How to Use Google Ad Words
The use of Google Ad Words is a marketing strategy that is effective among businesses that would love to get online customers.
This Google service works by allowing the businesses to display their various ads on Google’s search result pages, usually at the bottom or the top of Google’s search engine result page.
If you want to get started on using Google’s Ad Words, the following steps are all you will need to follow:
Step 1: Signing up
The first step will require you to go to the Google Ad Words website. Once you are there, you will need to sign up with the Google account of your choice. In the case where you do not have a Google account, you will be required to create one. This only takes a few minutes.
After entering your details, you will then be taken to another page where you will be able to create your first campaign. Once here, you will be able to choose your target audience, your budget, set your bids as well as finally write your ad copy.
Setting up your first Google Ad Words campaign
Step 2: Setting your budget
Setting up your budget is one of the most important tasks when it comes to using Google Ad Words. Being sure to set a daily budget will ensure that you do not go above your set expenditure limits. A great way to determine your budget on a daily is to know the total number of visitors that your landing page can convert into customers. If at all you are starting, you can use averages.
Google Ad Words budget
It has been seen that on average, 2.35% of the total users are the only ones who go by the desired action after they click on an advertisement. By taking into account what the average conversion rate for your industry is, you are now able to decide the amount that you are willing to be spending per visitor. This is simple terms is called CPA (cost per acquisition)
Step 3: Selection of your target audience
Here, you will be able to specify the exact location of the audience you are interested in attracting geographically. The feature makes sure that your ad will be only shown to those users who will conduct a search while using the keywords that you have bid.
Google Ad Words location
When you choose to use the advanced search option, you will be able to get access to ‘radius targeting’. Radius targeting will give you the ability to target a given radius from your selected zip code. Depending on your business’ nature, you may want to target only cities if at all you intend to sell locally or you may opt to target countries as a whole. You even have the option to set the bid adjustments differently per each of your radius targets. For instance, you may want to bid lower when it comes to a thirty-mile radius but higher when it is a ten-mile radius.
Google Ad Words radius targeting
Step 4: Choosing a network
Once you are done with the radius targeting, the next step is to choose either Display Network or the Google’s Search Network. The Display Network works by showing your ads on any of the websites that display ads while the Search Network works by displaying your ads on Google SERPs.
Google Ad Words search network vs display network
It is recommended for the small businesses as well as beginners that they go with the Search network. The reason for this is that your ads will be shown to the users who have specifically searched for the keywords that are relevant and related to your business. The display ads are helpful when it comes to retargeting, branding, and in general, having a lower CPC. In addition to this, they are not question-oriented.
Step 5: Choosing your keywords
Keywords refer to the phrases or search terms that a user puts into the search box for Google when they want to conduct a search. Google will let you choose around twenty keywords that could trigger the chances of your ad appearing on the SERP. You are able to add the number of keywords afterward, so that should not worry you.
Google Ad Words keywords
It is advised that you pick a few keywords that you are positive that they will bring results, as opposed to picking twenty keywords that may only be relevant to a certain degree. With that in mind, you should also be attentive to the keywords and search volumes that you pick. Although the idea of choosing a keyword with a high search volume of maybe 500,000 seems a bit tempting, it may not be the best idea. As it was highlighted earlier in the article, Ad Words works based on a system of bidding. The keywords that have high search volumes are often quite expensive when it comes to bidding for them. Because of this, when one chooses many keywords or those with big search volumes, in the end, it may turn out to be very expensive. You can control this by picking a few keywords that are relevant and that have moderate volumes in terms of the research volumes.
The types of keywords and how to determine the right keyword match
There are four kinds of keyword matches that will be the determining factor of how you would want your ad to get displayed. These are:
- Broad match – On the Ad Words, this is a default setting. Google highlights that it is a feature that will enable your ad to pop up for the searches on phrases that are similar as well as relevant, that include synonyms, both plural, and singular forms, and even misspelling and stemmings. Broad match allows one to reach your largest target audience. However, because the broad match also lets your ads be seen for various synonyms as well as part of keywords, for this reason, your ad may be showing up in various irrelevant results from searches.
- Broad match modifier – This match modifier gives you the chance to have more control. Just by including ‘+’ to the start of the term, you will be able to have it locked in place. It is only when the search term has a word or phrase after ‘+’ that will your ad be able to appear in these search results.
- Phrase match – This gives you more control as a business owner. Once you chose phrase match, your chosen ad will only be displayed in the results for the various search terms that will be in a similar order as that of the keyword you chose.
- Exact match – As you can get from the name, the option will give you the chance to have your ad only appear when a user searches with identical terms to those of your chosen keywords.
- Negative keywords – These are terms that help the enterprise ensure that their ad will not be shown to audiences that are irrelevant. This feature is specifically important if at all you have a service or a product that probably shares keywords with another subject that has no relation to it.
Step 6: Setting your bid
Ad Words uses a bidding model, as has been mentioned above. A bid refers to the money that one is willing to pay for each of the people who will click on the ad. If at all your competitors are also bidding for the same keyword as you, and you want to pay more for each click, your ad will be given more priority and therefore it will show more than your competitors’.
Google Ad Words bids
The first option will allow your Google to set the amount for your bid such that the returns that you get from your budget get fully maximized. If at all you are a beginner, it is advised that you first start with automatic bids up until you get comfortable with the Adword system. However, manually setting your bids is mostly cost-effective.
Step 7: Writing your ad
This is yet another critical part of the process. You are advised to put in a lot of thinking into it so that the ad you put out is very compelling. The message you want to put across should be clear and convincing to the users. Some tips include;
- Your ad should be precise as well as short.
- The headline you chose should be crucial. This is because your ad headline is the very first thing that a user encounters.
- You should have a call to action that is easy to understand. This is what lets the user know what you want them to do.
The anatomy of an ad consists of;
- The headlines. Ad Words allow the use of up to two headlines, that have at most thirty characters each.
- Description. The ad description allows up to eighty characters. Make sure your message is conveyed clearly. If there are discounts available, let them be highlighted here.
Google Ad Words ad copy
Step 8: Creating your ad
Once you are done, be sure to click ‘save’ and then finally continue to the finishing step. Here, Google will enquire about your business as well as the information pertaining to your payment. You will get charged after your set budget is exhausted or after thirty days.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to set up and use the Google Ad Words, there is nothing stopping you from inculcating it into your business and getting to enjoy all the benefits it has to offer.