wishpond EBOOK

wishpond.com

GooGle AdWords for Small BuSineSS

The ulTimaTe Guide:

Table of ConTenTs

ChapTer 1 Introduction to Google adWords: Why Does My small business need Them? .............................. 4

ChapTer 2 Glossary of Terms You need to Know........... .................................................................................... 17

ChapTer 3 How to Plan a successful Google adWords Campaign in 10 Questions ....................................... 26

ChapTer 4 The anatomy of a Google adWords Campaign [With a secret Tip to Make it simple] ................ 34

ChapTer 5 How Do I Choose Keywords for My small business Google adWords Campaigns? ................... 54

ChapTer 6 How to Write Google PPC ad Copy that Converts: 12 Ways to succeed ...................................... 64

ChapTer 7 How to Create landing Page/ Google adWord Combos That Convert: 21 Tips ........................... 72

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ChapTer 8 How to strategize budgeting and bidding in Google adWords .................................................... 83

ChapTer 9 The Practical science of a/b Testing your adWords ...................................................................... 90

ChapTer 10 How to Measure RoI and KPI’s........................ ...................................................................................101

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Chapter 1

Introduction to Google AdWords:Why does my Small Business need Them?

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onlIne mArketInG And GooGle AdWords. the tWo Go hAnd In hAnd.

When a customer is looking for a product, service, promotion, or anything from anywhere in the world, they’re likely going to search for it on Google. That customer is looking for you.

If you’re in business these day, you’re marketing online. It’s the way to reach your customer, drive traffic to your store, and ultimately increase sales.

for a small business, adWords can be a hugely successful method of driving traffic, marketing your product and ultimately getting increased sales.

Is your business doing it, yet?

Here’s the top 12 reasons why your business can benefit from AdWords.

1. reAch Your customer When theY WAnt Your stuff

any business, regardless of size, wants to be found on the first page of Google. as a small business, you’re competing with experienced, motivated seo experts to get those coveted organic top ten search results.

With Google adWords you have an edge in getting your message viewed by your market, exactly when they’re searching for your specific product, service or offers.

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2. reAch Your locAl customer

adWords gives you location targeting options. so, if you’re a locally based business, (such as a neighborhood restaurant), a regional company (such as a state bank), or even an e-commerce site (with, say, country shipping restrictions), you can geo-target to get seen by your consumer - and you’re not wasting ad dollars on those who aren’t.

adWords enables you to easily target countries, areas within a country, and radius targeting (to show your ads to people within a certain distance to your business). You can exclude locations, too, even in your proximity targeting.

excluding locations brings your RoI up, by lowering costs and targeting more precisely.

Here’s an example of radius targeting around the “Statue of

Liberty”, excluding the 229,000 reach of New Jersey.

You can target by geo-based demographics, such as income level. so, if you’re selling luxury goods, for example, you can target the top 10% income earners in your specified area.

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3. shoW Your locAtIon

by using Google Places, in conjunction with adWords, you can show a map of your bricks and mortar shop with your ads.

The easier you make it for customers to find you, the more likely they’ll walk in, or click through to your website.

4. shoW Your contAct InformAtIon

You’ve probably seen these on a few ads: ad extensions.

ad extensions let businesses enhance ads with phone numbers, an address, app downloads, site landing page links, reviews, previous page visits and lots more. They generally show up in blue, just below your ad description.

by including more contact information in your ads, you make it way easier for your potential customer to connect with you.

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ad extensions don’t cost anything more to include in your ad. but you are still charged for clicks on your ad and other interactions with your extensions. for example, if someone clicks on your phone number to call you directly from your ad extension, you’ll be billed for this paid conversion. (Yup, Google can track clicked phone calls on mobile, tablets and desktops.)

If you’re a restaurant, for example, you can show your local address, and include links to specific menu pages, offers and other specific landing pages on your website. Here’s how a coffee chain uses them:

5. hIGhlY tArGeted seArches

Keywords, keywords, keywords. This is what Google adWords is known for.

as a small business, use the right keywords, that are optimized for high quality scores, and target your customers, products, offers, location and more.

The more targeted your keywords (and keyword phrases) are, the better Google will rank your ad. You’ll also reach a lot more consumers, who want exactly what you have right now.

If you’re using Google adWords directly, be sure to research through suggested keywords for every ad group you create. some Google ad providers, like Wishpond, offer to do the hard work for you - by choosing the most optimized, targeted keywords for your ad group campaigns. Tim Hortons adds their nearest address. They link to

their “nutrition” “coffee” “Tim Card offers” and “location” pages on their website, so people can click directly through for more information.

