AdWords is Google’s Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising system which if used will reach approximately 80% of all internet users. The PPC adverts are those that appear on Google search results as "Sponsored Links" down the right hand side. Your advert will also be distributed to Google’s "Content Network". This means you will appear on search engines that relate to Google as well as websites targeted for your audience.
I would imagine you are asking ‘how do I get started?’ It is very simple really, once you have set up an account you will need to select your keywords and phrase (Google has a great tool to help you with this). Try and make sure you select specific keywords or phrases - these will normally consist of more than one word. The more generic your keywords the lower your click through rate will be and the lower your conversions. Always remember your goal is to target your advert to the right audience for your product or service.
Once you have your keywords sorted you will need to write your ad which will consist of a title of 25 characters and 2 lines of 35 characters each. This is quite a small ad to get your information in and there are some important things to remember when writing it. Firstly make sure you include a call to action, it may seem unnecessary but they work and will increase your click through rate.
Secondly, include your keywords in your ad title and text if possible. This leads us on to another vital point, the size of your keyword list. It is a good idea to keep your keywords for a particular ad group as small as possible, 2-4 words or phrases that are related. For your campaign you can have as many ad groups as you would like. This means that you could have 10 ad groups each with 3 keywords, so you get 30 keywords covered, but each 3 words have a different advert. This will allow you to target your advert more effectively increasing both your click through rate and your conversion rate.
On the point of conversion rates, you can get some code from Google to add into the code for your site which will show you the conversions you get for each keyword. This will allow you to monitor performance levels and drop those keywords that do not give you the performance you are looking for. In addition to this, in order to improve your conversions it is vital you send your visitors to the correct lading page. If you are selling terracotta tiles and when someone clicks on your advert they go to your home page and have to search for what they are looking for they will probably not hang around to find them. However if they go straight to the page for ordering the tiles you will probably get a much higher conversion rate.
Once you have selected your keywords and written your advert you will need to select how you would like your keywords to be matched and you will have 4 options:
1.Broad Match: This is the Google default setting and means that searchers can enter your keywords in any order and your ad will appear. This is obviously the least targeted.
2.Phrase Match: Your keywords must appear in the exact order for your ads to appear. This is more targeted than Broad Match.
3.Exact Match: The searcher must type in your key-phrase exactly for your ads to appear. This is the most targeted option.
4.Negative Match: You choose words you don't want your ads to appear for when searched upon. For example, typing in the word "-cheap" would stop your ads from appearing if someone typed that word before your keyword.
The last thing to consider with your PPC campaign is where you will come in the search results. This means you will need to have some understanding of how Google will rank the adverts for particular words. Currently they are using the formula:
Ad Rank = Cost per Click X Quality Score
Obviously the cost per click is easy to determine and can be raised to improve your performance but you would also need to take into account your quality score. However, unsurprisingly, Google will not tell you your quality score or how to calculate it. However we do know the main components to determining your quality score are, how relevant your keywords and copy are to the search term and your historical click through rate for your ad and keywords.
So follow the steps in this article and you will not only improve the effectiveness of your adverts getting more clicks and more conversions but you will also get an improved ranking in the search results. All of this together will contribute to successfully promoting your business and increasing your sales and consequently your revenue.
