If you’ve been reading my ramblings for any length of time, you’ll know that I am a big fan of testing.

The only problem is, if you’re a small business, it’s hard to test without shelling out a reasonable amount of your hard earned change.

And even when you do your testing, it can be difficult to track.

The best way I have found of testing and tracking is by the use of Google Adwords.

Why?

Because they have some of the best tracking tools available on the planet.

And even if you are not planning to use Google Adwords as a marketing medium (although why you wouldn’t at least consider it – given that you can target locally – is beyond me)…

you should still use it as a measurement tool.

Let me give you an example…

Let’s say you are a mechanic.

You’re looking to pay your local newspaper or phone directory a decent chunk of change to advertise for the year.

But you’re not sure what to put in the ad.

Here’s what I would do.

Write 10 google adwords coming from different angles.

One from a “Warning” angle… another from a credibility angle… another from a free safety check angle… etc.

I think you get my point.

Then place those ads on a rotating basis, allowing readers to see the ad whenever anyone types in the word “mechanic” or associated words in your local area.

Depending on your search volume, it won’t be long before you work out which ad works best.

And when you do…

You develop the angle and use it for your advertisement going forward.

For instance, let’s say the safety check angle works…

You develop an ad around offering a free safety check.

Or whatever…

Makes sense?

Well, here’s the good news…

On Thursday’s webinar with Mike Rhodes, he’s going to show you EXACTLY how to do it, step-by-step along with plenty of other tricks about reducing your cost per click for popular keywords… long tail keywords vs. short tail keywords… affiliate marketing via Google Adwords… how to write a great google ad… how to get your ad showing within minutes… and much, much more.

If you want to attend, here’s where you need to go…

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/244739929

I managed to get away for a night with my wife this weekend in the beautiful Southern Highlands.

Never been to Bowral before, but is that a magical place or what?

Sometimes things take you by surprise.

Anyway, the place we stayed was stunning. Like a heaven away from home…

And during the night, here’s the dream I woke up to…

I was playing golf.

But whenever I went to hit the ball I couldn’t find the right club.

Firstly, because I didn’t have the right club.

And secondly because even the clubs I had, didn’t have the right ends to them.

And then when I lost a ball, I couldn’t find another ball in my bag.

Now a couple of things to remember here…

I haven’t played golf since I was like a teenager

I rarely remember my dreams.

But when I woke up, I asked myself the question:

“What was the message in that dream?”

And it came to me that when I used to play golf, I didn’t have that problem.

Why?

Because I went to the game prepared.

And that got me thinking about my business.

After all, you wouldn’t play a game of golf without ensuring you had all your balls, tees and clubs.

You wouldn’t go on a holiday without ensuring you had all your clothes, tickets, passport, etc.

And the same should apply in our business.

We should prepare before each day.

We should prepare before each week.

We should set up our office (as I am doing now) so we can access everything and it’s nice and tidy, etc.

… because this preparation makes us far more effective when we get out on the course (which is our day to day business life).

For instance, last week I took some time to organise my swipe files (swipe files are sample files of ads I can draw on when I am writing copy)…

… so that next time I write copy I can find what I am looking for faster and more easily.

The same goes with daily planning.

If you know the most important things you need to achieve that day, there’s a much greater chance you’ll achieve it than if you don’t do the preparation and just do whatever happens to be urgent at the time.

So today, take time out to prepare before you walk onto the golf course of your business.

In fact, do it every day. And do it every week. And we should really do a quick summary at least every quarter of what we have achieved and what our outcomes are for the next 3 months.

I did this years ago. And do you know what I realised.

Some of my greatest breakthroughs came from what I learnt.

The seminars I had attended. The books I had read. The audio tape programs I had listened to.

Perhaps you might find a breakthrough in taking the time to learn how to get more customers by checking out http://www.morecustomersmadeeasy.com

or learning how to create killer ads and sales letters: http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/cashflow

But whatever you do, make sure you listen to your dreams – they often have incredible messages in them.

And take time out to prepare on a regular basis.

Over the past 5 or 6 years I have made some pretty good cash-flow out of google adwords.

For those of you who aren’t aware, here’s how it works.

You place links on google adwords.

People click on those links. Those visitors come to your web site.

You convert them into customers.

You make a bundle of cash… if like I said yesterday, your site converts (and if it doesn’t you should really check out
http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/cashflow )

Anyway, the bottom line is never before at any time in the history of advertising has it been possible to toss 10 or 20 dollars at an advertising campaign,
write a few very small ads and get instant access to tens of millions of people in less than 10 minutes.

That’s right, unlike search engine optimisation you’ll be getting traffic to your web site right away.

Sounds simple, right?

Well, not quite.

The reality is it’s much harder than it first sounds.

For instance, when I started advertising many years ago I could get clicks for 9c a pop. I even helped set up a few clients campaigns.

It was literally the best value advertising strategy available.

But over the years, just like every new media which gains popularity, things have changed.

The best keywords have become very expensive.

Ads become disabled when you don’t set them up right.

And it has become far more difficult than it once was.

So you have to be much smarter. You have to test your ads more closely. And you have to be far pickier with your keywords.

Anyway, I have received a number of questions from people who use google adwords and those who are thinking about it.

So I’ve decided to run a webinar on the topic with a guy who has helped me with my own campaign, Mike Rhodes. He’s literally helped dozens of businesses improve their online marketing campaigns and generated millions of dollars in additional sales.

It’s on next Thursday, 24th June at 1pm.

He’s going to show you how to pick keywords, how to pay less for traffic, how to use adwords to make money with affiliate marketing and give you some tips on the best ways to convert that traffic into cash.

But I want to make sure this event is tailored to your needs. So all you need to do in order to register is go to http://www.askscottbywater.com and fill out
your question and details in order to lock in your seat.

Look forward to seeing you at the event.

Have a great weekend

Scott Bywater