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Here’s an example of suggested keywords from an online shoe store ad:

Use the opportunity to think like your customer, and choose words they’re searching for. You can set up different keywords for each of your ad group campaigns, too. and, you can change your words at any time to keep optimizing your reach.

6. folloW Your customer WIth retArGetInG

You’ve seen it, I’m sure. You visit a site, stay on it for a while, and then leave. but then you keep seeing ads for the company, or even the product page you were on. That’s retargeting.

With Google adwords, if an interested customer has visited your website, they get a cookie from a code you’ve put on the backend of your site. When they leave your site, you can target your ads to follow them on the Google Display networks, or Google search.

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You pay extra for it, but it can really work to increase sales. Think about it - those people were interested enough to come visit your site. You can get seen by them again - and then again and again - while you’re still on their mind.

for example, say you have a baby products store. an interested parent-to-be clicked on your ad, and visited your landing page for strollers. They picked up your Google adWords cookie. When they visit, say, a popular parent blog site (who are part of the Google Display network), they can see your ad for strollers again. and so on.

It is a more advanced marketing tactic from Google. You can also retarget with software like adroll, or Google ads with integrated retargeting software - like Wishpond.

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7. reAch Your mobIle customer - Where theY Are

Your customer might be right outside your door, when they’re searching for your products or service.

Google adWords gives you loads of mobile optimization options. You can target both text ads and image ads.

so, for example, if you market for a local coffee shop, mobile ads are a perfect fit. Your customer might be looking for their caffeine fix, while they are walking through your neighborhood. They search for places nearby. Your mobile optimized ad shows up first. You get a new customer in your door.

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In your campaign settings, you can leave your Devices on the default of “all”. This targets all types of devices. If you want to target more heavily on mobile users, you have this option too. Here’s a screenshot of the device choices you have if you want to show your ad more on mobile devices:

8. choose Where Your Ad Is seen

Google has tons and tons of ad partners. You’ve probably read a blog in your niche, and they have ads. More than likely, they are part of the Google Display network.

What does that mean for you? Well, it makes it easy for you to advertise on popular niche blogs - where your customers are.

You can track your results and even exclude sites that aren’t performing as well as you’d like.

I’d suggest that if you’re just starting out on Google adWords, you use the search and Display option - you get a broader reach. as you get used to how adWords work, and you’re seeing an increased result in your click throughs, then narrow an ad campaign to the Display network only. Monitor your results, and improve your ads as you go.

9. Get meAsured results

Hey, you’re getting the power behind Google analytics to track your results.

Google adWords gives you tons of customizable options to track and measure all of your campaigns, in one dashboard.

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You can, for example, set and track your own goals for:

• Return on Investment (RoI)

• Traffic to your Website

• brand awareness

• sales and Conversions

You can also measure the results of each of your ads within your ad groups. You get find out metrics like:

• What keywords are performing the best

• What headlines get the best click-through rate

• The times your ads are best performing

• and so on and so on

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You can connect your website Google analytics too.

Yeah, you get great metrics from Google. and, you can make your results reports as simple or or complex as you want. so, for people who don’t want to spend all day sorting through ad data - that’s ok too!

10. control Your oWn budGet

If you’re a small, local business, you may be more familiar with offline advertising methods. If so, you’re likely paying a set fee for each ad you publish or run. and, you’ve likely used to signing a contract too, to run x number of ads for x amount of money.

With Google adWords, you can set your budget for each ad you run - and you can change it whenever you want. If an ad is performing really well, you can increase your results by increasing your ad spend.

You get to set your daily budget, which is what you’re willing to spend per day per ad.

note: Your daily cost is based on a daily average per month, so don’t be alarmed if yours varies from day to day.

I’d recommend starting out with a budget of $20-40 per day. When your ad is live, track it to measure your results. adjust your budget based on your ads’ RoI - or whatever your particular objectives are for your campaign.

11. run multIple cAmpAIGns for Your mArketInG needs

a really cool thing about Google ads is that your can run a whole bunch of different ad campaigns, for a whole bunch of your marketing objectives.

let’s say you have an event planning business. You want to market your services for:

• Wedding planning

• Corporate events

• fundraisers

You could set up 3 different marketing campaigns - one for each of your targeted services.

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You can then set up multiple ad groups for each campaign. In your ad groups, you can target with different keywords.

for example, in your “Wedding planning” campaign, set-up 3 ad groups to target:

• Wedding dresses - and related keywords

• Honeymoon destinations - and related keywords

• Pre-nuptial lawyers - and related keywords

Then you can make 2 ads for each ad group, so that you can a/b test to find which ad performs best.

okay, this may seem a bit complicated at first. but, once you get the hang of it, it’s actually quite cool and it gets you results.

