I finally fixed my layout woes. After I had diagnosed the problem (bloody IE and its bloody standards noncompliance *grumble grumble* do you have any idea how long I defended you against Firefox *grumble grumble* how about showing a little loyalty here) I was able to fix the whole problem by passing my entire web directory through an XTML cleaner-upper. Which reminds me that this project would absolutely not have happened without the following. I hereby pledge $20 to each of them “in the indefinite future, when I have the money to spend”, because I’ve gotten that much use and more out of them and I am feeling in a profoundly appreciative mood to people who save me time at the moment.
If you’re like me, you can’t afford at the moment to actually absorb a click from everyone who wants to click on your AdWords ad. So, at some point in the day, you go over your budget and then its no more ads for you. You can use this unfortunate circumstance to your advantage. Go to your favorite ad group, check all the keywords, and click Edit Keyword Settings. Now turn Position Preferences on, and back out to the keyword list screen. Set your preference to exclude some ad positioning slots, preferably the top ones, and watch your CPC go down. You’ll probably still run out of money during the day, but you’ll get more clicks for it.
Patrick McKenzie (patio11) ran four small software businesses. He writes about software, marketing, sales, and general business topics. Opinions here are his own.