You might call this, "
The $24,000,000 Book Review," after-all, I'm Dan Hollings, the guythat recently orchestrated the internet marketing campaign for
The Secret movie (ASIN:B000K8LV1O); Yes, I know a thing or two about this topic even though I'm always learning more.
Though there was a lot of mass media hoopla about the success of The Secret, from Oprah to Larry King, the Wall Street Journal to Newsweek (and not to forget, Saturday Night Live) plus more... one of the biggest secrets about The Secret was the fact that Google Adwords played a bigger role than most would believe. Indeed there was social media networking, viral marketing, word-of-mouth and a host of other marketing strategies all working in concert, but at the core of millions upon millions of dollars in sales that occurred directly from optimized Secret landing pages was a humble Google Adword campaign. Mind you, massive millions were ultimately made from other products and sources (including Amazon), but one fed the other with the internet and Google Ads playing a central role.
What does this have to do with AdWords For Dummies? In a nutshell, Author, Howie Jacobson, wrote his Google Adwords book a couple of years too late to help me with The Secret. Even one of my most dog-eared books of this category, the Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords (ASIN:1599180308) by Perry Marshall was not published until Nov 29, 2006; over a year after my work on The Secret campaign began. Ah, I guess (as the movie might say) the great sun dial of the universe was just not aligned with mine! I'm convinced, however, that if things had been aligned, either one of these Adword advertising books could have produced at least a 10% increase in my results... this would have meant millions. Don't worry Howie, I forgive you; but I'm not sure I'll ever forgive the universe for this one :-)
AdWords For Dummies is slightly more for beginners (as is typical for The Dummies Series), while the "Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords" is more advanced. Heck, let's not dice garlic here and cry; if you cut loose of 40 bucks and get them both you'll recoup your money in a few hours. But be forewarned, you'll be tempted to crank out much more money as you learn about many various and optional keyword research, competitive analysis, split-test and other pay per click efficiency tools highly recommended within these books. I've tried most of them and it's easy to plow through a lot of money on your road to AdWord riches. My recommendation is to search for free versions of these tools in the beginning or at least until you have the basics down. Better yet, why not wait at least until you've mastered Adwords well enough to start making money rather than just spending it. The secret? Don't think that pay per click means you pay as the clock ticks! Give your self time. Back during the goto-dot-com era, when I first tackled pay per click marketing , it took me a year to figure out how not to lose money at this game!
Now, on with a few comments... Even though I've never met Howie Jacobson, I knew early on that Howie spoke my language. It started in Chapter 1 when he explained how pay per click (PPC) had changed advertising from a slot machine approach to that of a gumball machine. Having once owned a rather large gumball route in my younger years, I understood that concept. Having also passed through Vegas a few times, I understand the one armed bandit (slot machine) approach as well. I commenced to chew through PART ONE of the book rather quickly as it was great info for a beginner, but basic.
Once again, as I started PART TWO (Chapter 4), Howie instantly spoke my language with this great line, "Any fisherman will tell you that the best rod and bait in the world won't do you any good in a mud puddle." Sure, it's a funny line, but it's the intro to a critically important and often "skipped" step in marketing: Discovering Your Online Market. Often people look and look and look for an undiscovered river on the hopes their discovery will give them an exclusive ride downstream to riches; it's far easier to find an existing river and just learn how to paddle upstream better and faster than the competition. If there's competition already in the water, you can bet there's money to be made. The good news is most online businesses do NOT bother to learn what AdWords For Dummies teaches. This means you can paddle fast enough to win in most rivers... if you don't skip this part of the book.
Chapter 5 is where I began to slow down a bit. Here, Howie covered "Choosing the Right Keywords" and this is a subject I just love. Yes, I know a lot about keyword research, but finding even one additional tip or technique can make a big difference; I was on high alert as I cruised through this chapter. I was familiar with the 'Peel & Stick' strategy from "Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords" - but, Howie used it in a new way. You'll find this very helpful. A free tool to help automate this strategy is available from Aaron Wall: "Open Source Keyword Phrase List Generator." Rest assured, I wasn't born loving this keyword stuff, it's an acquired love, but you'll love the results if you hunker down and do the work.