12. contInuouslY Improve Your results

Unlike any offline advertising you’re doing, it’s very simple to monitor your real RoI on Google adWords. It’s also pretty simple to tweak your ad copy to get better results, and improve your profits.

convinced yet? Google AdWords needs to be a part of your online marketing plan.

In the next chapter, we’ll take a look at terms you need to know - so you can sound like a Google advertising wiz.

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Chapter 2

Glossary of

terms You need to know

The vernacular of Google advertising can be pretty daunting.

If you’re like most small business marketers, you’ve got a lot of stuff on your to-do list - and figuring out this maze of PPC, CTR and Impressions doesn’t rank high on your priorities.

but you know you need to get your message to your market where they are - online.

Here’s 25 Google adWords terms you need to know, to get you started and increase your conversion rates with your paid campaigns.

settInG up GooGle AdWords terms

1. campaign - an ad campaign on Google adWords is made up of your ad groups, and has the same budget, campaign type and your other ad settings. It’s generally what you first set-up when you advertize, and it helps you organize your different paid advertising efforts. You can run multiple campaigns at any time from your Google account.

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2. Ad groups - an ad group is your set of keywords, budgets and targeting methods for a particular objective, within the same campaign. for example, if you are running an ad campaign for a shoe sale, you could set up ad groups to target for online sales, women’s shoes and men’s shoes. You can have multiple ads in each ad group.

3. campaign type - Your campaign type is where you want your ads to be seen. Google has:

• “search network only” (which means Google search only)

• “Display network only” (which means your ad shows up in Google’s Display network of websites, videos, YouTube, blogger and more. This is also known as adsense)

• “search network with Display select” (which is a combo of search and display)

If you have a Google Merchant Center account and want to use Product listing ads, you can also choose “shopping” as a campaign type.

4. keywords - Keywords are very important in your Google ads. They are the words or word phrases you choose for your ads, and will help to determine where and when your ad will appear. When choosing your keywords, think like your customer and what they would be searching for when they want your product, service or offer. Though you can include as many as you like, I suggest a maximum of twenty keywords.

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5. Quality score - a quality score is the measurement from Google based on the relevancy of your ad headline, description, keywords and destination URl to your potential customer seeing your ad. a higher Quality score can get you better ad placement and lower costs.

Here’s Google’s explanation on how to build the best keyword list:

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6. Impressions - an impression is the measurement of how many times your ad is shown.

7. Ad rank - Your ad Rank is the value that’s used to determine where your ad shows up on a page. It’s based on your Quality score and your bid amount.

8. mobile ad - Mobile ads are what your mobile searchers see on their devices. Google adWords has WaP mobile ads and “ads for high-end mobile devices”.

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9. Ad extensions - ad extensions are extra information about your business, such as your local address, phone number, and even coupons or additional websites. They’re what shows up in blue below your ad descriptions.

GenerAl Ad relAted terms

10. call to Action (ctA) - a CTa is literally the action you want your searcher to take. Good CTas in your ads are short, action oriented words such as “buy”, “Get”, “act now”, etc.

11. click through rate (ctr) - Your CTR is an important metric in your account settings. It measures how many people who have seen your ad click through to your link destination.

12. landing page - Your landing page is the page on your website to which you’re driving traffic from your ad.

13. optimization - optimization in Google adWords is like optimization elsewhere in marketing. It means making the changes in your ad that get you higher results for your objectives.

14. split testing - split testing includes a/b and multivariate testing. It’s a method of controlled marketing experiments with the goal being to improve your objective results (such as higher CTR’s, increased conversion or even better ad Ranking).

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cost relAted terms

15. bid strategy - Your bid strategy is basically how you set your bid type to pay for viewer interaction with your ads.

16. daily budget - Your daily budget is what you’re willing to spend per day per ad. Your daily cost is based on a daily average per month, so don’t be alarmed if yours varies from day to day.

17. cpc - Cost-Per-Click is the most common bid type on Google adWords. It means you pay every time a person actually clicks on your ad. You set your “maximum CPC” in the bidding process, which means that dollar amount is the most you’ll pay for a click on your ad.

18. ppc - Pay-Per-Click is the same as CPC.

19. cpm - Cost-Per-thousand impressions is a bidding method that bases your costs on how many times your ads are shown (impressions).

20. billing threshold - Your billing threshold is the level of spending that triggers a charge to you for the ad costs. It applies to automatic payments, and the threshold level starts at $50. It you reach that within 30 days, you’ll be billed, and your threshold then raises to $100 and so on.

learn more about Google adWords billing.

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Ad creAtIve terms

21. headline - Your ad headline is the header of your ad copy. It generally shows up in blue when your ad is live.

22. destination url - Your destination URl is the landing page your ad is directed to when it’s clicked. Your destination site can be a specific page. You can change it for differing ads within ad groups. Your audience does not see it in the ad.

