Advertising on Google Adwords? How does Google Adwords work? Advertising banners, mobile advertising, video advertising, remarketing, Adwords campaigns are extremely rich in possibilities. However when we talk about advertising on Google, it is often the classic text format that made the success of Google's advertising model. This format and only this format will be offered to you during the creation of your first campaign when you register on Google Adwords. This process is the subject of this tutorial which we will deal with now.
How to advertise on Google? How to create your first campaign on Google Adwords? How do ads on Google work? How much does it cost to advertise on Google? How to define the budget for your Adwords campaign? What is the Search Network and the Display Network? How to choose the most relevant keywords? Which bid to choose on Google? How to know your maximum bid? How does Google charge for your campaigns? All your answers regarding advertising on Google through this Complete Guide to get started on Adwords.
How to Get Start With Google Ads?
- Go to Google Adwords, this is Google’s advertising creation and management platform, by following this link.
- Log in with your Google account. If you do not have a Google Account, you will then be asked to create one before you can proceed to the next step.
- Once connected, Google Adwords will offer you to immediately create your first ads.
- Enter your email address and the URL of the site for which you wish to create an advertising campaign (http://www.mywebsite.com) then click on “Continue.”
How to adjust the budget for your Google Adwords campaign?
Set a daily budget for your campaign. This (modifiable) amount corresponds to the maximum amount that your advertisements will cost you each day. Once the budget is reached, your ads will automatically stop running overnight.
Depending on your budget and your subsequent targeting choices, Google will provide you with an assessment of the number of clicks and impressions expected in the left column.
How much does it cost to advertise on Google?
Google operates on a performance payment model: Payment for advertising on Google is therefore based on the number of clicks on your ad. The price of each click is set based on your competitors' bids on a keyword and the maximum bid you agree to pay for that keyword.
How much does a Google ad cost? How much does a campaign on Google cost? The cost of a click is generally around 0.10 dollar. Very specific keywords and phrases with little competition can come at a much lower cost, but will get few clicks each. Finally, the most competitive keywords like “insurance”, “bank” or even “car” can cost up to 10-20 Dollars per click.
Google Adwords offers you statistical tools that allow you to follow very exactly in real time what costs you each ad and each keyword. You can quickly turn off any keyword that costs you too much.
How to set your goals on Google?
Before going any further (and even if this first campaign is then entirely editable), take the time to think about the reasons that lead you today to advertise on Google.
- What is your goal? Traffic creation? Sales increase? Get quote requests? For which products? How are users used to searching for your products on Google? Before launching your advertising campaigns on Google, make sure you define your objectives, you will lower the cost of your ads by the same amount.
- How will you reach your goal? By redirecting paid traffic to a sales page? Towards a product page? Towards a registration page? Towards a contact page? Towards a lead capture page with a downloadable white paper?
- Are your landing pages (to which your Google ads point) suitable for sale?
Generally, those starting out on Adwords place 3 bids on highly competitive keywords with a poor ad and a sales page that puts off 98% of visitors. After a month, the observation is that “Google is too expensive” or not “profitable”. Consult the guide to define and clarify your strategy on the Internet so as not to spend your budget unnecessarily.
How to target your advertisements on a country, a region, a city?
Then select the geographic area where your ads appear. Always favor a specific territory so as not to pay for unnecessary clicks. For example, it will always be better to select a selection of English-speaking territories (US, Canada, Australia, England, etc.) rather than letting your campaigns run in “ All countries and territories”.
By clicking on “I want to choose myself…”, you can refine your geographic targeting by limiting the distribution of your advertisements to one or more regions, departments, cities or even targeting only one particular postal code.
Do not worry, you will be able to specify your targeting later on based on the results of your first advertisements if to date you do not really have an idea of the territories on which to prioritize your budget. On the other hand, if you are, for example, a consultancy firm operating in New York region, it may be relevant at this stage to limit the dissemination of your campaign to the country, region or city of your choice.
A. Insert the names of the cities (eg Chicago) directly in the "Indicate the geographic area to target or exclude".
B. By clicking on “Advanced Search”, you will be able to precisely control which regions you wish to add to targeting or exclude on the contrary.
Which distribution network to choose?
Choose if you want to limit your ads to “Google Search Network” or if you agree to also be shown on the “Google Display Network”.
The Google Search Network allows you to promote your ads in the paid results of the Google search engine, on Google Maps, Google Images, Google Groups and on third-party sites using Google as an engine. Ads published on the search network are text only.
Google Search Network ads use contextual targeting and will show your ads based on user searches, content and keywords of pages viewed but also based on the user's browsing history.
Example of contextual advertising for the keyword “SEO tools”:
The Google Display Network allows you to broadcast your ads on Google services (Youtube, Gmail, Blogger, Google Finance, etc.), on Youtube videos, on mobile applications and Google partner sites when content is related to the keywords you are targeting.
How to choose keywords for your Google ads?
Select the keywords on which you want to place your ad. Each time a Google user types in your keyword or phrase or visits a Google partner site with content related to those keywords, your ad will have a chance to appear.
The challenge is to identify the keywords and search habits of your potential customers to buy the keywords and expressions most likely to lead to a sale. Adapt to the research of users who, to find your services, services, products, do not necessarily type the terms you use to describe your offer.
So start by adding:
- Your strategic keywords
- Then add expressions containing two words, three words and four words.
Google offers you a selection of keywords but don't hesitate to add your own. This is a first campaign so do not add more than 20 keywords and expressions, we will see later how to manage more complex campaigns.
Warning: keep in mind that to get the maximum click at low cost, you will have to list all the possible and imaginable expressions and combinations that make sense in relation to your business. When you can manage simple campaigns, the goal will be to be able to manage hundreds of keywords and keep only those that convert.
