Google Adwords Tips
Getting to know the AdWords system
Just getting started using PPC? Then you should check out Google's AdWords, with it's ad performance bonus and overwhelming market, it's by far the first search engine you should utilize to market your company through PPC ads.
Market Dominance
Google owns over 42% of the overall search market. Their search and google content network reaches up to 80% of internet users in some form or fashion. With this type of market reach, it is obvious why you should market your company using the Google AdWords network. The real question is how to use it, and how to make the most of your marketing budget with AdWords.
AdWords Basics
The first step is understanding where your ads can be seen. There is Google's search network, which shows their ad based on relevant searches done through a search engine. The other option is Google's content network. Ads on the content network can range from high quality informational sites, to very low quality scraper sites simply built for ad production. Google does allow you to select the sites you'd like your content ads to show on allowing you to limit your ads production on poorer content sites.
Ad Types
There are three types of Ads that Google allows you to create. Each has it's own benefit and depending on your goals, each can be utilized to increase sales, and improve your overall business image.
- Text Based Ad
- Image Ad
- Local Business Ad
The Text Based Ad is the most common ad in the Google network, and you are sure to have seen it in some form or fashion on both Google's search engine and on a Google Content partner site. With four total lines of text, it is a simple and basic ad, aimed at people searching using the keywords you have decided upon. These ads will be seen across the top and right hand side of Google's search results, and will be noted in those areas with the words "Sponsored Links". When getting started with Google's PPC system, this will be the ad that you will utilize the majority of the time.
The second group of ads are the Image Based Ads, these are mostly seen within Google's content network, and come in all shapes and sizes and can range from basic graphics ads to full blow interactive flash ads, and are distributed to sites based on your campaign and keyword settings.
The final, and newest ad is the Local Business Ad, if you are a local dry cleaner with 5 locations around Maryland, you can setup these ads to show when someone local to your area searches for a dry cleaner. These are a very popular ads for companies with physical locations servicing the general retail community.
Those are the three types of ads that you can setup within Google's AdWords Campaigns, now lets take a look at the factors that you control when you setup an ad.
Campaigns & Ads
Google allows you to setup various ad campaigns to separate out who you'd like to market to, and what products or pages you are marketing to them. Once you've signed up for an AdWords account, and made your initial funding deposit of $5, then you can get starting making campaigns and ads. The first step is to define a campaign. We'll stick with the assumption that your company is a dry cleaner. You may have a few different markets that you'll want to campaign for. When selecting how you want to setup your ads and campaigns, you'll want to sit down and plan out your objectives. Lets say that you have three groups you want to aim your ad words. Men, Women, and Businesses. The first step you'll want to do is setup a campaign. We'll make the first campaign men. You decide how much you want to spend daily for this campaign, it can be as little as $2 a day to $100,000.00 a day, your budget is your limit on what you can spend. Now, once you've defined your campaign, you'll want to setup your ads.
Setting Up An Ad
We'll work through the basics of setting up a Text Based Ad as this is the most popular and most likely ad you will use when you start a Google AdWords campaign. Under your "Men's Campaign" you'll start by setting up an ad, lets say your first one is for Dry cleaning Suits. You'll want to make your ads as specific as possible, so you are only seen by your target audience, and only pay for clicks that could result in business. The first step is you'll write your ad. The first line of your ad is your "header" this is the most eye catching part of your ad and you'll want to make it stand out. Perhaps you run a special on suits, 3 suits dry cleaned for the price of 2. You're header can only be 25 characters so you'll want to write something catchy, such as "Suits 3 for the price of 2", or you may want to list your business and location "Laurel, MD Dry cleaning". The key here is to create something that will intrigue people to read and click on your ad. The next two lines of your ad are for your ad copy, and can contain more information about your offer. The final line is for the URL that you'd like displayed with your ad. We could go into quite a bit more detail about how to write your ad, and what keywords to use, but we'll save that for a future article.
Picking Keywords
Once you have your ad written, then you'll want to select keywords. Google's AdWords software walks you through this process, and can pick out keywords from your web site or allow you to type in your own. Then, Google will allow you to get an idea of the number of searches done for those keywords within the geographical area you've selected. You can narrow your ads to a city / region or expand them to be seen by the entire world. You want to find keywords that get searched, but you can limit your cost per click, depending on the keyword and market, you might be able to bid for as little as $.04 per click to as much as $10, $20 or even more per click. As you can see, if you only have a few hundred to spend on your campaign, the wrong keywords can cost you quick. We recommend working with a Partner familiar with the Google AdWords network who also has the tools and resources to find keywords that will generate business without breaking the bank.
Going Live
Now that you've created your campaign, written your ad, selected your keyword, and where you want your ad shown, Google asks you to check everything and then your ad goes live, typically within 5-10 minutes. Depending on the type of business you are in, and what keywords you are aiming your ad at, your ad may need to be reviewed before going live and Google typically reviews those ads within a 24 hour period, sometimes it takes a little longer, sometimes it takes a little less. Once approved, your ad is up and you're in business.
Coming Up
In the new few weeks, we'll be putting up articles about tracking your ads, tracking performance of your ads and getting an idea of how they are profitable. We will also show you other avenues of getting your web site noticed and seen by the world.
Tips For Success
Design For Quality: Get Results
Starting your web site off on the right foot will produce excellent results. We discuss how to do build your web site the right way.
10 Reasons your web site needs help
Learn 10 things to avoid on your web site and why they need help.
Standards based design, why you should worry about it?:
Your web site needs to be designed to the latest web standards, find out why, and what you can do about it.
News
We are proud to announce the launch of the new Grindstone Technology web site.
We are proud to announce the launch of the new web site for TyrrellTech Inc.
We are proud to announce the launch of the new Augenix Coporation web site.
We are proud to announce the launch of RNSNetwork.org. The Rheumatology Nurse's Society.
Visit our online portfolio for a full list of our latest designs.