Running a business is not a cakewalk, especially when you have some giant players in the race. They always have an upper edge with huge marketing budgets to fuel their online marketing. It makes it easier for them to reach the first page of Google search results.
Reaching this position with SEO might take months. It is where Google AdWords comes in. Introduced in 2000, Google AdWords was the first-ever online advertising platform. It has become one of the most promising digital marketing platforms to tap the target audience and grow business.
It allows the companies to promote their products and services on Google’s search results pages. These ads generally appear on either the top or bottom of Google search engine result pages (SERP). In this blog post, let us understand more about Google AdWords.
How Does it Work?
Google AdWord is ideally a PPC (pay-per-click) advertising platform. Advertisers can reach their target audience in two different ways:
- Through Google’s search engine network, and
- Through Google’s display network
Although these approaches are significantly different from each other, they both follow a PPC bidding system. The advertisers will bid on specific keywords so that their clickable ads get displayed on Google’s search results.
These ads will be shown to users who are using specific keywords in their searches. For instance, you own a perfume business and wish to roll out your ads on Google search pages. You can bid in Google AdWords to display your ad every time a user types perfumes or scents online.
How to Use Google AdWords?
Do you know that over 5.5 million searches are held on Google every day? Moreover, you can earn average revenue of $2 on every $1 that you spend on Google AdWords. These stats make Google a hotcake for digital marketing.
Starting with Google AdWords might seem overwhelming initially. But things smoothen up when you have the right marketing strategy. Here is an 8-step guide to using Google AdWords to help you beat the fierce online competition.
1. Create a Google AdWords Account
You need to, first of all, create a new Google AdWords account. The process becomes easy if you have an active Gmail account. Click on the ‘Create your first campaign’ tab once you are done with the account creating process.
2. Choose a Campaign Name and Type
Selecting a campaign name and type is crucial to tap the right section of the audience. Make sure you select ‘Search Network Only’ as your first campaign type. Then give an appropriate name to the campaign. You can also choose a name that is associated with your brand or product.
3. Choose an Ad Display Location
It is essential to identify the location of your target audience. You can choose a specific area, city, or even the entire country. You have to use the latitude-longitude coordinates if you opt for a particular location. Select the option ‘Let Me Choose’ and identify your essential ad locations.
4. Set Your Bid Strategy and Daily Budget
The daily budget is the maximum amount that you are authorising google to charge you per day. You have two options for it; manual payments and automatic payments. You can also opt for a monthly invoicing credit line.
Make sure you set a practical budget. The best part is, you can increase the budget range anytime. As far as the bid strategy is concerned, click on I will manually set my bids for clicks to get better control over the PPC campaign.
5. Add Keywords
You might find this one tricky initially. The first preference should be to add as many relevant keywords as you can. It is what Google expects you to do to increase its revenue. However, you need to fight that urge and focus on the bullseye keywords.
You should select the keywords that the users will 100% use in their searches. For example, you can use keywords like perfume, scent, deodorant, fragrance, and so on. Remember, quality is better than quantity.
6. Create the PPC Ad
It is time you plan your first Google AdWords ad. Here are some crucial pointers:
- Around 90% of customers say that PPC ads influence their buying decisions. Therefore, you must make sure you include keywords in the headlines. It is what users are looking for.
- Remember, you only have a few seconds to attract the customers. Therefore, ensure the headlines are catchy and attention-grabbing.
- The higher quality content will result in higher leads and conversion rates.
- Mention the benefits and striking features of your products in the second line.
- Use the third line to roll out a strong call-to-action.
- The fourth line should comprise your URL that will directly lead the customer to your website.
7. Conversion Tracking Set Up
It is the last leg of the process. It is crucial to check and measure the performance of your ads. Therefore, you need to set appropriate conversion tracking before turning on the ads. Failing to do so can make evaluating the effectiveness of the ads difficult. Here are some of the options for you:
- Webform leads – All the quote requests are included in this category.
- Calls from ads – Data of the phone calls on the number displayed in the ads are recorded here.
- E-commerce orders – All the orders in your online shopping cart will be displayed here.
- Calls from the website – You can check the total number of phone calls you got from the number displayed on your website.
- Imports of sales that happened offline.
8. Adjust, Track, and Conquer Effective Digital Marketing Campaigns
Google AdWords alone has access to a network of around $2 million applications and websites. Therefore, you should keep an eye on every stat and analytics as your ads run on Google. Why is it essential?
- It will help you in understanding what is working for you and what isn’t working.
- Tracking will also help you in identifying the areas that require improvement.
- This practice will directly affect your ROI.
Takeaway
It was all about getting started with Google AdWords. These simple steps will help you in paving your way into the mainstream competition. Make sure you keep things simple, content crisp, and incorporate bullseye keywords. Your prime motive should be to roll out an impressive and compelling ad that will entice maximum potential customers.
Also read:
1) What Is The Most Popular Social Media In 2020?
2) Are There Any Promising New Solutions for Small Business' Marketing Problems?
3) Is Market Research Useful for a Small Business?
4) Top-10 Things & Technologies that will be trending in the year 2021
FAQs
Q. What are the benefits of using Google AdWords?
Ans: Here are the benefits of using AdWords:
- Works faster and better than SEO
- Wide reach
- Enhance brand awareness
- An ideal way to reconnect with the website visitors
- A better way to tackle competitors
Q. What are the three primary types of Google Ads?
Ans: The three types of Google Ads are:
- Search Network Campaigns
- Display Network Campaigns
- Video Campaigns
Q. What are Google AdWords Express and Google AdWords?
Ans: These two were the previous names for the new, advanced Google Ads.
Q. What is Cost Per Click (CPC) and Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising?
Ans: CPC and PCP mean that the business needs to pay for only when someone clicks on it. There are other advertising models like:
- Cost Per Engagement – In this, the company only pays when the user completes a predefined action like watching a video ad.
- Cost per Impression – The company needs to pay for the total number of times its ads were shown, not clicked.
Q. How can you get your ads to reach the top in Google?
Ans: Here are some factors that can define your journey to the top in Google search engine page results:
- Competitors in AdWords
- Seasonality
- Quality score
- Google Algorithm
Q. Which strategy is better: SEO or Google AdWords?
Ans: The answer to these questions depends on how fast you wish to see the results. Companies that wish to experience instant brand awareness and traffic increase should opt for Google AdWords.
However, brands that aim to improve their credibility and reach should go for SEO. In other words, it is meant to expand a brand’s presence organically to reach new consumers.
Q. How long will it take to achieve digital marketing goals with Google AdWords?
Ans: The moment an AdWords account goes live, it starts collecting data like CPC, clicks, and impressions. However, experts recommend waiting for a couple of months to see substantial results. Google will keep an eye on:
- Ad rank
- Searches that prompts ads
- Total number of ad clicks
- Time and day of conversions
- Total number of conversions
- Your budget spending patterns