The basic concept of Google Adwords is to create a short advert using keywords that will promote your product or service. The short ads will show up alongside search results when a user types in a query that also matches your keywords.
Google won’t just charge you for merely posting your ad; they will also charge you by the number of clicks your ad gained (commonly called Pay-per-click or PPC method).
Google’s Adwords Campaign is basically easy to set up but its success rate is not that easy to come by. In Adwords, success is measured by your Click through Rate (CTR) and ultimately, your conversion rate.
Your conversion rate is more important and thus it is the ultimate measure of your Adwords success. But in order to possibly gain a higher conversion rate, you must at least work on how to improve your CTR.
Why is CTR so important?
By creating more attention-grabbing adverts, you will most likely increase the number of people who will actually click through your website within a month.
When you make efforts in improving your ad, you might end up ranking high while spending less than your competitors. But how can you exactly improve such a short piece of ad? More of that will be discussed later on this article.
Meanwhile...
Google is NOT all about the money. Basically, it is perceived that those who bid higher for a keyword will also rank higher in terms of ad placement and thus it would achieve more clicks. But on the contrary, Google is not just about how much you pay, it’s also about how helpful your advert had been to the usual searcher.
Google always tries its best to show the most relevant and helpful results it could possibly find. They want to make sure that the searchers are satisfied with their results so that they’ll always return. If Google determines your advert is more helpful than your competitor’s adverts they will automatically push your advert higher up the ranks and reward you by allowing you to pay less for that position.
Since the staff at Google can’t possibly determine which adverts out of the millions are most helpful, they simply use an automated system based on your CTR. If your CTR is higher than your competitor’s then the obvious reason is that your advert must have been more helpful and relevant to the searcher.
Conversion Rate
The second and most important determining factor of success in Adwords is the conversion rate of your landing page. That is how many of your visitors (who clicked through your ad) actually end up contacting you and ultimately purchases one of your products or offered services.
Using a specialist’s tracking software; you can determine the percentage of visitors who end up navigating towards your contact page. The better your website converts-- the more sales you ultimately make, and the higher the profits you can get from your business.
How can you improve your CTR?
Improving your CTR increases your chance of boosting your conversion rate. The more traffic your page gets, the more possibility that a number of visitors might be interested to whatever you are offering. Moreover, when your advert is promoted on a higher rank because of credibility and user satisfaction, you get to pay lesser per visitor.
Given the nature of an Adwords campaign, your ad is basically a short and concise description about what you offer or what your business is all about. Like content marketing, keywords are also very important for your Adwords.
Keywords can be primary or secondary. Primary keywords are directly pertaining to your service or product and are quite expensive since many are competing for the same ones. Whereas you’re secondary keywords are more of general keywords and they may not be directly related to your product. However, it is cheaper compared to primary keywords and will give you more chances to be exposed on a wide variety of audience. The downside however is that, you may not be able to place or direct your ads to the specific market you are targeting.
For a starting online business owner, it may be better to start with secondary keywords first so that there will be much time to study the best keywords to use and make them as primary keywords if your Adwords campaign had prove to be of some use (even with secondary keywords only).
Another thing to consider if you want to increase your CTR is the placement of your ads. Adwords can give you a choice of website partners wherein your ad can also show up. So pick wisely! Pick websites that will relate to your product, think of your target market (what pages would they most likely visit online?). For example, if your business is an online clothing shop, then opt for fashion blog sites, fashion magazine sites and the likes.
Don’t also forget that you need these elements on your actual advert:
> Short and concise description about your products/offers.
> Use simple and understandable words.
> Make it attention-grabbing.
> Don’t use misleading information.
Remember, results of your CTR needs some time of observation, so be patient in observing your page traffic trend and conversion rate trend before making conclusions. If you think your Adwords campaign is not working given the amount of observation time, it may be time to consider revising your actual advert or study what your target market types in search engines and where do they actually go in the online world.
About the Author: Ces works alongside Eskimosoup.co.uk as part of the web team. She has been featured in different industry blogs and sites providing resource article relating to Web Design in Hull. You can connect with her through Twitter @Ces_DTO.
