How to Setup Google Ads That Work
Setting up Google Ads to boost your online marketing campaign does not automatically mean success. You probably have heard people telling you how they ended up wasting time with Google Ads. It only means that there are no guaranteed results here.
Do not get me wrong; I am not trying to dissuade you from putting the effort and time in it. What I am trying to tell you right now is that for Google Ads to work in your favour, you must be committed to it. It is not like you are getting the results you want overnight. You envision the prospective sales you get out of throwing a bunch of Google Ads. You perform some research, watch videos on YouTube, and read How Tos. After a day or two, you think you have more than enough to kickstart a campaign. Well, let me tell you right now that there is more to Google Ads than what you think you already know.
The Truth About Google Ads
Google Ads will work wonders if you know what you are doing. You may not get the results you hope for overnight, but success is inevitable. There is a chance that you have it set up in an hour or two and generate new sales right away. But do not think for a second that it runs on autopilot. It is the one mistake that a lot of people make, even those who see themselves as experts in internet marketing.
People search for all sorts of stuff on Google. But the one thing that makes all searches similar is that they all look for something specific. It could be a product to provide a solution or a service to provide a need. Your role is to give the searcher that solution. To do that, you learn how to anticipate the right search and at the right time.
Much has been said about search engine optimization and how critical it is to focus your marketing campaign on improving your website’s rank in organic search results. While it is true that SEO plays an irreplaceable role, you cannot deny that it is a painstakingly slow process. It is preposterous to expect results in a couple of months.
On the other hand, Google Ads gives you a faster turnaround. It is an essential component of your campaign, and these figures will tell you why:
- A small or start-up business will make $2 on average for every dollar spent on Google Ads
- Over 60% of individuals will click on Google Ads when they search the web to buy something.
- 90% of traffic that is generated by search advertisements is not replaced by organic clicks in case those ads are paused.
Know that those numbers are provided by Google, which exemplifies the true worth of investing in Google Ads. But before I start talking about setting up Google Ads that work, there is one thing I need to clarify for us to move forward.
It was about two years ago when Google decided to rebrand its Google AdWords platform, effectively renaming it into Google Ads. The idea was to integrate some features along with the standard text ads on a Google search. The new platform is more sophisticated, allowing businesses and brands to advertise via display, product listing, and even video.
For this article, my focus is on Google Ads search campaigns. So, if you are still interested, read on.
Creating an Account
The first step in setting up a Google Ads that work is creating an account. You can do it here How To Setup:
Supposed this is your first time, there is not much of a learning curve since there is a guided setup that makes the process easier than you probably thought. You just need to answer some questions, and you are good to go. You must import the Google Ad account to a Bing Ads account (provided you have one).
For this campaign to work, you need the following:
- Website
- Keywords
- Ad copy (the message you intend to convey to your audience)
Choose the Best Keywords
Do not forget that the way Google Ads work is that you pay for every click that your advertisement gets. Armed with that information, you will realize how critical it is to match your ad to relevant searches. If not, you are wasting away your money and efforts.
While you can come up with a hundred ways to bring keyword ideas to mind, you should know that there is a rather practical and quick way to choose an excellent keyword for the campaign. First, you must consider long tail keywords, and the reason is that it brings more specificity to your brand. Contrary to what you probably think, keywords are not case sensitive, but you must altogether avoid the use of special characters like that of #, &, and @. Be mindful of the use of spaces, too.
I talked to a lot of so-called experts in internet marketing about using branded terms. Most of them are not sold on the idea. However, my years of experience working with Google Ads made me realize how valuable branded terms can be. There is one reason why a branded keyword makes perfect sense, and that is to stave off your competitors.
When similar companies realize that you are an emerging competitor, they will begin creeping in by targeting the keywords you are using. This happens in cases when you have well-established competitors. The use of branded terms is an effective way of protecting your brand.
Furthermore, the quality score on those branded terms is expected to be high. Since you expect less competition from those keywords, it means that the cost per click will be reasonable, too. The ideal combination of a reasonable cost per click and a high-quality score usually corresponds to affordable clicks.
You may not realize it at this juncture, but creating Google Ads using your branded terms will help in sending a strong message to your audience. You likely will have your homepage rank for your brand name, and doing so means that visitors to your site will hover over the meta description before deciding to click. Simply put, your advertisement allows you to have much better control of your message.