23. display url - Your display URl is what shows up in your ad copy. You can keep this simple and clean to increase your brand recognition, trust, and conversions.

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24. side ad - a side ad is the ad that show up on the right hand side of a search engine results page (seRP).

25. top ad - a top ad is the ad that shows up in a shaded box above the organic search results. note: Your ad will likely show up as both a side ad and a top ad - so write your ad copy to optimize for both.

there you have it - all the basic terms you need to get started with Google AdWords. You can talk like a pro! It wasn’t that hard, right?

Read on for tips on how to plan your next PPC Campaign and ad Group.

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Chapter 3

how to plan a successful Google adWords Campaign in 10 Questions

as I’ve said before, Google advertising can be pretty daunting. You have so many other tasks you’re working on, that to learn the whole new world can be overwhelming.

before you break out into a sweat, start with a bit of planning.

Here’s 10 simple questions that will make your PPC advertising a success.

1. Who’s mY tArGet mArket?

It kind of goes without saying, but if you’re running highly targeted ad campaigns you need to know the customers you’re trying to reach.

list out a few demographics of your customers such as:

• are they a local market?

• are they businesses, individuals or families?

• Would they be searching for you on mobile, or from a laptop?

• What level of knowledge do they have about your products?

2. WhAt’s mY offer?

like any good marketing campaign, you need to create or solve a problem. You also need to show why your business is the best at getting the desired results for your customer.

answer these questions about your campaign:

• What makes your business unique, and different than your competitors?

• What do they want right now, when they are searching for you?

For example, let’s say you’re a family-run Italian restaurant:

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• What are your key unique selling points (UsP)?

• What are you offering right now to get your customer to click your ad?

For example, for the family-run Italian restaurant:

of course, you can run multiple campaigns to market different offers and selling features.

3. WhAt Are mY customers seArchInG for?

Google adWords is intent marketing. You are getting seen by potential customers exactly when they are searching for your offer, product or service.

Think like your customer. list out what you think they would be typing into Google when they want what you’ve got.

For the Italian restaurant, a few of your keywords and phrases might be:

• pizza deals

• lunch catering in [location]

• pizza near me

Your keywords are one of the most important parts of your adWords campaigns. They’re what gets your ads sorted through Google’s algorithms. Use the adWord Keyword Planner to get keyword statistics, or if you’re stuck for ideas.

There’s a number of adWords Tools, like Wishpond, that can optimize your keyword selections for you.

4. WhAt do I WAnt out of mY Ad cAmpAIGns?

Think about the results you need to achieve from your campaigns. list out your campaign objectives.

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Do you want:

• Increased foot traffic

• Increased website traffic

• online sales conversions

• lead generation

• More coupon participants

The better you know what you want you need from your paid ads, the better results you’re going to get. You can fine tune your targeting, ad copy, and ad groups.

5. WhAt do I WAnt mY customer to do?

Determine what it is you want your potential buyer to do when they see your ad. This will be based on what your business objectives are for your campaigns, but specifically what actions you want your customer to take when they see your ad.

Do you want interested consumers to:

• Click through to your coupon landing page

• Phone you

• Make a reservation online

• like your facebook Page

• buy a specific product

6. hoW WIll I Get mY customer to tAke ActIon?

so, how are your going to motivate your customer to take the action that you want? before you write your ad copy, list out a number of results-oriented Call-to-actions (CTa’s).

a good CTa is short, actionable, and simple. The clearer your ask, the higher your conversions will be.

In this example, Panago uses two CTA’s: “Order Online” and “Give Us A Call”

You can also motivate action by making time limited offers, exclusive discounts or other key UsP’s with a sense of scarcity.

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7. WhAt Are mY competItors doInG?

It’s always wise to keep attuned to the choices your customers have. Check out what your competition is doing with Google ads, or other advertising strategies too.

Research your competition by searching for the keywords you’ve chosen, or search for your competitors names directly in Google.

Put together a simple competitive analysis. Then list out the strengths and weaknesses of their campaigns. Determine how you can outsmart them, to win more customers.

Do you offer better service? are you more value oriented? If they are on Google Places, are you? are there different keywords you could be using? Can you make a clearer CTa? Do you have a phone number for increased mobile optimization?

by checking out your rivals, you gain a better understanding of what your business is up against - and you can act to optimize your campaigns.

8. WhAt’s mY budGet?

Money, money, money. You need your PPC ads to give your business profits. Plan out your Google ad budget, before you dive right in.

Google adWords are costed on a per day basis. If you’ve never run online advertising, this could be something new to you, so make sure you understand how the pricing system works.

