What is Google Adwords? And why do I hear so much about it?
Being a browser of the World Wide Web, it is very unlikely that you would not have heard of Google AdWords….or perhaps you’ve heard of Pay-Per-Click (PPC)?
Google AdWords is an application used for PPC advertisement. Simply, advertisements on Google.
Many people shy away from PPC because of its synonymy with the word ‘advertisement’. But did you know over one million businesses use Google AdWords?
This post aims to give you a clear understanding of what PPC is, and how you can effectively utilize it to promote your business.
You have all seen the advertisements above that are listed in Google’s search results. Being at the top of Google gives you the tools to expose your business and get your company found online. Why do we use AdWords?
AdWords is a free tool provided by Google which enables us to simply create text or display advertisements targeted to keywords we choose and to target audiences we choose. AdWords is used by the smallest companies to the largest corporations. The beauty of Google AdWords is that every part of it is customizable. In our above example, AdWords gives us the tools to advertise only to certain demographics such as geographic location.
AdWords can be used for a variety of different reasons. Typically to;
- Expose your business
- Get ahead of competitors
- Promote your best products/services
To fundamentally advertise, to sell more products.
12 Top Tips for Google Adwords Success
- Clear Goals
For any AdWords Campaign to be successful it is important to fully understand why you are using AdWords, for what reason and who you are trying to target. Many AdWords campaigns are unsuccessful because too often businesses are not targeting the right audiences for their products. Know what you want to achieve, and exceed it.
- Budgeting
Budgeting is a priority tip here for one single reason; PPC Advertisement does not have to be expensive! Too often businesses are pressured into increasing their PPC budgets to generate leads when it is most often the case that campaigns are set up incorrectly. Google AdWords allows you to budget and control you spending to the very last penny.
- Differentiate from your Competitors
‘Home Insurance’ Yes, you and every other search result. AdWords gives us the opportunity to stop and actually take a moment to look at our products and services and discover what value we are really offering our customers. Why should a prospective customer buy your product instead of a competitor’s? Yes AdWords in keyword-centric, but this doesn’t mean your products can’t stand out above the rest.
- Keyword Research
Any successful campaign relies upon utilizing the right keywords. Often the most competitive keywords are the most expensive, but there are a massive abundance of keywords that are relatively low cost and relevant your business. Keyword Research is time consuming, but it’s essential. Find out about Keyword Research
- Use Negative Keywords
Negative Keywords can also help to save money because you tell Google what keywords not to list your adverts for. Too often business’s budgets are quickly spent because by default your keywords are thrown into a mix with a lot of generic words such as, ‘Free’, ‘Cheap’, ‘Jobs’ or ‘Reviews’, depending on your type of business. It is vital to research which Negative Keywords are specific to your industry.
- Get Funky
It’s a known fact AdWords campaigns that contain numbers and symbols are more attractive to the browsing eye. If you’re running a 20% discount on your products this Christmas, then your ad should display it. 2-4-1, £10 off? Symbols speak, and also save valuable text space.
- Targeted Landing Pages
For AdWords campaigns that you run on specific products and services, it can often be a good idea to have a dedicated landing page. A landing page, is the URL that is used in your Ad. Much success is seen through optimizing a particular page advertising a particular product. Call us for more information on Landing Pages, 01202 069450.
- Don’t Mislead Customers
As we all know, a reputation can be ruined within a minute. More so than trusted websites, we tend to remember websites or businesses alike that we have had a bad experience with. Do not false advertise, or market products that you don’t sell. A bad reputation can cost you a thousand customers.
- Conversion Tracking
In Google AdWords, we can setup conversion tracking. A conversion is a sale of a product or service, a purchase on your website, or a telephone order. It’s important to know your definition of a conversion to known when an ad is successful or not.
- Track Your Results
Analyzing the results of our campaigns is the most important part to any campaign and knowing how to successfully do this can save a lot of money. Knowing what campaigns, what ad keywords/groups were successful and knowing what wasn’t successful is a major indicator in our advertising and marketing campaigns.
- Be Mobilized
Our frequent blog visitors will know by now that we mention this statement at every opportunity. Your website bust be mobile optimized to succeed online. You are literally throwing money down the drain if your ads are being clicked on by mobile users who can view your site correctly.
- Re-Optimize
The effort of PPC is a great recipe for natural SEO. We inadvertently learn an array of skills about SEO through PPC which helps us to make informed decisions on the natural SEO of our websites. Keyword Research alone is an achievement, and re-optimizing never stops.