How to Get More Results from Google AdWords?

Last week I sent out an email stating that if you wanted to get leads fast, pay per click marketing is a great way to do so.In response to that email, one business owner emailed me the following, “I used to have Google AdWords, but even though I had many hits I had ZERO opt-ins or follow-ups to my email address or phone number so I dropped the program.”I have heard and seen this scenario many times. Here’s how you can fix the problem and get high quality leads.

1. Start with the right keywords

Google AdWords centers around bidding in an auction on keywords that should match the online searches of your target audience. If you don’t get your keywords right from the start this alone will lead to failure.
Keyword research is paramount to finding out what your ideal clients are searching for when they make a query on Google.There are many tools out there that you can use to do keyword research, however a good starting point is the Google Keyword Planner tool. This tool helps you uncover what people are searching for and what the search volume is on average per month for each keyword, so you can determine if there’s enough volume to even pursue a keyword.

2. Use keyword match types to your advantage

When creating a campaign inside Google AdWords, there’s something called keyword match types. Keyword match types are essentially guidelines you set to specify what kind of searches your ads get shown for.

There are 4 different keyword match types:

• Broad Match – keywords that are broad match are eligible to be shown if any word in the keyword is relevant to part of the query.For example, if you are selling red shoes and the keyword you are bidding on is red shoes and someone simply makes a search for “shoes” your ads will still show.

  The problem with this is that the person searching for shoes may not be looking for red shoes, so once they get to your website, they may realize that you do not have what they are looking for and leave. Meanwhile you paid for a click that didn’t convert into a lead or sale.

• Broad Match Modified – Ads are eligible to be shown if the exact words in the keywords you are bidding on are represented and relevant to part of the query, in any order.For example, if someone searches for red shoes for women your ad will show, if someone searches for leather shoes your ads won’t show since it doesn’t have the word red included in the search.
  Note: Requires a “+” sign before each word in a Broad Match keyword; Ex. +red +shoes
• Phase Match – The ad is eligible to be shown as long as the query includes your entire phrase in the current order. For e.g. “red shoes”. If the search is “shoes red”  it is not eligible to show.Note: Requires an open and close quotations at the start and end of the keyword. E.g. “red shoes”
• Exact Match – Ads are eligible to be shown only if a searcher types in the exact keywords e.g. Red Shoes. If someone types in red shoes online, then your ad won’t show.Note: Requires an open and close parenthesis for this match type. For e.g. [Red Shoes]
• Negative Keywords – Negative keywords are keywords that you do not want your ads to show for. For e.g. if the keyword Free red shoes were searched for and you had free as a negative keyword, then your ad won’t show.Keywords that are too broad generally get more traffic, but in most cases, do not convert well because they are not relevant to the product or services that you offer.

  This can have a negative result, especially if you don’t have much to spend on the campaign, because your budget can get used up quickly due to the fact that many clicks are from the wrong audience leading to lower conversion rates.

  Hence, most business owners who try Google AdWords fail to see much success and determine that it’s not working, when in-fact in most cases the campaign wasn’t setup effectively.

  Before you give up on Google AdWords, it may be worthwhile to consult with a professional who can review your strategy and give you professional guidance.

3. Standalone landing pages are key

In the world of marketing, a landing page is a standalone page that’s separate from your website and is set up to support a specific ad campaign with a singular focused objective to get visitors to do one thing.
Landing pages generally do not have a menu bar and are not accessible from your main website because they are designed to take visitors straight to what they are looking for instead of having to spend time searching for it.Landing pages are designed to remove friction, overwhelm and distraction so that a visitor can stay focused on the objective at hand.There are different types of landing pages. Some landing pages are simply lead generation focused, where a visitor may fill out a form. There are also sales focused landing pages which are focused on getting someone to buy something.An important part of our strategy when we take on a new client for pay per click management is creating dedicated landing pages for the ads that we will be running.

4. Congruence of message & follow through is important

It is important that the message on your landing page matches your ad copy and builds on it. When a visitor lands on your website, they should see exactly what was promised to them in that ad, otherwise you reduce your chances significantly of converting that visitor into a lead or sale.For example, if you did an online search for LED lightbulbs you are indeed looking for something very specific. If when you click on that ad, you are taken to a page where you are shown different types of lightbulbs other than LED, you may be less inclined to buy or you may simply hit the back button and leave the website.This is a very common issue for advertisers;  not delivering on what the ad promised and what the user searched for.As part of every campaign that we work on we create specific ads and landing page copy designed to help increase conversion rates.

5. A well-functioning landing page

Of course, you can setup the most strategic AdWords campaign, but none of that matters if you have a landing page that is not functioning properly. Ensure that your page loads quickly, and that your forms or buy now buttons are  working.
Once you have concluded that you have a well-functioning page, your focus should be on testing your landing page content to see if you can increase conversion rates.
Test the same landing page with different content to see which content appeals more to your target audience and performs better.

Maximizing your results

Just taking these steps if you haven’t already done so, improve the results you get from your campaign. However, it’s important to understand that in marketing, set it and forget it doesn’t work. You must continuously monitor your campaign and make adjustments if you are to maximize your results and return on investment.