Bidding low on Google AdWords is a highly successful strategy that minimizes your risk and the amount you spend. You simply start with a low daily budget and a low cost per click (CPC).  It will take you longer to make a sale because your click through rate (CTR) may be lower (takes more clicks convert to sales) and your ads will not be in the top position (unless you have a few or no competitors).

Here are the 7 steps for a low bidding strategy

1. Keyword research

Use the AdWords keyword tool to find low cost keywords that receive a high number of searches per month (at least 1000 or more). Make sure you select exact match from the drop down when choosing your keywords. Selecting broad match won't provide an accurate picture of the number of searches for that keyword because it includes general phrases. For example if the keyword you are bidding on is "red shoes" a broad match will include "free red shoes" or "red shoes that smell" and so on.

2. Set a low minimum budget

The lowest budget you can set is $5.00. This means you will spend $35.00 a week or $150/month. Set it higher if you have a large budget however I recommend only raising it after you have collected a lot of data and seen conversions.

3. Set a low cost per click (CPC)

Decide what you wish to spend per click (ignore what Google suggests). If it's 31 cents set your default bid to 31 cents. You can adjust the bid of any keyword after setting up your campaign.

4. Turn off the content network

You only want to run your ads on Google and it's search partners to have control over where your ads are displayed so turn off the content network. Only show your ads on Google and its search partners. For the device platform only check desktop and laptop computers. Leave unchecked iPhones and other mobile devices.

5. Split test your ads

Create 2 ads so you can see which one performs the best. If you see one is clearly outperforming the other (high CTR), create a new one and test it against your control ad. The purpose of this exercise is to always try to get a better CTR to improve conversions. It will also reduce your CPC.

6. Adjust your keyword bids

After letting your campaign run for a few hours you'll be able to see how much each keyword costs and what position your ad has. The best position is between 2 and 8. The top position tends to get lots of tire kickers so adjust your CPC to achieve your desired ad position.

When your ad starts converting into sales increase your bids to generate more sales.

7. Track your keywords

Use a keyword tracker to track your keywords. You will then know which keyword  produced the sale. I highly recommend the ad tracking took AdTrackz. It will track all your keywords, landing pages, affiliate web sites and protect affiliate links all from one location.

Bidding low on your keywords stops you from overspending your budget while still obtaining good ad positions on the first page and collecting valuable data for building a profitable campaign.