Google Adwords: 5 Take-Aways

Today, I finish our discussion of Google Adwords by recapping 5 important take-aways from prior posts.  You can read the original posts on this website.  We started with some basic Google Adwords strategy, moved on to discuss keyword strategy, gave advice on formatting Google Adwords ads. and finally showed you how to create a Google Adwords campaign.

In true Letterman fashion, let’s count down the top 5 take-aways.

5. Creating a Great Landing Page is Critical for Success

All Google Adwords ads point to a URL often called a landing page (although new rules allow a phone number instead of a URL).  Landing pages should NOT be the homepage of the brand, but specific for the product or service in the ad. Notice in this ad from JCPenney, the URL takes you to the specific product page for sandals, not the JCPenney homepage:

4. Act Strategically

Know your target market, what they’re looking for, and their hot buttons.  Then, build a Google Adwords strategy based on reaching your target audience.  Have clear SMART objectives for your advertising campaign and build a budget that allows you to reach your goals.

3. Do Your Keyword Research

Use the Google Keyword Tool or Market Samurai (which I recommend*) to find keywords related to your product by optimizing across CPC, competition, and search volume.

Remember to use long-tail keywords, vivid keywords, and emotional keywords.

2. TEST, TEST, TEST

Create alternate ads for each Google Adwords group.  Monitor CTR (click-through rates) to determine which ad performs best.  No amount of experience can replace this testing.

1. MONITOR

Set up Google Analytics so you can monitor the performance of your ads against your goals (you may need to modify your goals somewhat once you see how the ads perform so your goals remain realistic).  Check you Google Adwords dashboard throughout the day when you first deploy your ads to monitor their performance — and ensure your campaign doesn’t go over budget.  Tweak your ads, daily budgets, and other factors to optimize your conversion rate.

Some Final Thoughts About Google Adwords

This series introduced you to key aspects for creating successful Google Adwords campaigns.  But, there’s a lot more to know about Adwords.  Google has free training, advice, and videos on the adwords site to help you learn more and create more successful adwords campaigns.  If you’re interested, you can become a certified Google Adwords agency by passing the test at the end of the training.

We’ve talked mainly about Google Adwords on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).  But, Adword campaigns can also work on websites.  I won’t go into a lot of detail, but website owners agree to display Google Ads on their sites in exchange for a portion of the money paid by advertisers for each click-through.  These ads may look like traditional Google Adwords or may look more like banner advertising.  Often, advertisers make the ads available in a variety of sizes to fit the dimensions available on host websites.  Neither the advertiser nor the website owner control which ads appear.  Google selects ads most likely to achieve click-through by using visitor cookies and presenting ads related to websites recently visited.