Happy Birthday, Google Grants!

2010 marks the 7th year of Google Grants and to celebrate our birthday, we'd like to share 7 pieces of Grants-specific AdWords wisdom from the Google Grants volunteers.

1. Maximize your ad: You don't have to repeat your organization's name in your ad text if it's already included in your URL.
   
   
2. Send the right message: When creating your ads ask yourself this question, "If I searched on this keyword, would I expect to receive this kind of offer?" People are expecting to find what they are looking for, so make sure your keywords are relevant to your ad and its call to action.
   
   
3. Negative keywords are your friends! Even after your campaign is up and running, keep an eye on search queries to find new negatives to add to your campaigns. For instance, if your organization offers educational games, you could add "xbox" to your gaming ad groups to improve your campaign's performance.
   
   
4. Change is good: Log in often and tweak, tweak, tweak!
   
   
5. Make your ads stand out: Make your ad text relevant, but emotional. Most of the causes that you're serving are heartfelt. This change will make them stand out from the paid ads on the page.
   
   
6. Make your AdWords account a reflection of your website: This will help you create an account with the best structure by using different ad groups focused on the different sections of your website. Use targeted keywords and URLs that direct users to the most targeted page of your site.
   
   
7. Embrace analytics: Even if you use it only to find out what keywords users are typing into search engines to find your website, it's well worth the effort and will open up a whole new world of opportunities for connecting with your constituency.
   
   

And since we have a soft spot for birthday traditions - here's an extra "one to grow on" - a whole list of tips from the Google Grants volunteers.

Cheers!

Posted by The Google Grants Team