The process of launching a new Google Ads campaign is exhilarating. Excitement, anxiety, fear, and hope are emotions I feel when about to click the Enable button on a new campaign.
If you’re just getting started, you might be afraid of messing it up. I get it. The steps I’ll walk you through will ensure that you’re depositing money into your own bank account rather than funding Google’s empire.
When set up and managed properly, Google Ads (previously Google AdWords) is one of the best sources for new customers.
So, let’s get down to it. Tie on your AdWords apron, grab a pen to write down the key steps of creating an effective Google Ads campaign, and follow along as I walk you through how to create a profitable Google AdWords campaign from scratch.
1) Is there a customer demand?
If your customers are not searching for your product or service in Google, then obviously, AdWords search advertising is not going to work for you. So, before you get too excited about creating your first campaign, you need to verify there is search volume for what you’re going to offer.
I suggest using UberSuggest, a keyword research tool by Neil Patel. The keyword tool acts much like a thesaurus – you enter in phrases you think your prospects are searching for, and it will tell you other similar, relevant phrases.
Ubersuggest is a free keyword suggestion tool that will give you information on how often people search for certain phrases, the competitiveness of the keywords, and an estimate of how much it’ll cost to advertise when using those keywords. This information will help you determine which keywords you want to use in your first campaign.
You can also use Google’s Keyword Planner tool to help you find the best keywords to target. It will provide you with bid estimates and total searches, so you can make a plan.
There are three questions you’re going to ask to determine whether or not to advertise on a particular keyword:
- Is keyword searched on Google
- The customer intent behind searching the keyword
- Can I afford to advertise?
Analysing and understanding the keyword you want to market on can go a long way in the success of your Google Ads Campaign.
2) Can you afford to advertise on top Keywords?
Before finalizing your keyword list, you must make sure it makes sense to target that term. This will prevent you from going after keywords where there’s no chance of them being profitable. It’s better to run these numbers now before you’ve sunk time and money into a campaign destined to fail.
To determine if you can afford to advertise on a keyword, you need to calculate your maximum cost per click (Max CPC). To do so, compare your business’s Max CPC to the estimated keyword CPC in the Keyword Tool.
For example, if your Max CPC is $5 and the estimated CPC is $4, then you know there’s a good chance you can profitably advertise on that particular keyword.
3) Competitor Analysis
Now that you’ve chosen your “buying intent” keywords, the next step is to reduce your risk by using competitor intelligence. You can do this by using sites like Alexa, Compete and Quantcast to see what websites are ranking for those terms.
In most industries, you’ll find competitors who have already tested and optimized their AdWords campaigns. That means they have figured out which keywords, ads, and landing pages work in your market.
I recommend reviewing several competitors’ ads to see what types of offers resonate with your target market. While you’re reviewing the ads, look for a way to differentiate your business from all of your competitors.
4) Have a powerful Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Your USP, or unique selling proposition, is what differentiates your business from your competitors and gives your prospects a compelling reason to choose you.
When it comes to AdWords, there are three important reasons to create a powerful USP:
- A USP is key to generating more traffic for your business, as it will attract the attention of customers who are interested in what you have to offer. It can also help repel unwanted customers from clicking on your ads, because they aren’t interested in what you have to offer.
- A strong USP helps skyrocket your sales conversion rates. If you want to get more clicks on your ads, you should use a strong USP. And if you want to convert more of your traffic into paying customers, then having a strong USP is even more important.
- A strong USP can eliminate price comparison shopping. This can be a game-changer because you’re no longer seen as a commodity. If you give your prospects a compelling reason to do business with you versus your competition, then price becomes a secondary issue.
Having a strong USP can do wonders for the success of your Google Ads Campaign.
5) Have an irresistible Offer
What can you offer in your AdWords campaign that will compel your prospect to take action? How can you stand out from all the other ads your prospect will see in the search results?
The answer is your irresistible offer, which consists of the following four components:
- Valuable:
Your product or service must be more valuable than the price. That’s marketing 101. This doesn’t mean your offer has to be cheap; you just need to clearly define the value your product or service provides to your customer, and make sure it outweighs your price tag.
- Believable:
If you are offering something at a very low price, then your prospect may be weary. So you must provide a good reason for the low price.