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Google has a number of costing structures. The three main ones are (briefly):

• ppc/ cpc (pay per click/ cost per click) is what most small business marketers use. This allows you to set your ad spend based on the number of clicks your ad. It’s also the default costing you see when you make an ad. You can choose manual or automatic bidding.

• cpm (cost per impression) is best for branding, as you pay based on every one thousand views - not the actions taken.

• cpA (cost per acquisition) requires you to have conversion tracking. The cost is based on how many conversions you actually get on your website.

The bottom line is: you need to know your budget limits. base your ad spend on the returns you need.

9. WhAt’s mY tIme frAme?

How long are your ads going to run? The answer to this question may vary from one of your campaigns to the next. but you need to plan this out before your start your ads.

for example, you might be hosting a short term sweepstakes on your site. You need to get the word out, so you promote it through adWords. Your ad campaign should stop when your sweepstakes ends.

You might be running a longer ad campaign for brand awareness, or ongoing traffic to your site.

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be sure to plan out your ad campaign duration, so that you’re not accidently paying for ads for eternity!

10. hoW Am I GoInG to meAsure mY results?

With Google adWords, there’s almost a limitless number of ways to track and measure your campaign metrics.

What you measure will depend largely on what you want out of your campaigns. list out the metrics you need to watch such as:

• number of clicks to your contest landing page

• number of email leads

• number of sales

• Value of sales

• Return on Investment (RoI)

Then set up your results tracking system before your campaign starts. You might link up your Google adWords account to your Google analytics. or you might use an adWord Tool provider’s analytics to get real-time metric reporting.

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by measuring your results, you can test variations of your ad and optimize them in real time. You also get to track (in detail) the most important business metric: your bottom line.

once you’ve gone through the questions, you’re ready to make a better Google adWords campaign. Draft out your ads. Make a few of them. start small, and test as you go.

In the next chapter, I’ll walk you through the technicals of how to make an adWords campaign.

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Chapter 4

the Anatomy of a Google adWords Campaign [With a Secret Tip to make it Simple]

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Your customers are online. They’re searching for your products, services and offers right now. They want to find you. They want to buy from you.

Why are you missing out?

Google adWords is one of the most effective online advertising methods to reach those consumers. but, if you’re a busy small business owner, an ‘always on’ social media marketer, or even a seasoned offline marketer, running a Google adWords campaign can seem pretty overwhelming.

I get you. That’s why I’ve written a series of articles on Google adWords, including how to plan your adwords.

In this article, I’ll give you the basics of setting up your ads directly on Google. Then I’ll show you a simple 3-step alternative.

GooGle AdWords: set up An Ad cAmpAIGn

so, you’ve set up your Google adWords account, and you’re getting ready to make your first ad. Congrats. It’s an exciting time. You get to join the online advertising move, promoting your business to the world - or simply to your local niche.

Then you see a page like this:

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and all your enthusiasm drains. Panic strikes. There’s so many tabs and buttons, you don’t know what to do next.

Relax. I’m going to walk you through the technicals of how to set up an adWords campaign on Google. (Then I’ll show you a simple 3 step alternative.)

1. set up a campaign. The first thing you need to do is click on the red button called “+Campaign”.

You will get a drop down menu with ad Type choices like “search network with Display select”, “search network only”, “Display network only” and “shopping”. These options determine where your ad is shown.

for your first few ads, choose the “search network with

Display select”. This will show your ad on Google search and a few select websites. It’s the most commonly used option by Google advertisers. (and, no stress, you can change this ad Type down the road.)

Note: if you have a Google Merchant Account and are specifically advertising your products in a Product Listing Ad, use “Shopping”.

select cAmpAIGn settInGs

You’ll now be on page two of your adWords campaign. You’ll see “select campaign settings” highlighted at the top tabs of the site, like this:

In this section, you are making your settings for your ad Campaign.

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next, you will set up your ad Groups, and then make your ads. Here’s a diagram of how adWords is structured:

2. name your campaign - You can give a name to your ad campaign, or simply keep the default “campaign #1” name. If you’re sharing your adWords with a team, or plan to run multiple campaigns right away, be sure to use a name that you’ll be able to easily identify.

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3. devices: You can target your campaigns to drive more traffic from particular devices - such as computers, mobile devices, or tablets.

To start, choose the “all devices” option. This gives you the most comprehensive ad coverage for all viewers.

You can always change your device targeting after you’ve created your campaign. (For example, check your metrics to determine where your best ROI is from and put more Ad spend in your higher returning devices, or if you goals are to drive in-store traffic via mobile, etc. )

Note: You can change your Ad Type again here.

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4. location - Choose your location(s) that you want your ad to target, or even to exclude. Your location choices will narrow down who sees your ad in what region. The more specific you are, the lower your costs will be. (Your costs will be lower because the number of people you reach will be lower.)

