Is your company using AdWords? If not, you’re failing already. But it’s not too late! It’s quick, targeted, has a vast reach, and, if you are doing it right, is completely cost-effective. Whether you are an internet entrepreneur or a large corporation, Google AdWords can be one of the best or worst advertising investments your business makes — it’s all about your strategy. In short, you want to turn searches into sales and unfortunately, companies often make the same mistakes over and over again keeping them from achieving the return on investment they deserve.
If you or your ad manager are making one or more of the following three mistakes, you are going to Google’s allegorical house, using your hard-earned dollar bills as kindling for a metaphorical bonfire and watching it burn. And the worst part — your very real money is only keeping Google warm at night.
1. You are not tracking conversions
Clicks are good, but you aren’t advertising on AdWords for the clicks. You want action, sales, sign-ups. In order to gauge whether or not your site is procuring the desired action step, you need to measure conversions. Did the visitor go forward with the desired action or did they hit the back button? This helps you structure your site to turn views into leads and sales; without this information you are flying blind in a situation when you don’t need to be.
2. You are sending people to your home page
And for shame on you if you do! I, the viewer, have already done my initial search, found what I was looking for, and your ad directs me to your home page to start my search all over again? You’ve lost my money and your other viewers’ too. There needs to be a dedicated landing page; the best ones focus on a single call to action. They don’t have any distracting links or navigation and they sell the one thing that made viewers click on your ad in the first place.
3. You have overloaded Dynamic Keyword Insertion
Many AdWords strategies seem to pick every possible word under the sun and run them on Dynamic Keyword Insertion. When DKI is used correctly it can be a highly effective ad writing technique, but when it’s not, it’s just a money pit.
Has your ad manager avoided these three cardinal sins of AdWords? I doubt it. And if he/she hasn’t and you are serious about your investment, give us a call. Seriously. I’ll even give you a taster.
1. Be more discerning with your keywords. Instead of bidding on hopelessly unspecific words like “grass”, choose more definitive terms that show at least a small amount of devotion such as, “wheat grass” or “grass roots”.
2. Use negative keywords to prevent your ads from showing up in irrelevant searches. This can significantly reduce your cost-per-conversion.
3.Use remarketing to retarget browsers.It’s an extremely effective way to draw viewers back into your site and stay top-of-mind.
If your ad manager isn’t cutting the mustard, kick him to the curb. We are champing at the bit to pick up the slack and optimise your money. Get in touch and we’ll happily provide you with a free no obligation account audit.
Contact Managing Director, Steve Ballantyne. p: 09 950 2140