- Reverse Risk:
Everyone is scared of getting ripped off online. One of the best tactics to minimize risk for your customer is with a money-back guarantee. A money-back guarantee puts all the risk on your business to deliver excellent service, or else you’ll have to give all the money back to the customer.
- Call to Action:
If you want your prospects to pick up the phone and call you, then make it crystal clear and simple for them to do so. Don’t expect your prospect to connect the dots or search around your website to figure out how they can contact you. Use a strong call to action and keep it simple.
Understanding the importance of an irresistible offer is vital for the success of your Google Ads.
6) Create captivating Ads
With AdWords search advertising, you pay only when people click on your ads.
Therefore, your ads have two very important jobs:
- Attract qualified prospects so they click on your ad instead of competitors’ ads.
- Repel unqualified prospects so they do not click and waste your ad budget.
There’s another reason you should try to create compelling ads. When an ad has a high click-through rate (CTR), it will boost your Quality Score, which in turn will lower the cost per click of your keywords.
So your ads will directly affect how much you pay per click for each of your keywords. Great ads will lower your costs, while lousy ads will raise your costs.
There are four key components to your AdWords text ads:
- Headline
- Description Line 1
- Description Line 2
- Display URL
Taking care of each of the above components in your Ad can generate exceptional results for your business.
7) Use of Landing Pages
At this point, your prospect has searched for the solution to their problem. They saw your ad and were compelled by it versus other options. The clicked to learn more about you and landed on your website.
Now What?
Well, if you’re like a lot of first-time advertisers, then your prospect is now on your homepage scratching their head trying to figure out what just happened. The ad made a promise the homepage couldn’t keep.
Homepages explain everything your business does, all of your products and services, and all of the different customers you serve. In other words, don’t use a homepage to target a specific keyword or ad clicked.
Instead of creating a landing page, create a dedicated landing page that matches the keyword and the ad. This makes it easier to make a sale.
The most important component of your landing page is the headline, which is the first thing your prospect will read. Your headline must grab attention and reiterate the offer made in the ad. The rest of the content on your landing page should expand upon this offer by clearly describing what you are offering and how to take advantage of it.
The copy on high-converting landing pages should be relevant to the keyword searched and the ad clicked on. Include your USP, benefits of your product or service, details about your irresistible offer, social proof, credibility that you’re a legitimate business, and a strong call to action.
8) Conversion Tracking
We’re almost ready to set up your campaign in AdWords, but there is one final ingredient: Conversion tracking.
If you skip this step, you will never be able to know which keywords and ads generate sales and which are just losing money. In other words, you will not be able to optimize your campaign once it’s up and running.
Conversion tracking is a feature in Google AdWords that allows you to monitor specific actions your customers take after they see one of your ads. For example, maybe you want to know how many people who saw your ad ended up signing up for a free trial of your product. You can set up conversion tracking so that when someone completes that action, you’ll be able to analyse it.
The Google Ads conversion tracking code can be found in your Google Ads account under the tool icon, then “Measurements > Conversions.”
The Google AdWords interface makes campaign setup a breeze, but don’t blindly accept the default settings. Some of them can get you into trouble.
9) AdWords Settings you need to check
As I mentioned, Google Ads does a great job of making it fairly easy to set up your campaign. Simply click on the blue plus symbol, then the New Campaign button, as shown below, and follow the steps to add in your ads and keywords.
The process is pretty simple; however, many of the default settings are not in your best interest
Here are the most important settings to watch out for:
- Search Ads vs Display Ads
- Device Bids
- Keyword types
- Negative Keywords
10) Optimization of your ad campaigns
Once you set your bids, start your campaign, and Google approves your ads, you can rest easy. Your ads are live!
Unfortunately, you can’t relax yet. Most campaigns are not profitable from the start and they always require continual optimization to stay profitable.
There are three main areas to improve your AdWords campaign performance:
- Keyword Bids
- Ad Click Through Rate (CTR)
- Landing Page Conversion rate
By now, your Google AdWords campaign should be set up so you’re focused on optimizing keyword bids, ad click-through rates, and landing page conversion rates.
If you follow these ten steps, you will be well on your way to a profitable Google AdWords campaign. Good luck!
We at AI Advertisment incorporate AI in Google Ads in order to fetch better results and visibility for your business.
Contact us now for AI PPC services, we assure you it’s going to be a wise decision.