All entrepreneurs want to make sure that they get good returns on the time, money, and skill that they invest into their business. For many, Google Adwords is a great way to advertise at a comparatively low cost, but this is a widely used and highly competitive service. Fortunately, because so many people have experience with Google Ads, the best tips to optimize ads have already been uncovered.
Ensuring people see your advert is one thing, but making sure they follow up on it is another entirely. Standing out from the crowd to net great conversion rates, and therefore a solid ROI isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Thankfully, there are some simple things you can do to improve your adverts, maximize your exposure, and double your conversion rate. The best part? It can take as little as a week or two for these changes to improve your conversion rate.
Before we dive in, it’s important to note that Google Ad tips are only as useful as your Google Ads strategy. You’ll need an effective strategy in place, before you look to convert more of the traffic you’re sending from your ads. If your ads are not sending enough traffic, trying to convert the little or irrelevant traffic you get will be a waste of time.
Double Your Conversion Rate With These Simple Google Ad Tips
Some things in life can be left to chance, but in business you should take every opportunity that you get. These simple but effective google ad tips will give you the edge that you need in order to flourish.
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1. New Campaign? New Landing Page!
This may seem like an obvious statement, but survey have found that less than half of businesses create a new landing page for each marketing campaign they undertake. This harms their conversion and click-through rates. Why?
Because your landing page should be tailored to your advertisement to ensure flow and consistency, and to build a relationship with your potential customers.
A tailored landing page not only shows your visitors you are professional and conscientious, but it keeps them focussed on your message. Furthermore, they are in-step with the targeted keywords, your readers intent, and as a result are more persuasive.
Create a new, high-quality landing page for every advertising campaign and you will see a healthy ROI. Google rewards high-quality advertising with a lower CPC rate, meaning that you will not only increase your conversion rate, but your proportional costs will drop as well. There are many tools available to help you build a landing page that converts if you don’t have design chops.
2. Use the Negative Keyword Function
Negative keywords are words which may draw in traffic, but do so for the wrong reasons and as a result hurt your conversion rate (and increase your bounce rate) by attracting non-viable visitors.
For example, a company selling guitars may find that they gain views from those seeking guitar lessons. Such people might buy a guitar but are more likely to back out of the site in search of local lessons. By analyzing your traffic, you can see which non-relevant keywords are bringing in traffic and mark them as negative keywords. When you do this, Google will stop showing your ads to searches including these keywords.
You can mark negative keywords when creating your advert, or in the content itself by adding a negative sign before the keywords you wish to exclude.
3. Genericism is Your Enemy, Stay Niche.
Never lose sight of what it is you are trying to achieve; you can best big companies in the Adwords war if you keep sight of what your customers want and need.
Stay positive, keep your text clear, and pursue your goal with laser focus. Or, as the venerable professor of writing, William Strunk says; omit needless words.
If you’re selling furniture, consider targeting a specific set in your advertisements. For example, people seeking bedroom furniture will be more likely to click an advert listing bed frames, wardrobes, and dressing tables than commodes or bathroom cabinets.
Furthermore, research has shown that more specific adverts are more successful. So, focussing on “solid oak bedframes” in your adwords campaign could boost your conversion rates by 50 – 60% as opposed to simply advertising “wooden furniture” or “solid wood furniture”.
4. Reverse-Engineer Your Customers Path
The most important of all Google ad tips (especially for beginners) is to study successful advertising campaigns. Don’t salivate over the results, however; focus on the processes and approaches used, and then analyze your own process in the same ways.
Start by considering the result you want, and then work backwards to discover the necessary steps (or path to purchase) that a customer must follow to get there. There are 5 general steps that any visitor to your site must go through, and it all starts with a need.
The campaigns that have best ROI and conversion rates are those that target a specific need well. The first step, then is awareness; a consumer becomes aware of you and your advert, they then consider it. Consideration, step two, is key; this is your chance to pique their interest and move them to step three. Once you have their interest, it is likely they will click your advert and move to step four which is establishing trust and preference; you must convince your visitor that you are their best option. If you can do that they will move to step five; purchase or email signup.
If your adverts are getting sufficient click, for example, it’s likely that you need to work on your landing page to engage with visitors and build trust.
5. Be Aware of Time and Location
Marketing is as time and place sensitive as it is content driven; there are some days and times that are just dead air in the same way that some keywords aren’t effective. Likewise, certain keywords which are location sensitive, and are used only in some areas.
Isolate the times at which you get no traffic, and the location sensitive keywords for your business and area. If you stop targeting locations that don’t use your keywords, or start using keywords that are used in your area you will see a dramatic improvement in your conversion rates. By turning off your ads during non-productive times you can also save money.
Bonus Google Ad Tip: Good Copy, Great CRO
You need to consider your copy and content.
Well-placed clever advertisements only get the customer onto your website, once they’re in your hands you have to pique their interest, and finalize a sale. Good adverts bring in visitors, but good content earns their trust. Make sure your copy is original, well-written, and does not fall into keyword stuffing to ensure that your conversion rate is the best it can be.
And Look at What Your Competitors Do Well…
Finally, if all else fails, don’t forget to check to see what your competitors are doing, and what they’re doing well. There are tools that allow you to see what ads competitors to your website or in your industry. One of the more popular tools is SpyFu.
Your Turn
What are some tips you follow to ensure the Google Ads you create convert? Comment below and let us know!
