The Beginner’s Guide To Google Ads

Altitude Digital
0
Google AdWords

6Sep

2021

Everyone loves Google; some because of the unmatched web experience and others because of the advertising platform that is offered by the search engine. Either way, statistics indicate that approximately 2.3 million internet users are using the search engine every second. Google’s influence in the digital marketing world is beyond measure and touches every channel that marketers require to promote their goods and services.

Being search a powerhouse, Google is bound to attract a large number of supporters for its services search as Google Ads. But unfortunately, it doesn’t attract everybody. Before going any further, let’s get a reminder of what Google Ads is!

Google Ads is an advertising service for businesses that intend to display ads on the engine and its advertising network. In layman’s terms, the adverts that appear on top or the bottom of your pages are Ads ads that a company paid for. They do this so that people will notice their businesses every time they search for a particular service on Google. With this advertising platform, business owners don’t even need to pay for their ads until someone clicks on the link. This kind of strategy is known as pay-per-click advertising.

In pay-per-click advertising (ppc), the advertiser bids on keywords that relate to their business. They are then offered the chance to display their advertisements to the target audience and only pay when people click on those Ads. This is a great opportunity for businesses as if offers them a chance to expand their focus and only display their ad to potential buyers.

With Google claiming over 75% of all internet users, a lot of people are bound to buy or at least be interested in what you are offering, leading to unmatched potential growth for your company. Ads basically connect your business with qualified potential customers.

 

 

Is Google Ads right for your business?

In theory, the idea of Google Ads sounds promising and quite the ultimate breakthrough for your business. However, the approach does not work in isolation, which is why you need a clear sight of your goals before taking the plunge. If managed correctly, Google advertising can make the huge difference in whether your business converts customers or simply fizzles out and loses credibility in the market.

If you are considering using Google Ads, then you are a step closer to taking your business to a much higher level. By using the right keywords for the right audience, your business will see immense growth in potential, reduced wasted expenses, gain better control of your business, maintain elegant communications, improve customer service and get a competitive advantage.

Below are five reasons why your business should be using Google Ads.

1. Google Ads are measurable and flexible

The online platform is flexible and easy to measure. It allows your prospective customers to survey your goods and buy them at their own convenience and pace. Measuring the success of the Google Ads campaign is also efficient and well facilitated at no extra costs. Google Ads contains customizable options that will enable the campaign to go hand in hand with your individual needs.

2. Much faster than Search Engine Optimization

SEO takes a lot of time before attracting numerous quality clicks that may lead to sales. On the other hand, Google Ads are likely to bring in quality traffic right away. While this might not bring money right on the spin, it gives you the chance to identify the effectiveness of your keywords based on your Google Ads data.

3. Engaging in nature

The presence of Ads in videos on YouTube and product listings are engaging to viewers, which triggers a desire in knowing more about the product, which in turn increases the chances of your campaign’s success. The ever-emerging Ad formats and extensions engage customers and lure them into checking your website out, which might ultimately lead to sales.

4. Enables you control your advertising costs

With Google Ads, you don’t have to use more than you intend. In fact, Google Ads allows you to set your daily maximum budget. This gives you the wriggle room to plan for your campaign effectively with no fear of over budgeting. However, it’s important to know that the lower the budget, the lower the frequency of the Ads.

5. Google Ads are the best way to beat your competitors

 

The characteristic speed of Google Ads gives you a major advantage of competitors. Appearing at the top of search engines will enable your site to receive more traffic from searches than other companies. If your competitors are also advertising, remember they would not use the platform if they didn’t see the benefit.

Google Ads is one of the most effective ways to connect your business to quality potential customers. By using this platform smartly, a business can see huge growth in their sales and revenue.  All businesses can take advantage of Google Ads; however, only a few of them are fully aware of the power of the platform. If your business is floundering on the fringes when it comes to internet visibility, Google Ads might exactly be what you need.

 

If you are still with me, let me take you through a few points you will need to consider to make your Google advertising successful.

Set your goals right

Without setting your highly targeted goal, your Google Ads can turn out to be a waste of valuable resources, money and time. Setting your advertising metrics correctly allows you to identify the right audience, track advertising performance and ensure all advertising is getting you a positive ROI (Return On Investment). Setting the right goals will also allow you to understand the right sequence of steps to ensure that your advertising is felt online. A company’s marketing objectives should be the first priority when planning for Google Ads advertising.

How good is your landing page?

A Google Ads campaign is not going to be very successful if the landing page (where you send people that have clicked on your ad) hasn’t been properly structured in a way that appeals to the customers’ needs. A well-designed landing page ensures that all the key operations of your business are communicated and represented effectively to your potential customer. Moreover, it ensures that your business’s history, experience, capabilities, services, and awards are properly represented to adequately meet the customers’ needs.

To ensure the success of your web promotion campaign, you need to;

  • Keep the landing page simple and well organized. Do not overuse ads, icons, banners, and badges in your site. Instead, let your site have plenty of white space and flat design to make it more user-friendly.
  • Make sure there are visible CTA’s (Call To Actions), paying attention to make the page appealing and easy to read. Use your Landing Page to provide useful answers to questions on the customers’ mind before even arise.
  • Make it easy to navigate. Provide links to all information a potential customer might need to buy from you. Catchy subheadings and titles ensure that the audience does not struggle to find the information they are looking.

