Pay Per Click Campaigns – Our Top 10 Tips
Google Adwords is Google’s online paid for advertising. If you do a search on Google you will probably see ‘sponsored links’ at the top and down the right of the page, alongside the organic search results.
These links are generated by Google Adwords, you can set up campaigns which show your advert based on the keywords you set. But each click will cost you money.
Adwords are a great way to help boost your sales, especially for short term advertising campaigns where you need the word to get out as soon as possible – maybe you are promoting a new product, or service, or have a limited time special offer? Adwords can bring this to your target audience immediately – whereas ranking in the organic search results can take time.
But how do you stop it from costing you the earth?
These are our top 10 tips on maximising your results, whilst minimising the costs, with your Adwords campaigns.
1: Make sure your website is ready
There is very little point in having customers reaching your website if they will not stay on it, remember once they have clicked you have already paid.
Make sure your website works, loads quickly, is easy to use, and is appealing to your customer.
2: Don’t make it hard work
Your customer has searched for what they want – your website has appeared as a result, make sure what they see when they land on your website is relevant.
Create landing pages for your adverts that are directly related to your campaign. If your campaign is for a specific product, link to that product page on your website.
3: Be Specific
There are many advantages to being more specific with the keywords & phrases you use. Jewellery may get a million searches a month, but chances are you would be paying £5 a click to have an advert targetting it, and the people using that keyphrase may not be looking for your products so your sales per click would be low.
Tailor your keyphases to match closely to what your website offers. are offering, ‘solid silver handcrafted jewellery’ might get a 10th of the clicks but you know that the people searching are looking for what you provide.
Make use of the Google tools provided – check variants on your keyphrases, see how many searches they receive and how much they will cost you per click.
4: Make it relevant
Set up your campaigns so the keywords relate directly to your advert content. Use the keywords in the ad text and heading – Google highlights in bold the searched for keywords, and ads with more bolding catch the eye more and perform better.
5: Remove irrelevant searches
Just as importantly remove the type of searches that are not related to your campaign. You can remove words by putting a minus sign infront of it, for example: ‘-free’. This kind of search is unlikely to bring you a paying customer.
6: Choose your display link
The link displayed on your ad doesnt have to be the actual link that will be opened. Use your keywords in the links for more highlights (see 3). For example:
Search: Handmade Jewellery
Link: www.mycompany.com/handmadejewellery
7: Cash in on common misspellings
The cost per click for misspelt keywords is much lower than the correct spelling. For example ‘Jewellery’ is commonly misspelt ‘Jewelry’ or ‘Jewellry’, but still get a decent number of searches each month.
8: Target your customers
People searching within a search engine for your products are more likely to be searching for them with a view to buy than people browsing the internet. Consider turning off the option to appear on the content network.
Depending on your target market you may find that targetting customers in specific areas improves the sales rate. For example if you have a shop in Birmingham you could target by county at the West Midlands, or just locally in Birmingham. Most commonly this is used to limit your site to UK customers.
9: Set your budget
Make sure you don’t overspend by setting the budget for each campaign within a usable limit for your business. Be aware that whilst Google will not go over your monthly budget, they may go over your daily budget.
Its not necessarily vital to get the number one spot, infact research has shown that those in the 3rd position often get more sales per click as less casual clickers view your advert.
10: Regularly Review & Don’t be afraid to Change
Regularly check your ad campaigns – see which are giving you the most sales, which don’t convert to sales, and adjust as necessary.
Delete off ad groups that are not providing you with sales, and don’t be afraid to alter your budgets, keywords, phrases and target locations to try out alternatives and see what gives your business the best results.
Make use of Google Analytics to see what effect your campaigns are having on your website traffic – a really useful indicator is the bounce rate, particularly where you have set up a dedicated information page or direct to a specific product page.