Chapter 6, "Writing Magnetic Ads" at first sounded like a Law of Attraction topic, but quickly this chapter got down to a series of very valuable and easy to grasp strategies that will attract not just clicks, but the "right" clicks. No magnets required!
One trick Howie reveals in Chapter 6 of this book (for those that love cheap tricks) is the fake www-domain trick. How could I resist! Forgive me Howie for revealing this one here, but I had great fun with this one! Basically you write your ad, but at the bottom, where Google AdWords allows you to add a display URL, you enhance the authority of your ad by using a URL closely associated with the ad, but not exactly the real thing. Hang with me as I clarify. Let's say I'm wanting to market a book, like: AdWords For Dummies but I do not own www(dot)AdwordsForDummies(dot)com. I could get www.www-AdwordsForDummies.com and display in my AdWords ad a very impressive URL... www-AdwordsForDummies.com --- try it, it works! Adwords searchers read ads quickly and do not discern a (dot) over a (dash) so www- allows you to match your URL to your ad if you do not own the URL you wish you had.
Continuing in Chapter 6 (I guess the magnets kept attracting me there) I found myself liking this Howie dude more and more. For cryin' out loud, who wouldn't? Howie likes dogs, he can juggle, Howie has a PhD in something other than marketing, he offers free vegan oatmeal cookies to his readers (by email - pg. 153) and he even plugs his wife's Comfort Soap site. I love it.
What I really appreciated in AdWords For Dummies was the fact that Howie went a great deal beyond just the internal AdWords or pay per click part. He gave incredible attention to landing page strategy. This part alone is worth the price of the book. Howie also covers in detail how to follow-up with your clients/subscribers, including a quite detailed overview of how to use the Aweber auto-responder (10 pages).
David Bullock (a top-notch taguchi / multivariate testing expert) proofed this book and you can't get much better on that! Split-testing and multivariate testing is another "acquired" love of mine and I was delighted to see Howie (under David Bullock's keen eye) covered split-testing in Adwords For Dummies. I've already revealed one too many secrets here in this review, so I'll let you discover this (one of the great underused secrets of marketing) when you read the book. Basically, if folks are splitting when they arrive at your landing page, you might want to start split-testing.
Toward the end, Howie talks about a period in his life when he had short hair and no dragon tattoo across the bridge of his nose. There's a screenshot on in Chapter 12. Don't miss that! I'm just hoping his wife can come to the rescue with that comfort soap :-)
If I continued reviewing Adwords For Dummies chapter-by-chapter, I'd end up writing my own pay per click book and that's not my intent. After-all, For Dummies publisher, Wiley, already declined my proposal for a marketing book stating: "The author seems great, I just don't see the market for this book. Would love to work with him on another project." -- go figure, maybe when I write a book on vegan oatmeal cookies, they'll bite :-)
In closing, I must admit my favorite quote in the book was in Chapter 10, where we find a rephrasing of a well known quote of Napoleon Hill, "Anything the mind can conceive, PHP can achieve."
You may or may not be a PHP programmer (and I'm only a lite-weight myself), but AdWords For Dummies offers some great PHP tips to help increase landing page relevance; it's easy stuff really - but, if you aren't inclined, you'll easily find PHP programmers to help at places like eLance or Scriptlance. However, if PHP does tickle your fancy, I highly encourage you to read a book by Jaimie Sirovich and Chistian Darie called: Professional Search Engine Optimization with PHP: A Developer's Guide to SEO (ASIN:0470100923).
AdWords For Dummies closes with the traditional Dummies "Part of Ten" - it's sort of a TOP-10 list of Adwords "things" to do or not to do. I must admit I was a bit disappointed here. Howie admits his lists would never make their way onto Letterman, but likewise, they'd not fancy my TOP-10 list either. All that aside, AdWords For Dummies is valuable book; deserving of a spot on your internet marketing "must have" shelf. And best of all, when you're done reading... you won't be a Adword Dummy any more!
URL of item reviewed: www-adwordsfordummies.com/
