Google Ads are still the best way to generate instant customers for your business.

As the hype about Facebook ads has started to wear off, the true champion of paid advertising still reigns supreme, Google Ads.

With over 3 billion searches everyday Google takes lion share of search traffic on the internet. Although organic still receives the best click through rates on average, paid search is the only way to instantly skyrocket to the top of page 1 in the Google search results and start generating new business.

If you are looking to take advantage of this tremendous lead generating machine and takeĀ  your business to a new level in 2019 here are 7 ways that will help you maximize your results with Google Ads.

target audience

Determine your audience and lose the rest

Defining your target audience is the first step when it comes to a successful Google Ads campaign. Knowing who your target persona is will help you to structure the rest of your campaign correctly. You should create a list of demographics and psycographics of who they are so that you can clearly see who is your ideal customer that will pay for your product.

Targeting people who are going to buy from you is key that is why you should take the 80/20 principle into account when you are thinking about your audience. In business 20% of the people account for 80% of your sales. So finding that 20% is critical. This will result in less wasted ad spend and higher click thru rates, 2 big factors that contribute to your bottom line.

google adwords

Define your goals & metrics to ensure profit

The first thing you want to do is setup your analytics tracking correctly. That means not only installing the tracking code correctly but having the proper UTMs and conversions tracked on your website. By taking the time to do this you know you are getting clean data and accurate results. This is key to know the real status of your campaign.

When creating your campaign you want to have benchmarks to know whether your campaign is successful. Although clicks are great, they do not tell the whole story. You want to decide what metrics you need to ensure you reach your goals and stay profitable. A losing adwords campaign only benefits Google, and they have enough money.

One way to start is by using our Adwords calculator to assess what number you need to ensure profitability. We have a number of formulas you can access and use for any type of campaign. By taking the time to use this you most definitively will have a higher chance of having a successful campaign.

The next thing you need to assess is what kind of conversions are you looking for. Whether you are looking for qualified traffic, form fills, phone calls or eCommerce sales they will all lead you to different campaign strategies. So knowing what the ultimate conversion you are looking for is key.

Setup your campaigns correctly, the devil is in the details

When setting up your campaign settings in Google there are quite a few things you want to make sure are done correctly. Some important factors to consider are your location settings, bid strategy, network settings & ad schedule. Making sure your ads are showing in the right places, at the right times using the right strategy is key.

Another very important factor that is often underrated and done incorrectly is your campaign structure. Deciding how campaigns, ad groups and ads will be structured is essential when it comes to getting a campaign off to a good start and getting accurate data. The best methodology for this is to use your navigation structure which if organized strategically will give you an outline for how to setup your campaigns.

At SRJ Digital our PPC services are comprehensive when it comes to setting up your campaigns to ensure you have the most success possible.

blue ocean strategy ppc

A Blue Ocean Strategy

Choose the right keywords, go where the competition isn’t

One of the things that disways people from using Google Ads is the cost per click. In competitive industries the cost for one click can be astronomical, but it’s usually for a reason and that is because those clicks lead to dollars. One way to get around this is to go after low competition keywords especially long tail ones. By going where the competition isn’t especially when the user is showing buyer intent with long-tail keywords you can lower your spend and increase conversions. Now there is a delicate balance because you want to ensure there is enough search volume for your keywords.

Another factor in keyword selection is match type. There are 4 types of keywords, broad match, broad match modified, exact match, and phrase match. Choosing the right type(s) is key to your success on Google Ads. Each one will make you show up for different results and have different click thru rates and costs. Do your due diligence and also test to see what works best for you based on your budget and goals.

Create multiple versions of your ads, variety is the spice of life

When creating your ads for your campaign, Google encourages you to create multiple versions of your ads so that they can decide which ones to show and which ones receive the best results. They will ask you to create at least 3 ads but you can do much more, but be careful about doing to many as your budget wont be able to optimize across all of them.

They have recently introduced a new feature that allows for dynamic ad creation as opposed to doing manually as it used to be setup. Now you can create multiple variations of headlines and descriptions so that Google can mix and match dependent on the users search query. This will lead to better quality scores as they are the ones testing, be mindful and keep track of your campaign results as this feature is still in beta. If you are crating your own ads make sure you try and have your prime keyword in the headline, description and preferably display url. This will help it to show up more in search results.

In addition to your ads another feature you’ll want to take full advantage of is utilizing extensions. These are additional places that customers can reach your business. Whether it’s a phone number, call out, promotion, site links or many others, Google gives you multiple opportunities for customers to see your ad and click on it.

web design

Optimize your website, conversions are king

A properly organized and optimized campaign is essential to having success with PPC but this is only half the battle. Once you’ve attracted your target customer you want to ensure they convert. This is where landing page design comes into play. It’s been shown that the average user only stays on your website for 6 seconds before they decide to leave or not. This is why it is key to have your users path to conversion already mapped out and make it as seamless as possible. Whether it’s a form fill, a product purchase or a phone call you want to ensure that customers are encouraged to take the next step easily.

Load speed, landing page design and content are all key factors that customers subconsciously take into consideration when they are on your site. And Google knows this too, that’s why they reward sites with good landing page experiences with a high quality score. If Google sees that users are clicking through to your ads and staying on your site for a while and the content has relevant keywords then your quality score will reflect that.

Google also wants you to optimize for a mobile experience. With most people searching Google on their phones, it is important to have a good mobile experience. Make sure your site is responsive and easy to use on a phone or tablet. This will also improve your ads effectiveness.

Optimize and adjust, get better with time

With all these things done now the most important thing you can do is test, test, test. We all have our assumptions, and even with the most educated research these assumptions about how customers will respond can be wrong. So that’s why testing and optimizing is key.

You want to keep an eye on your important metrics to ensure you are getting conversions and maximizing your Return On Ad Spend (ROAS). Spending time in your campaigns to ensure their effectiveness is the best way to get the results you want. Whether it’s editing ads, trying new keywords or changing a variety of settings, there are many ways you can optimize your campaign.

These 7 tips will help you to maximize your results on Google Ads in 2019. At SRJ Digital our PPC service will not only go through these 7 steps but many others so that you are getting the results you want for your business. Our years of experience allow us to accurately setup and optimize campaigns to ensure results. If you’re interested in learning what our PPC Service can do for your business, feel free to contact us or schedule a free strategy call today.