Many small business owners are hesitant to use Google Ads because they’ve heard the horror stories about budgets being eaten up with no results to show for it. Like any other marketing tool, you’ll get out of Google Ads what you put into it. If you plan well and execute strategically, you have a good chance of seeing results. If you simply throw money at it without any planning or ongoing overview, you will likely waste your money and time. Here are a few simple tips on how to start using Google Ads for your small business.
The more specific your goal, the easier it is to build an effective campaign.
It doesn’t matter what you sell; there is always going to be an ideal client you want to target. Start with the location: where do you want to target your ads? The United States, as an example, is quite a wide net! Even Arizona could be a big audience; your message might get lost. Trying to narrow your audience, especially when you’re first starting out. New Google Ads are trial and error, so start very narrow and expand as you see results. In Google Ads, you’ll have a choice of a radius around your business, or a certain area. Depending on your business, one may make more sense than the other but choose wisely. You might also want to narrow down when your ads show; do you really want them running 24/7? Is your target audience going to see your ad at 3 am? Start with narrow hours like business hours, Monday through Friday, from 8 am to 5 pm. Again, you can always expand based on results!
Another rookie Google Ads mistake is sending all traffic to the home page of your site. You want to make it as easy as possible for the visitor to find the page on your site relevant to the search they put in. As an example, if you sell hiking boots and someone typed in “pink women’s hiking boots, size 8”, send them to the women’s hiking boot page, not your home page. If people must hunt around for what they’re looking for, they’ll leave the site.
Google will try to help you better your ads, so be sure to look at their recommendations often. Consider them carefully to make sure they make sense for you. As an example, they may suggest raising your daily budget because you’re missing out on clicks. Before you raise your budget, go back, and look for wasteful campaigns and keywords first. They may also suggest new campaigns based on keywords. If it makes sense, do it!
Following these tips when you start using Google Ads will help you make your campaigns more successful and not waste your marketing dollars.
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