Beware of Overly-Broad Keywords
Broad keywords can be dangerous to your profitability.
And I'd say this is the leading cause of people losing money on AdWords – especially for beginners.
What I'm thinking is "overly" broad keywords.
I was recently talking to someone who has helps people with overcoming anxiety. So I'll use that niche as an example …
So, it's one thing to have the keyword like 'anxiety attack help' and have it as a broad match (which is the default match type).
It's another thing to have 'anxiety' and think that is a great keyword for your audience.
There are 2 tendencies that cause this problem:
1) You want to get broader to get bigger traffic
2) You usually don't realize how broad a keyword actually is.
That 2nd part is what is really insidious. You tend to think of a keyword from your perspective.
So you're thinking 'anxiety' and you're thinking "oh, everyone with anxiety in their search is looking for my solution".
But for a broad keyword, especially one word, you have to realize that can be a lot of people – coming from a lot of different perspectives.
I just did a search for 'anxiety' and saw a top link referencing a celebrity getting treatment for anxiety. Do you want to pay for a bunch of clicks for such curiosity seekers?
What if a big book or movie comes out called "Anxiety", or with "anxiety" in the title? Then you get a huge spike in clicks – again from non-qualified people who happen to click your ad.
Wow, just thinking about that gives me anxiety!
Anyway, when first starting with a niche, try to find that sweet spot of "generality". Where you're getting broad for your target audience … not so broad you'll get a bunch of "random" people.
You'll get a feel for it. And of course tracking will help a lot – to see what keywords are working (you need to do that anyway).
But when going with broadness that doesn't speak to what you're selling, be very careful … or at least take your daily budget low, to reduce your risk.
Now that's what I call a good treatment for "AdWords Anxiety"!