Google AdWords provides Small Businesses Owners with a cost-effective way to drive highly relevant traffic to their Website. What does this mean? Well, through harnessing the power of Search, Google AdWords will put your Business’s Site right in the eyeline of potential customers who are searching for products or services exactly like yours.
While the initial setup of an AdWords Campaign fairly straightforward, if you want to see returns you’re going to need to do some Campaign optimization, a concept which can be immediately intimidating and off-putting to many a Small Business Owner. But unfortunately, without this kind of care and optimization, you won’t be getting the best value out of your AdWords Campaign.
If you’re interested in setting up an AdWords Campaign, or else have one but want to give it a boost, then keep reading. Our AdWords Specialists have complied 3 of the simplest optimization techniques you can do to help increase the performance of your Google AdWords Campaign. No stress. And no Marketing degree required.
Include Negative Keywords
AdWords is one of the few instances in Business where you really want to embrace the negative. In short, Negative Keywords are words and phrases that your Ads cannot show up for, meaning you won’t be wasting precious clicks on searchers that aren’t relevant to your Business.
For example, consider a Small Business that sells wedding decorations Online. Those beautiful, hand-carved rings that display the name of the bride and groom at each table during the reception might sell like hot cakes with the help of an AdWords Campaign, but the use of effective Negative Keywords is vital. Without them, your Ad could appear for searches such as ‘wedding rings’, or ‘buy wedding ring online’. This could see people who aren’t interested in your decorative product clicking on your Ad and chewing through your budget!
By adding Negative Key Phrases to your Campaign, you’ll be able to ensure that only people looking for decorative wedding table rings will see your Ad – and they’re MUCH more likely to buy from you!
By carefully monitoring exactly which Keywords and phrases are triggering your Ads, you can ensure that you’re not wasting budget on people who have no interest in your products or services.
Play With Your Location Targeting
Location targeting is one of the easiest ways to experiment with your AdWords Campaign without having to increase your budget. If you provide a product or service nationwide, then targeting an entire country when establishing your Campaign might seem like the most sensible option. However, with minimal work (and a dose of patience), Google’s location targeting allows you determine what your most profitable regions, cities, and suburbs are.
For instance, if you sell a range of corporate gifts and are happy to ship anywhere in America, consider whether targeting the whole of America is really giving you the best chance of reaching those Google users who are most likely to convert into customers. Think about targeting only those locations with a concentration of office space, or the international Business centres of your country. Targeting your entire budget to just Washington and New York may feel like a step back for your Business in terms of its geographical reach, but it may give you the best chance of gaining new customers, and that’s what really counts.
Ultimately, as a Small to Medium Business owner, your Marketing budget needs to start working for you as quickly as possible. A primary goal when designating a budget should always be to increase your customer base and hopefully your margins. If playing with your location targeting allows you to do this, then keep doing it until your Business really needs expansion into other areas.
Ensure your Page is Setup to Convert
Try to visualise the journey that a potential customer might take, from that very first Google search right through to their conversion on your Site, whether that be calling you, submitting an inquiry form or making a purchase. This journey needs to be as clear and simple as possible if you’re going to get your money’s worth from your Campaign. In other words, the page your customer lands on after clicking your Ad needs to be as user-friendly as possible.
Unfortunately, where many Campaigns go wrong is simply by believing that the word stops with the click. But once you gain that user click, you need to work hard to keep them on your page!
If you’re a female clothing distributor and your Ad is promoting your summer dress sale, then you need to ensure you take the user directly to that particular page on your Site, as this is what they’ve shown interest in. Direct them to your winter coat range and they’ll likely leave straight away. Similarly, if you’re trying to get someone to submit an enquiry form for your landscaping services, direct them to your info-packed ‘About Us’ page, where they can learn about your great Business. And ensure there’s a few large ‘submit enquiry form’ buttons on that page. In this way, you’re making the journey from click to submitting the form nice and straightforward. Remember, it’s all about giving the customer easy access to exactly what it is they’re wanting.
Although AdWords is an undoubtedly a powerful Digital Marketing Tool, remember that the simplicity of the most basic setup doesn’t truly utilize it’s potential. By implementing the 3 easy strategies for optimization listed above, you can make sure you’re really getting the most from your Campaign!