Tips for a Compelling Ad Copy
After putting your best foot forward in figuring out the keywords to use, it is time to focus on your ad copy. This is where the magic happens.
The headline is critical because it grabs your audience’s attention. Google only allows 25 characters, but that is all you need to pique someone’s interest. When creating your headline, put yourself in the shoes of someone who is browsing Google to look for stuff they need. You never want to go to a website or ad because of a misleading headline. Therefore, you want it to be precise, relevant, and honest. The goal is to give someone enough motivation to read the next line.
Next, you have a bit more room to work with for the ad body, two lines and with 35 characters each to be exact. The ad body is where you describe your offer to your audience. It is your only chance to generate a comprehensive understanding of what you are trying to offer or sell to people. This is not the part where you try to create some mystery or force someone to do the guesswork. You also cannot write something too vague since it will do nothing but waste your money when you get clicks from ad visitors with high bounce rates.
The Landing Page
Google Ads can work to your advantage when they are high performing. They become an effective means for people to get to your website. The challenge that you must face is paying for the ads, regardless of a visitor becoming a customer or not. The way to improve your chances of conversions is to come up with a compelling and relevant landing page. You want it to fulfil the promise and high expectations from your Google Ads. You do not want to create an impression that your brand is only useful in creating a Google Ad but cannot live up to the hype.
Taking Advantage of Ad Extensions
One mistake that a lot of people make in Google Ads is undermining the importance of the ad extensions. You are probably one of those whose attention is solely on the headlines, descriptions, and path of the leading advertisement. You think that ad extensions are a waste of time. Well, you could not be more wrong about it.
Ad extensions are valuable because they help improve customer experience and add that much-needed boost for your main ad. Those extensions are a way to tell a detailed story about your brand, thereby affording the information that your target audience may want to learn about your company. I recommend putting some effort in the following ad extensions:
- Callout extensions – You can take advantage of these callout extensions to build trust with your readers. You want them to feel like you know what you are doing, and in the process, it convinces them to check out your brand. Some examples are “quick and reliable service,” “guaranteed premium service,” and “worry-free subscription.”
- Sitelinks – This extension is as straightforward as it can be – you simply add links that direct to the landing pages on your site.
- Structured snippets – The purpose of this extension is to deliver information about the product or service features you are offering to prospective clients. The term “structured” means that the information you provide is based on highly specific categories.
- Location extensions – If you happen to have a physical address or store for your business, you can use this extension by linking your Google My Business page to your Google Ads account. It is useful because it displays your business’ physical address, phone number, and other relevant contact information.
Go Mobile
More than half of your would-be customers will use a mobile device to browse the web. It is a trend that you must learn to embrace sooner than later. When it comes to Google Ads, you must see to it that you come up with a mobile-focused campaign. Going mobile is your only way to engage a significant percentage of your prospective customers successfully. In other words, you want to reach them using the right platform for their preferred device for browsing the web.
For this reason, I recommend that you create separate campaigns since it is the most convenient way to drive qualified clicks. I suggest that you perform some research on your own about the percentage of conversions on the different devices used to browse the web. You will realize that every data that you obtain will point towards mobile compared to both tablet and desktop.
A step in the right direction is to incorporate a positive bid modifier that detects visitors to your site who are using a smartphone. This method helps you maximize your ad’s visibility.
Another way is to add a copy of a previous campaign and negative bid mobile for the current campaign. You can use this method if mobile is driving a substantial percentage of conversions. And you intend to come up with aggressive budgeting for it.
Final Thoughts about Google Ads
Setting up Google Ads is no cakewalk, but you have lots of references over the web to get things started. But learning how to do it is just the first step. You must put in the effort, time, and patience to learn all the ropes for it to work.
I have seen a lot of people who wasted the opportunity to increase their sales using Google Ads because they did not understand the very essence of a PPC campaign. Before you dream of ramping up your revenue, you first must acknowledge that Google Ads is part of your investment in internet marketing. You put money to it and hope a return on your investment. Since Google charges you for every click on your ad, you must see to it that you are optimizing the campaign in a way that it will drive conversions as efficiently as possible.