Creating a really targeted location is particularly useful if you have a physical location for your business and you rely on foot traffic to sell your goods and services.

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5. language - Choose the language for your ads.

6. bid strategy - This is the section that’s all about the money and how you’re going to use your budget.

You are given two choices about how you want to structure your bids. You can select “I’ll manually set my bids for clicks” or “adWords will set my bids to help maximize clicks within my target budget”.

basically this is asking if you want to use your own strategies to optimize how much you’ll pay for a click per keyword (and lots more), or if you want Google to do the optimizing for you.

You can use advanced settings to narrow your location further:

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You can opt for more advanced options such as your Delivery method and how frequently your ad will show.

7. budget - This is the box where you tell Google how much you are willing to spend per day.

If this is your first campaign, or you want more automated advertising, choose the “adWords will set my bids” option. for more about bidding strategies, check out my article “How Do I optimize budgeting and bidding in Google adwords?”

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You set this as your ad Campaign budget, and will apply it to your first ad Group (you’ll be making this next) and all the actual ads within that ad Group.

The default budget is PPC (pay per click). I recommend you start with this payment option. You can get into all kinds of advanced pay methods - but I’m not going to talk about those here.

If you’re curious, check out an article I wrote which outlines the various budget bidding methods.

If you’re not used to budgeting your advertising campaigns on a daily basis, be sure to do the math before you submit your dollar amount.

I’d recommend that you start small - but not so small that your ads won’t make an impact. set a budget of $20 - 50 per day. Monitor your clickthroughs, leads, and sales conversions and adjust your budget accordingly.

8. Ad extensions - ad extensions are a pretty cool feature in Google adWords. They can increase your clickthrough and conversion rates, and they don’t cost anything more (you still just pay for every click your ad and ad extensions get in total).

You’ve probably seen ad extensions in action. They show up in blue below the ad copy of top position ads:

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ad extensions can be used to include your location information, your phone number (both of which have a particularly high return on mobile searches), links to your site’s landing pages (if you have multiple offers you want to promote), and more.

Choose which ad extensions you want to include in your ad. (Note: Google does not show every Ad Extension for every Ad. They’ve got their own algorithms to determine what Extension shows up when and where, etc.)

9. Advanced settings - You will see advanced settings at the bottom of the “select Campaign settings” page.

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Do noT glaze over this: I strongly recommend that you make an end date for your Ad campaigns.

Google’s default is to have no end date set. This means that if you start your ad, get busy with something else and forget your ad was even running, you could end up with a large bill at the end of the month. If your ad was for a one week promotion, let’s say, you’ll have paid for lots of clicks to your promotion landing page that had expired.

Click on “schedule: start date, end date, ad scheduling” and input your Campaign end date.

You can leave the other advanced settings as they are. When you’re more familiar with adWords, try out various ad rotations, keyword matching options and URl tracking.

okay, on to the next (and almost last) page for your adWords Campaign.

by the way, if all this is sounding like it’s too much information (and you’ve got a business to run), you can always use a simplified Google adWords Tool, like we provide for you at Wishpond. (We also give you landing pages, contest & coupon tools, retargeting and email automation - all in one simple dashboard.)

creAte An Ad Group

You’ll now be on to the next page, with the tab on top called “Create an ad group”. It looks like this:

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an ad Group is a sub-group of your ad Campaign.

10. name this Ad Group - similar to your ad Campaigns, you can have multiple ad Groups. like your ad Campaign, you can name it with specific keywords or promotions, to make it easier to identify when you are analyzing your results (or easier to find when working on a team).

Your ad Groups can have multiple ads and groups of related Keywords.

11. Write your Ad - now you get to write out your ad! You can make as many ads as you want in each of your ad Groups. I’d suggest you make at least two ads per ad Group, so you can do a/b Testing and optimize your results.

Your Google Ad is made up of a:

headline - This is what shows up first, in blue, on your search ads. You have a maximum of 25 characters.

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for best results, keep your headline relevant to your top keyword and your marketing campaign. You need your headline to be eye-catching enough to compete with other Google adWords and organic search results.

description line 1 - This is the first line (after your Display URl) in side ads (the ones that show up on the right hand side of the page). In Top ads (the ones at the top of the search results page, in that pinky-salmon hue), this line shows up in the Headline. You have a maximum of 35 characters.

In this Example (from an actual Expedia ad), Line 1 is “Best Hotel Prices Guaranteed”. It shows up in the 2nd line in Side Ads, and in the headline on Top Ads.

for best results, include a clear Call-to-action (CTa), a top keyword and/or your UsP (unique selling point). You could include your business name, if it is recognizable (this helps to create trust, which helps to get your ad more clicks).

description line 2 - This is the next (and last) line on both your side and Top ads. You again have 35 characters as your maximum.