 

How long should I use Google Ads as my advertising technique?

You can use Google Ads for as long as you want. The amazing advantage of advertising on Google is that you can advertise for as long as you want. If you have a short term promotion you can run a countdown campaign and stop once the sale is over.

That being in mind, most businesses will see the greatest benefit from their advertising campaign after 2-3 months. By this time your company will have some valuable marketing intelligence. You will know what keywords are generating conversions (goals we set up earlier) and can spend your advertising budget more strategically.

How to start advertising on Google Ads

To get started with Google Ads, you will need to get registered. This process is short and involves;

 

  • Creating an account.
  • Setting your budgets correctly.
  • Writing your first ad.
  • Deciding where you would like it to appear.
  • Setting your campaign live.

Common mistakes made when using Google Ads

1. Using the wrong keywords

Your Google Ads campaign has the potential to go terribly wrong if you use the incorrect keywords. Using broad match terms for your campaign can generate a large volume of clicks, but if set up incorrectly can have your ad showing to the wrong kind of client. If using broad match keywords, you must develop an extensive negative keyword list (discussed later) as well. A good example of this is if you are selling leather lounges, the last this you want is people searching for leather handbags being shown your ad and potentially clicking.

It is imperative to understand that choosing specific keywords makes up a huge component of how effective your campaign will be. You will not be successful unless you take the time to research what your customers are looking for. Once you understand what they are searching for, you can build your targeted keyword list and show your ads to only those searchers.

2. Poorly written Ads and lack of Ad Extensions

When setting up a Google Ads campaign the second most crucial part of the process is writing compelling text ads. This may be the only information a potential customer ever sees about a business and the services they offer. Use this space to convey why someone should choose your business over everyone else on the results page.

Failure to have Ad extensions is one of the biggest mistakes that advertisers make when setting up their campaign. With ad extensions, Google allows you to take up more advertising space on the results page. Adequately use ad extensions like site links, location, and call extensions will help you set up and run a better ad. These necessary ad extensions will increase the number of potential clicks that you receive which can ultimately lead to increased sales.

3. Failure to understand the return on investment and conversions

It is always important to keep track of the ROI and conversions when running a and form of advertising, Google Ads is no different. The conversion a campaign receives will help you track and improve the performance of your campaign. It is important to always review your advertising to ensure you are in a positive position. Google allows you to set up conversions from the tools and analysis menu inside your Ads portal.

The best way to ensure your business is growing is to understand your campaign’s conversion rates and how you can improve them. Having a good understanding of your campaigns conversion expectations will allow you to forecast your performance, and plan future campaigns.

4. Fear of using negative keywords

With over six million keywords processed by Google each day, it is amazing to think that around 15% of these have never been searched before. With this in mind, we need to understand that if our campaign is not targeted correctly we will show ads to the wrong type of customers. By using negative keywords, you are telling Google to not show your ad, or exclude keywords that aren’t related anyway to the product that you are selling. The negative keywords will lower your cost and increase your revenue. Adding negative keywords is by far the easiest way to boost your ROI, reach the most targeted clients and reduce your costs. Moreover, it helps increase the Google Ads quality score.

5. Not bidding on your own brand

In order to increase conversions, many businesses choose to bid on their business name. This strategy allows advertisers to gain extra dominance on the search results page. This strategy is increasingly important if there are others companies also bidding on similar terms.

You may think that a customer already knows who you are so why should I pay for them to visit? Whilst this is a good point, you do not want to run the risk of a customer seeing a competitor’s ad and making a purchase with them instead. Something to note is that Google can recognise that the search term is your business name and they charge you accordingly. Most business name keywords only cost a very small amount.

6. Failure to understand your customer lifetime value

Understanding the time and money that you need to spend to acquire one new customer is one important factor with any form of advertising. Another key point is understanding the lifetime value of each customer. When many businesses start advertising they look at the cost outlaid and compare it with the initial sales received. Whilst this is a good gauge of the marketing result, further assessment is needed to really assess the value of each new customer.

The lifetime value of a customer takes into account not only for the initial sale but for all expected subsequent sales as well. A good example of this would be a local dentist. Once they acquire a new customer, they can expect (if the service is fantastic) that the patient will visit again every 6-12 months until they move out of the area.

By getting a better understanding of the LTV of a customer, the company will be able to more accurately assess the success of their Google Ads campaign.

7. Failure to test the optimise your ads and ad position

Google ads are shown using a bidding system, the business that has the best Quality Score, multiplied by the amount they are willing to spend will show at the top. If you fail to bid more than other competing advertisers targeting the same keyword, your ad will be most likely not appear at the top. High-quality Ads are dependent on the quality of the keywords, quality of the text ads, click-through rates, and the landing page experience. The quality score will get your ad placed in a higher position.

It is important to remember that the first position might not be the best for your business, typically you will be spending more for each click, and if you’re not getting the ROI, your result may be diminished.

All businesses need to remember that for a Google Ads campaign to be really effective the end customers must be in mind. If you do not know who your customers are, how are you going to effectively target them with highly compelling ads? By understanding your prospective customers and presenting them with a compelling message, any business can have great success with Google Ads.

Remember, always keep your Ads business-oriented, problem-solving in nature, life-improving and engaging; the better the Google Ads, the better the results.

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