Google Apps > Google AdWords: AdWords: Breaking the bank!

Should I put more money into the adwords account? I feel like maybe it isn't worth it. What do you think?

I'm looking at your AdWords account right now and I see that your settings are off - way off!!!

First the good:
* Your ad is targeted to the geographic San Diego area
* The ad link is pointing to the optimized page: www.yardswim.com/san-diego-swim-lessons.php

Now here's what's off:
* The CPC bid is set at $3.33 - that's per click! I rarely bid more than $.30-.50 (depending on the popularity of the keyword/term)
* The keyword list needs to be specific to the page that the add is linked to - the current ad still contains 73 (unrelated) terms - this add should target "san diego swim lessons" with that being one of the only keywords, if not the only one.
* * keywords like "swimming" are too broad as well as too expensive; someone searching for "backyard" isn't likely to be looking for a traveling swim instructor for their child

The solution:
I recommend keeping AdWords going, but let's stop the bleeding by correcting what's wrong.
- Reduce CPC bid to $0.10 (10 cents per click)
- Use only the keyword "san diego swim lessons" for the current ad that points to www.yardswim.com/san-diego-swim-lessons.php

The results:
You'll likely see that at $0.10 CPC you're keyword is set to inactive because the bid is too low. Then Google will suggest a minimum bid for the ad to display and we'll learn how much the going rate is. Right now you're paying $1.14 to get listed in the 8th position. We can then ratchet up the bid until you're positioned where you want to be. We may learn that "san diego swim lessons" is too competitive and we don't want to pay that much. In which case, we spawn more specialty pages to go after less competitive and more focused audiences---like "la jolla swim leassons" and "rancho bernardo swim lessons"---and pair those pages with their own ad versions that carry their own CPC bid.