In the same Example, Line 2 is “Find your Perfect Hotel in Vegas!”

for best results, be sure to include a top keyword, and a unique, compelling CTa.

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display url - Google lets you choose the website address that will be shown in your ad. It can be shorter than your specific landing page, or URl path. It must be similar enough to make your ad trustworthy. for instance, it could be your homepage URl with one keyword.

In the Example, the Display URL is clear, with a recognizable homepage, and a path with their top keywords for the Campaign (Las_Vegas_Hotels):

destination url - Your Destination URl is the exact link you want people who click on your ad to go through to. Your Destination URl should be your campaign-specific landing page (such as a coupon in your ad). You can even include all kinds of tracking codes here which won’t show up in your ad copy.

In the Example above, the Destination URL was actually this:

again, try out multiple ads within your ad Group. a/b test them. Use the ad with the best results, then tweak them again, and a/b test them again. Repeat until you have the best performing ad Copy for your business.

12. select keywords - Keywords are one of the most important aspects of your ads. They are how to tell Google when to show your ad, and they can make or break whether your ad gets seen by your potential customer.

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Your ad will show up (well, based on many variables) when someone does a search for your keywords. You know this: when you do a search on Google, ads are shown. They are usually pretty darn accurate for what you’re searching for, right?

Google likes keywords that are relevant to your ad Campaign, your ad Copy and your landing page. Keep this in mind when you are choosing yours.

Use 10-20 keywords per ad.

there are like thousands of methods for choosing your keywords, here’s a few:

• choose from Google’s keyword selections for you. This is derived from your ad copy and Destination URl [yes, Google crawls your campaign landing page pretty quick!] (note: these keywords don’t always work - I made up a site for “Discounts are us” and Google suggested keywords like: “dating Russia” “mail order bride” and “free Russian dating”)

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• think like your customer. brainstorm lists of searches your customers might be doing when they’re looking for your stuff. The better you can match it, the better results your ad will have.

• use Google’s Keyword Planner.

• check out more Google adWords Keyword tips.

13. set your max cpc - You’ll only see this if you chose to manually set your bid strategy. This is the maximum you’re willing to spend for one click per keyword to your landing page.

If you chose the bid strategy to let Google optimize your budget you won’t have to set your Max CPC.

14. billing - set up or confirm your preferred billing method. Google has different payment methods for each country. for most countries, you pay after your campaign has completed. Make sure your credit card or debit card information is accurate and up-to-date.

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once Google has approved your ad it will be live. You’ll see a green dot by your campaign, and your ad status will say “eligible”.

Woo Hoo! You did it!

Make sure you check your account stats once your ad is live. Monitor it throughout its duration to check clickthroughs, views, searches and more. Make changes to your ads and ad groups to optimize each ad you run.

If you’re a small business owner, and you really don’t have the time or patience to learn all this… no worries, you can still get the results you need from Google advertising. try out our simplified Google adWords Tool at Wishpond. (We have a 14-day free trial - all you do is pay for your ad spend - we do the rest. )

secret tIp: GooGle AdWords mAde eAsY

okay, so now you know how to do the basics of setting up your ads using Google adWords directly. once you get the hang of it, and you have the time to play around with a bunch of additional options Google gives you, adWords can be a hugely powerful tool for your business marketing.

If, on the other hand, you want to get back to doing what you love - running your business and getting paid for your passions - and adWords is not one of those passions - we have a simple solution for you.

Wishpond makes it easy to run Google adWords (and facebook ads). We have customizable email-gated landing page templates. We also give you tons of options for coupons and contests. our robust CRM database makes it easy to send out email automation campaigns to build on the leads you’ve generated.

Here’s the three simple steps you need to create your Google adWords campaigns with Wishpond.

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Click on “ads” in your Wishpond Dashboard. Choose “Create a Google ad”.

1. create Ad - Create your ad Copy, and choose your Destination URl:

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Complete your:

• Headline

• Description line 1

• Description line 2

• Display URl

You can see the preview of both a Top ad and a side ad as you are creating your ad.

2. select your audience:

location - Choose the locations you want your ads to be seen.

language - Choose the language for your ads.

keywords - Choose your own keywords, or have Wishpond choose and optimize them for you.

choose Ad type - Choose to show your ad in search only, or the standard search and Display.

daily budget - Type in the daily budget you want to spend on your ads.

Note: Once your budget is set, your keywords are calculated on a cost per click basis. You see your cost per day, and the average number of clicks you’ll likely get from each word. We give you search volume for each Keyword - so you know the average daily searches for your words.

set up your campaign start and end dates - We make it easy to set your Campaign start and end dates. so, if you do happen to get busy with your business, your Campaign will not keep running indefinitely.

