Next Steps Checklist For After Data Rolls-In.

We've talked about the checklist before launching a campaign over here.  Following these steps are essential to starting off on the right footing.  However, to keep the profits coming-in and improve your ROI, you need to continue optimizing.

Over time, you begin to gain an advantage over even the most well-funded new advertisers because you know what keywords, ads, and landing pages are the most effective.

Let's dig-in:

Keywords

  I am keeping track of my high-traffic keywords and making sure they are producing high-quality traffic.  

  I am keeping track of the conversions each keyword is producing and making adjustments if keywords just aren't producing results.  

  I am looking for new negative keywords to add to weed-out junk traffic.

Structure

 I am continually looking to create new ad groups for my top keywords. 

 If I am not already using the content network, then I have considered expanding to it with a new campaign.

Ads

 After my ads have generated enough traffic (for a low margin of error), I am changing-out the losers to test new variations.

 I am on the lookout for ads that do not make sense for the keywords they are associated with so I can replace them with new targeted ads.

Landing Pages

 If I haven't already, I am setting-up a website optimizer campaign to boost the percentage of visitors that become customers and fans.

 Once my Website Optimizer experiments are complete, I am setting-up new variables to test, while learning from my existing results.

 As I add new keywords with their own ad groups, I am customizing the landing pages to make sure they are relevant.

Content Network

  I am looking for junk sites my ads are appearing on and adding them to the "Exclusions" list so they will not show on them anymore.

  I am looking for new sites I can target with Placement Targeted campaigns.

  I am adding new types of ads I currently lack (especially different sizes of image ads).

Accountability

  I monitor my reports on a regular basis and make changes based on what they tell me.

  I am checking my analytics data for valuable information about how visitors are interacting with my site.

  I am working toward increasing my visitor and customer values so I can easily outbid the competition (because I can justify spending more for traffic).