Do people really click on Google adwords ads?

Adwords ads are the "Sponsored Listings" you see at the top of the page and down the right hand side of the Google search results page. And is it possible to compete against big businesses with big budgets? Is the cost of advertising on Google affordable to a small business? How do you go about setting up a Google Adwords / Pay Per Click campaign? What can you do to lower the risks that your budget will be blown without getting enough sales to cover the costs?

Yes Google PPC ads do work, or nobody would use them and Google would be out of business, as advertising revenue is their bread and butter.

Yes, it is true that the big players can spend more and push up the cost per click (CPC), but then they are providing you with all of their research and development on a plate - you only have to look at their adverts, and the landing page that ad leads to, to know what is working. This is the cheapest market research you can do - and you will find out which keyword phrases they are targeting, and how to structure your landing page and offer to be able to compete. You don't have to spend a fortune if you target the lower hanging fruit - keywords with a lower search volume, or in a smaller niche (think of only targeting people in your town for example).

The most important things you can do before you start an adwords campaign are

1. proper keyword research (use Google Adwords Keyword tool)

2. to set up good analytics (use google analytics and Google Webmaster Tools), and

3. to be prepared to run tests (use your Adwords account to optimize your ads, and Google Website Optimizer to optimize your landing pages)

as part of your regular business process - all 3 are available free from Google themselves, with free online video training.

You will need to know

1. the volume of searches,

2. the competition for each of those searches (use Google Search and look at the top 10 organic search results and who is advertising - these are your only real competitors - just about nobody looks past hte first page of results),

3. the estimated cost per click,

4. the demographics of the customers of the leading competitors (use quantcast.com)

and then you can decide on how your product or service is different or better.

Target a keyword that has already got advertisers (unless you have some new way of making money out of something that otherwise has been impossible to sell before today), but where you believe you can compete. Copy the principles (not the actual text) of what is working for your competitors, and start small (low daily budget, low cost per click bids).

Run multiple ads against each other and monitor them continuously for the first few days, making adjustments as soon as you see which ads are working and which are costing you more (google rewards quality with lower prices and higher placement for your ads).

Make sure your landing pages are congruent with your ads and specifically address the problem that your prospective customer is trying to solve when they typed the keyword phrase into Google Search.

You will need to measure:

1. The number of impressions (how many times your ad is displayed)

2. The number of clicks (how many times people clicked on your ad)

3. The number of conversions (how many of the visitors to your landing page actually bought your product)

By using the same username for both your Google Adwords account and your Google Analytics account, you can link the accounts, and set targets within your analytics to help you better monitor, understand and interpret your visitors behavior.

Once you have a set of ads that are earning you more than they cost, just reinvest some of your income back into advertising more (ie.raise your daily budget) and you will make more profit.

You will need to continuously monitor how well your Google Adwords PPC advertising campaign ads are working, because your online competitors will want to knock you off your perch as soon as you are on it.

For more advice or to get your Google Adwords PPC campaign set up and working profitably, call Salvatore McDonagh on 085-7089335 or book online using the button below: