Not being able to spend my daily budget

Hi all,
I hope this question isn't too obvious, but I'm relatively new - I've been working on AdWord for a few months now and have a problem.
Although we sell a very niche marketed piece of software (copy protection/anti piracy) that costs $'000 to $'000's, I am getting between 50 and 100 clicks a day through to our site - which is o.k. The click through rate is approximately 0.2% with Content switched on and about 1-2% with it switched off (but slightly lower traffic volume, so I'm never quite sure which to go for - with Google's preference for higher CTR%).
However, I never seem to be able to spend all of my daily budget! Sounds odd I know, but it's true! I have 7 campaigns between $5-$50 a day, making about $100 a day in total. We are placed between 3-6 on all of these campaigns so this is my thought - is it possible that my ads are being displayed 24 hours a day and that because it's a niche market, I have reached maximum impression rate already? I can't believe that - but how do I tell? I was thinking that if I reduced my average CPC then I would drop a few places but I would be viewed more often - but this has not happened as I'm still only spending half my daily budget. I have asked Google, but they never seem to actually "answer" your question. Am I being penalized for an historically low CTR% Am making a typical "newbe" mistake?
Does any one have any thoughts on what I should or can do?
Many thanks for any input - it would be greatly appreciated!
Dorian.
http://www.nalpeiron.com/

Never mind the daily budget, what's more important is the CTR and conversion. To estimate the numbers of people search , look at your adword account stats, and see what the daily Impression number is. If you can invest $1000 a day and get back $2000 profit, it's alright. So don't give too much consideration of daily budget. Maximize the performance of your ads (high CTR and high Conversion); then set the daily budget free.

Based on info provided, I suggest to

1. turn OFF the content option to increase the CTR. I suspect your ads are shown on too many "junkie" content sites that drastically lower your CTR (many sites are created for the purpose of showing your ads and hope someone will click the ads, and many of these sites are simply junk).

2. 0.2% CTR is way too low... It's time you:
increase the max bid amount AND:
twist your ad to increase relevant click thru

Make sure your keywords are on the Title of the ads.

Type in your main keywords on google and see what ads are on top; and learn from them.

Create at least 10 different versions of ads to see which ads perform better. Google will rotate the ads and tell you the CTR.

Add some catchy relevant phrases to attract eyeballs.

Trial and error.

Hi - thanks for the reply - yes, very useful indeed. I really appreciate you taking the time to write.

Taking this on board, let me see if I can come back to you on them:

1) I turned off Content just after my original post - but I was a little concerned so it is great to know someone else advises this as well - thanks! What happened - my CTR went from .2% to 2% ! Fantastic - except that I'm getting half as much traffic as I used to! Though a 10 fold increase in CTR has got to be worth it as Google will reward me now for having a higher CTR?

2) Increase the max bid - I can do this, but if I'm already high enough on the ranking (no. 3-6 mostly) why do I need to? Won't I be seen more if I lower it?

3) Keywords are in the titles - so we get the bold and I have capitalization etc.

4) I have looked at our main competitors - and here's something interesting. Their ads are all very "un-salesy". I quite like them, but my boss paid a copy guy to write something a bit more catchy and exciting. "Save 67%" "Smash your Software Costs" etc. Guess what - these ads didn't do as well as the more plain ones I wrote (learning from my competitors).

5) So - how to stand out from your competitors without resorting to real salesy/cheesy ad copies? After all, it' a very niche market where reputation and service are very important. Though I agree, having something catchy in the ad is great - if it can be done well.

So - I will take your advice and:

1) keep Content off for now

2) work on my ads - I have about 40 in total over 7 campaigns. I try and split test, but perhaps not as successfully as I would like (being a niche market we often don't get enough clicks to split test for quite a while). I do try and have one ad for each main keyword - and just change that key word - e.g. Software Copy Prevention is the title for the key word Prevention and Software Copy Protection is the title for the keyword Protection. The ad is the same.

3) Aim for relevancy and higher CTR's

Many thanks again for your invaluable help and advice.
Dorian.
http://www.nalpeiron.com/
p.s. we sell high priced software copy protection SDK's and Dongles - so the average sale is from $'000's to $'0000's.

Hi Dorian:

Glad you have improved the Adword campaign. Yeh, it's a learning experience. After awhile, you will be an expert...of course, you will be paying your due & fee. And Google loves it...

When I started out on Adword, I "burn" lots of $$$$ and may be I'd contributed to Google's drastically rise in share price,,, :-)

Anyhow, I think 2% CTR is still low. All my Adword campaign have CTR more than 10%. Remember, I mean qualified clicks, not junk clicks. And my conversion is 8 to 12%. That conversion indicates whether you are attracting the right click or not.

Remember, do not emphasize too much on number of clicks. Concentrate more on Qualtiy clicks. Quality clicks = high conversion = more sales = higher ROI = Happy boss...

Your can place some junk catchy phrases like "free bonus..." and you would attract more visitors. But most of these clickers are free-loaders and are NOT your customers. You just attracting these free-loaders to click your ad and burn your money.

So, pre-qualify your clickers. Especailly if you are selling decent price products, or if your Ad cost price are high.

I would suggest, for your main keyword, set up a separate campaign with just this main keyword. You will have a better control and better tracking. And create high appeal targeted ads just for this main money KW. Do not mix your MAIN money KW with other secondary KW's. Group other secondary KW in other separate campaigns, and have your MAIN $$ keyword in its own campaign. That's important.

Now, try to mimic the top ads of your competitors, do not copy. Copyrighted. Twist it, and add some variations.

Yes, hard sell chessy ads would not work if your target customers are educated professionals. So you have to define your customer demographic and create ads according to their taste.

One thing, you are selling benefits, not just a product. Ask, what benefits your product provides, then place it on the ads.

For example,if you are selling anti-virus software. People searching are looking for products that would help their computers rid of virus. SO, may be something like..

"Anti Virus breakthrough
Destroy all virus from your computers
or your money back.... "

Things like that, this ad has the main KW (anti virus) in the Title (if you are selling anit virus software). The description below outline the fear and benefit of how your product can benefit the users.

So, on a piece of paper. Write down:

The demographic of your targeted customer base. ANd see what would appeal to them. If you are targeting to teenagers, use words like "cool" "wow" would help. THink like your customers, and see what would appeal to them.

Write down the benefits of your products, not just the price..
for example, ease of use, money back guarantee,,,, etc

Learn from other ads. Go to digitalpoint.com, they have a very useful Adword page that shows all top adwords ads. Learn from them, mimic some of them, but NEVER copy them. Twist it.

Let Google rotate all your ads and check back daily to see which ads pull. ANd track your conversion and CTR.

For max bid, I always try to aim at postion 1 to 3, if cost is justifiable. People tends to ignore ads under position 3 or 4. Try it, increase one of your main KW bid price so it places above poistion 3. Monitor it daily to see how it performs.

Well, good luck

Thanks! This is a lot to be looking at.
I will take it on board and put some of it into practice over the coming week!
I will post back before the end of the week with what I have done.
Thanks again!
Dorian.