If you have an online marketing strategy, there’s a good chance that Google Adwords is an important part of it. And if you’re using an SEO software product for your internet marketing, you’re probably carefully monitoring—and hopefully optimizing—your Adwords’ performance.
But like all things marketing, Adwords isn’t for everyone. Just because it’s hot and all your friends are doing it, doesn’t mean it will make business sense for you. Many companies delve into Google Adwords, only to throw in the towel a short while later. For a variety of reasons, they don’t get the return on investment they think they should.
Think like a customer
Your customers are probably using the web to find you or companies like you. But if you’re simply using your company name as your keywords, you’re missing out. Organic search will almost always take care of that just fine, thank you very much. I just Googled a large organization by its name. The first listing was their Adwords ad. The second was their organic homepage listing.
Without thinking, I clicked on the Adwords ad. How many others are clicking on the ad instead of the organic listing? And how much unnecessary money is that costing the company? Are you in that position?
If your customers already know your name, they don’t need Adword’s help in finding you.
So think like a customer and make sure your keywords are what’s driving buyers. Any good SEO software product can help you with that and most of them will integrate with Adwords.
By the way, Adwords also uses the business-as-a-keyword model. Their ads pop up when you Google “Adwords” and “Google Adwords.” But they can afford it. They get a pretty sweet deal.
Have the stomach
If you’re going to really benefit from Adwords, you’ll need to be prepared to spend what it will take to get the clicks and move the dial. If you’re in a highly competitive industry, this means you’ll need an ample budget to get results.
Sure, a good Adwords strategy works to lower the cost per click (CPC) and increase your overall ad quality score. But you’ll still need to spend enough to make success happen. If you’re pinching pennies and your competitors have big budgets and smart campaigns, you’re in for a battle. One that you may not win.
Make the time
The reason you use a top SEO software product is that you don’t want to spare the countless hours finessing and tweaking your Adwords strategy. Sure, we get that. But you still need to monitor progress and ensure you’re strategy is reaching your audience. Someone from your team will need to commit to at least high level involvement in this campaign.
Measure (and Broadly)
That takes us to the next step. Adwords will show you your conversion ratios, but often it’s not that simple. You need to track inbound leads that come in through your website, phone lines, and through your front doors.
Especially if you’re in a service business, many customers will look around and evaluate you. They may come back to your website or call your office for more information. These customers may have first learned of you from your pay-per-click ad, or been influenced by it, but it may have been your website or customer service team that sealed the deal. So take these spikes into consideration when measuring the success of your Adwords campaign.
Is it for you?
Don’t get me wrong. For many of you, Google Adwords is a very smart move. It can drive well qualified traffic if you do it well. But it’s not a silver bullet and it’s not a replacement for an organic SEO web strategy.
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