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Where do you start with Google Adwords?
Many marketing professionals tout Google Adwords as a great search marketing product, but only if it's used correctly. As Chris Conn, founder of MightyNest.com, says in this American Express Open Forum, “know that AdWords is a real commitment, and is likely to be a time drain... It will take from other activities, so make sure that fits with your priorities.”
Where does one go when just starting out with Google Adwords? How can businesses, especially smaller organizations, get the most from an Adwords campaign?
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4 Answers
You are right, Adwords can be a good marketing tool for any size company. Before starting off on Adwords, consider:
Analyze the market
Use Keywordspy.com to get a sense of keywords and ad copies being run by your competitors. Look at their landing pages and see if it works for you. Then after compiling a list of keywords, use https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal to estimate traffic numbers with your monthly budget.
Tailor your messages
Put on your creative hat and think how your visitors would respond to your messages. Techies like "real" (no smoke/mirror) messaging. Biz-dev like to hear about ROI, and consumers want to save money.
Landing Pages and A/B testing
Make sure you make a few landing pages that are tied to your Ad text. If you're selling Big blue widgets, then have the same text appear on the Ad copy as well as the landing page. Try various different formats to see which combination works best.
Integrate Adwords with Analyitcs for Conversion tracking
Adwords can bring qualified traffic, but you must deliver ROI. So its always useful to keep track of cost of conversions. This tells you if Adwords is making you any money.
Search or Content Ads
Lead-gen (downloads, registrations, signups) is very good through Search network. Visitors are actively seeking keywords that define your business offering. Whereas demand-gen (webinars, whitepaper downloads, etc) is very good for Content network, where visitors are passively reading articles related to your industry.
Hire an agency to manage account or do it in-house
If you're starting off new then using an agency makes sense. But remember in the long run its better to invest in your own team and develop in-house expertise. It takes time and effort to manage a good campaign. Here is a good Adwords work-load calculator: http://shoutex.com/blog/adwords-work-load-calculator
Remeber Adwords can work very well, but it also costs you a monthly budget. So also consider doing some SEO on the side. Here's a good read http://www.focus.com/briefs/marketing/when-use-seo-and-when-opt-ppc
Start with your Landing Page.
This means focusing on copywriting, incentive, call-to-action and design.
What exactly are you saying to your prospect once they click through? Is this what they were expecting? What do you want them to do when they get to your landing page?
In the first 5 seconds, your landing much must answer these questions every new visitor will have: 1) where am I 2) what can I do here, and 3) why should I care.
What incentive are you offering to the user? ... when benefits are your touting? Is your value proposition clear? Are there any elements on your page that may be causing friction or anxiety and getting in the way of your desired outcome? Is your page simple and clear? Do the graphics support the message? Have you removed any "traffic leaks" such as outbound or internal links that might allow the user to leave without performing your desired action? ... are you demonstrating any "social proof" via testimonials other "people metrics?"
If you focus on making your landing page(s) as strong as possible BEFORE you begin buying keywords, then your AdWords dollars are going to go a lot further, and you are going to have earlier success, and quicker benchmarks to A/B test against.
I think this article is a good place to start.
http://searchenginewatch.com/3642209
Here's a detailed how-to AdWords guide: http://www.marketingsutra.com/blog/google-adwords-how-to/. Also it's a good idea to use Conversion Tracking right from the start.
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