‘Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half. ‘John Wanamaker’s infamous quote, the US Department Store Merchant (1838-1922) still applies today to AdWords Campaigns. It is widely believed that 25% of all Google AdWords Campaigns are wasted. Obviously nobody wants to waste money do they? Yet a lot of businesses are throwing money away every day due to poor campaign set-up and inadequate campaign management.
AdWords campaigns aren’t a case of flinging up some keywords with ad copy. Do that and you’re going to waste far more than 25% of your budget. Each AdWords Campaign needs to be consistently and strategically planned, implemented, managed and monitored to get them performing at their very best and to avoid this budget- loss pitfall. Here’s guidelines on how you can do this with your AdWords campaigns:
AdWords Campaign Set-up & Structure
Campaign Settings
There are some Campaign settings that you really need to watch out for when setting up your AdWords campaign. Get these right from the start and you’re on the right track. Here are the ones that you need to watch:
Search Setting
When you are initially setting up your AdWords campaign you can choose which type of campaign from the following:
Search Network Only Campaign
Your ads appear on Google Search network. This campaign type works by linking your AdWords keywords to the words or phrases someone uses to search on Google, then showing relevant text ads on search results pages.
This is the one and the only one that I recommend that you use, especially if you are starting off. You have more control of your campaign’s spend and where your ads will show for which keywords.
Display Network Only Campaign
Your ads can show throughout the Google Display network. This campaign matches your ads – including text, image, rich media and video ads to websites and other placements like Youtube and mobile apps with content related to your targeting. Be careful with this one as it can really drain your budget if you’re not aware of this.
Use the right keywords for your campaign. Refine your keywords, trial all keywords, monitor them for which ones are best for conversions, then continue with these. Use long-tail keywords. The thing to remember with AdWords campaigns is that you’re always trialing new keywords with new ad copy and seeing what works and what doesn’t then continue with what’s working to consistently optimise your campaigns. Once you know you’ve got the right keywords with the right ad copy and the right landing pages the metrics that matter to your AdWords campaign will increase in-line.
Relevance
Relevance is Key. Google rates the keyword’s all important quality score by relevance – which we have covered in this earlier post Pay Per Click (PPC) and Why Your Website Needs It. Once you’ve got relevant keywords to ad copy to landing pages then you’re not going to waste money on this. You want the relevant people clicking on your ad thereby getting the traffic you need that are genuinely searching for you, as of course they are then more likely to buy from you, increased conversions, not wasting money on not relevant enough traffic.
Be Creative With Ad Copy
You know your business better than anyone and you know what your clients want and need from it. Capture this in the ad copy and what makes your business different. You want to convey the best of your business offering to prospective customers in as succint as possible so that it fits within the AdWords text parameters.
Google Ad Extensions
Make use of all that ‘real estate’ space Google gives you for your ad as you’re paying for it. Google keep giving us extra space in Ad Extensions which is great, make the most of it. Ad extensions give your ad more value, more visibility and more prominence on the search results page. You can add content to site links, call-outs, phone and address info and more. Get as much relevant info in there on your business as is possible.
This is a guideline on how you can avoid wasting money on your google AdWords campaign. By always optimising your campaign you will continue to find ways to strengthen your campaign based on the data you have been given which will lead to increased conversions and return on investment.
Read more on Pay Per Click Advertising and what we can do for your e:commerce business.
