made a sensible decision to hire, rather than spend £250.00 on an item I’d rarely wear. OK, the suit doesn’t fit that well, but I’ve only spent £50, and the next time I return to the shop I’ll know to hire a suit in a larger size. I’ll get it right next time.
Now, lets relate that scenario back to the real reason you’re taking the time out of your day to read this article.
The idea of ‘hiring’ a suit allowed me the benefits of ‘controlling the situation’. I knew that if it didn’t work out the first time, at least the next time I’d know to make the necessary amendment, hiring the larger size. I knew the consequence if I didn’t return the suit the next day – I’d receive weekly fines of £50… if I delayed the return by 4 weeks, I’d face a hefty bill of £250… but I knew I didn’t want that to happen – I was in control, I didn’t own, I hired.
When you successfully bid on a keyword, you’re simply ‘hiring’ the use of that keyword to meet your business objectives. You know you can amend that hire, you can control the cost, you can decide if and when to return the use of that keyword.
The process of buying a keyword inherently lumbers you with the sense of ownership – the reluctance to return it – and the distinct lack of flexibility… and the costs are seen as a long-term consequence.
It may only be a tiny psychological aspect of managing a successful keyword campaign, but working with keywords in terms of ‘bidding’ and ‘hiring’ rather than ‘buying’ may offer a new found sense of freedom to your keyword tactics. There again, I may be looking far far too deeply into a simple incorrect terminology
What are your thoughts? Do you ‘buy’ keywords?
