Most small businesses need advertising vehicles that draw targeted traffic to their website or location. Not just traffic, but targeted traffic. You reach specific customers by geography, demography, and lifestyle. In sum, the shortest click between people and products, yet at a price you control.
Google Adwords is one such vehicle. AdWords drives sales. It works. You set the budget. You can do it yourself.
I’ve been using Google AdWords for five years. I also create and manage Adwords accounts for clients. Below are some lessons learned:
- Jump in, sign up, and start with the minimum daily budget your keyword category allows. The average cost of keywords vary depending on the category. Selling books is cheaper than running ads if your a dentist, doctor, or real estate agent. You will need a credit card to start your account. Read all the Google tutorials and tips. Go to YouTube and view additional tips.
- Keywords are key. Focus on using the built-in keyword analysis tool to find the best keywords. Write your 3 ad lines around those keywords. Line 1 is your title with 25 or less characters; line 2 describes benefits with 35 or less characters; line 3 describes features & a call to action with 35 or less characters; line 4 is your website landing page.
- Run 2 to 4 ads at a time. Monitor the ads with a higher CTR (click through rates), and then revise. Tweak, modify, research more and new keywords and phrases. It’s a process.
- Use both the ad and the keyword CTR reports to enhance your website copy.
- Exclude negative keywords once search reports start coming in. This information is gold. Dig for it.
- Use the geographic and demographic options to target zip codes, cities, states, nations, or global regions.
- Work for ad CTR rates of at least 1 to 2%. As you learn, this will grow.
Watch this short video:
http://youtu.be/tx2L6EGa9DY
Few advertising tools allow a small business or organization to expand its reach, frequency, and impact like AdWords. In some respects, you become the ad agency. It won’t replace creatives or traditional ad campaigns, however it helps level the playing field for small businesses.
The best way to start is to hire an Adwords professional to get you started. I can help.
By Stuart Atkins
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