Example for a marketing consultant: “marketing advice” (by reversing the terms), “emarketing advice” (a more precise variation of the term marketing), “webmarketing advice” (a second variation), “emarketing consultant” (we change advice by consulting), “coaching emarketing”, “coaching emarketing” etc…
Finally, take into account the fact that a keyword such as “emarketing” may generate high traffic but will be highly competitive with consequent high costs per click. Conversely, a more precise expression such as “management of google advertising campaigns” will generate low traffic but will obtain more attractive costs per click and more relevant visitors since if you target these users with an offer consistent with their search, you will respond more precisely than targeting all users who have typed “emarketing” (and not necessarily looking for a product or service).
The Google Keywords tool allows you to find the keywords that people actually type on Google, to see the traffic they could generate each month and the level of competition. Do not hesitate to use it.
How to set the auction for your Google advertising?
Now define your bid: Google lets you choose between "Automatically define my bids to maximize the number of clicks compared to my budget" and manual definition of your bids. To get started, let Google decide for you (although it's not the best way to optimize your cost per click, it's the easiest way to get started)
If you want to manage your auctions, place an aggressive bid between 0.80 cents and 1 dollar.
Choosing a high bid does not mean that you will actually pay that price. However, the highest bid (compared to the competition) will win the best advertising places on Google (at the top of the search result page for example) and will be chosen in priority if the spaces are limited. The auction is not the only factor impacting the ranking of your ad but at this level of the tutorial, it is the only one that you can control.
Without going into details for the moment: if your ads are shown in the best advertising spaces, you will also get more traffic quickly and better click-through rates. Therefore, you will quickly see if these keywords convert to sales or not.
Here are the click through rates on a Google search results page, the most clicked places of course correspond to the best advertising places.
Once you have mastered Google Adwords, you will no longer have to fight for the top spots on certain keywords when you find that your cost per conversion is too high (you spend 150 dollars for 100 dollars in sales). You can then reduce your bids to conversely make fewer conversions but certainly at lower cost. On this subject, you read the tutorial to improve the position of your ads without increasing your cost per click .
How to know your maximum bid?
To better control your maximum bids that you are ready to pay for a click, you need to calculate your break-even point which does not correspond to the margin you will make by selling a single product. Instead, calculate your “Customer Lifetime Value”, which is the sum of the benefits expected for each customer during their entire “lifetime” (during their relationship with your company):
1. If you buy clicks at 0.20 cts and you need 400 clicks on your Google ads to acquire a customer
2. The cost per conversion of each customer will therefore be 80 dollars (400 clicks x 0.20 cents) )
3. Now imagine that each customer buys for 90 dollars of products (average basket)
4. You will therefore think you are “fair” with only 10 dollars of margin.
Only, after a sale, you probably kept your customer's email. This is a way to contact him and sell again 6 months or 1 year later. Likewise, if you set up remarketing campaigns to target visitors to your site who have not completed their purchase or who regularly visit your site, you will be able to increase the number of your sales for each customer.
Conclusion: a customer who buys 90 dollars of products will probably have a higher value that you need to calculate as precisely as possible.
Because indeed, during its whole life cycle, the customer will probably have brought you 150 dollars. Therefore, once this data is better understood, you will be able to increase your maximum bid to create more traffic and increase the maximum budget you want to spend to obtain a sale or conversion taking into account the expected profit throughout the relationship you have with the client.
To the life-customer value, do not hesitate to add a corresponding value:
- Indirect and unaccounted for sales (example: customers who order by phone after seeing an Adwords advertisement)
- Delayed sales (conversions are not tracked only between 30 and 90 days. If the customer decides later, this is not kept in Adwords)
- By word of mouth (one customer won out of 10 or 20 will be able to talk about your products. You will therefore win a free client)
Always try to put a low value rather than no value in order to reassess your breakeven point and be able to bet more aggressively.
How to write your ad on Google?
A Google ad consists of:
- A landing page
- A title (maximum 25 characters including spaces)
- The URL of your landing page as it will appear to the user
- The 1st line of your promotional message (35 characters maximum spaces included)
- The second line of your message (35 characters maximum spaces included)
By filling in the different fields, you will see on your right a preview of your ad as it will appear for Google users.
Making successful ads that will get high click through rates:
1. Clearly present the value of your offer from line 1
2. Respond to users' problems
3. Use your keywords in your ad
4. Use numbers
5. Play on emotions (for 48 hours only, 100% guaranteed)
6. Encourage action (“Buy now”, “Download for free”)
7. Be consistent between your ad and your landing page
8. Do not redirect to the home page but to a relevant sales page
An example of an ad that can expect a good click through rate:
Once your ad is finished, click on “Save”
How to configure billing for Google Adwords?
Now you just have to finalize the posting of your advertising by filling in the information relating to the billing of your Google Adwords campaigns:
- Enter your country of origin 2. Indicate if you are an individual or a company (if applicable add your VAT number).
- Enter your address and email contact.
- Choose your method of payment: by bank account or by card. Payment will be made automatically after spending a certain amount or after 30 days.
- Enter your coupon number if you have one.
- Choose your time zone.
Click on “Save and continue”
How to finalize your first Google advertisement?
At this stage, you will only have to check that all the information entered during these stages does not contain any error and is indeed consistent: potential daily audience that you should reach with the current parameters, maximum bids and budget spent, your ad delivery area, your ad delivery network, your ad, your keywords and finally your banking information. By validating this information, your campaign will be put online. Do not leave your campaign on autopilot, you could squander your budget.