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3. billing info - set your billing info, or simply confirm it with us. (Your ad can’t run unless we have your current billing information.)

You’re done! Woo Hoo! You did it! (quickly and easily!)

once your ad has been approved, it’s live. You can monitor your results in real-time in our easy to read ads summary. Track your ad funnel from ad Views to Conversions.

a/b test and tweak your ads as you go to fully optimize your ad spends.

Repeat, and make profits.

Advertising online with Google AdWords doesn’t have to be overly complicated - or scary. Hopefully this article has given you a clearer idea of how to create your next AdWords Ad.

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Chapter 5

how do i Choose keywords for my Small Business Google adWords Campaigns?

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Keywords are one of the important aspects of a successful Google ad Campaign.

Remember: Google is still Google in adWords. You need your ad to show up in search. Whether you’re paying for listing or going for organic search, you still need to think about how your customer is searching for you, and how you can outsmart your competition to get the higher page rank.

Here’s 10 simple steps you can act on right now to increase your keyword results.

1. WhAt mAkes A Good keYWord?

Keywords, and keyword phrases (long tail keywords), should be highly relevant to your business, your ad campaign, your ad copy and your campaign landing page. The more specific and tied in they are, the more Google will reward you.

a good keyword phrase is one that your potential customers type into Google search exactly when they are looking for your particular product, service, or offer.

The better you can match that search query, the more likely your ad will be shown by Google in top spots. The higher your ad ranks, the more likely it’ll seen by those people who really want your stuff. The better you can be seen by those people, the more clicks, conversions and sales you’ll get.

2. thInk lIke Your customer

When you’re planning out your lists of keywords, think about what your customer would be searching for. The better you can match their search, the better returns your ad campaigns will bring.

This is often easier said than done.

as a marketer or small business owner, you’re so caught up in your own day-to-day world. stepping out to really understand what your customers type into Google search can be challenging.

Try:

• Creating a customer persona, detailing out what and where they are when they’re searching for you

• Researching potential customers on social sites

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to understand the lingo they use. For example, if you market for a fishing gear business, do a simple search for what you think your keyword are (like fishing trip) on sites like Google+. You’ll find the keywords, and hashtags your potential customers are using:

• Using search tools, like the Keyword Planner (I’ll discuss this soon) or outsource your keywords to a Google adWords Tool like we have at Wishpond

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3. be specIfIc

The more specific you are with your keywords, the more targeted reach you’ll get. Don’t use terms that are overly generalized - you’ll waste your money by paying a higher cost per keyword, and your conversion results will be lower too.

Using single word, generic keywords may give you more of a chance for greater views of your ad - but it won’t bring you your niche consumer.

for example, if you are an auto detailer, use phrases like “fix cloudy headlights” or “mag wheels cleaned”, not just “auto detailer”.

4. hoW Well coordInAted Are Your Words?

To increase your ad quality, you need to tie your

keywords in with your ad copy, ad extensions (if you have them) and landing page.

Remember, Google likes relevancy. Hey, Google is trying to serve it’s search customers with the best results, too. The more on target your keywords are with the campaign you are running, the higher preference Google will give to your ad. Your ad will show in more prime locations for your particular target.

additionally, your consumer will be more likely to trust your consistent ad. If someone finds your ad in search, and your ad copy is exactly what they had in mind, they click it. If they are directed to your cohesive landing page - which has the thing they’re looking for - they’re gonna buy from you.

Example: Make sure your keywords match your ad copy, and that your ad copy matches your landing page.

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5. mAke Ad Groups to tArGet Your keYWords

Your campaigns can be super specific, and you can even make multiple ads within a campaign with ad groups.

Use this to target your keywords for each specific target market or search.

for example, you let’s say you sell shoes. You set up an ad campaign to promote your store, and a coupon you are offering for a limited time. You could create two different ads, with two different keyword targeting.

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In this example, ad group #1 targets people searching for discounted shoes. ad group #2 targets people looking for particular types of shoes.

6. thInk outsIde the box

Don’t limit your ad keywords to the obvious. as you know, popular keywords are highly sought after. The more demand there is for a keyword, the more you will need to pay for a click from it.

Increase your RoI, and connect with the people that are looking for your business offerings. Get creative, and think of different searches your customer is doing.

for example, if you’re a real estate agent promoting a new condo listing use keyword phrases such as:

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• Where can I register for my wedding gifts

• How to send money to my kid in college

• Relocation services

Think of common spelling mistakes too, like this Chevrolet dealer did. I searched for “auto detailers” and their “auto dealer” ad showed up.

7. hoW mAnY keYWords do I need?

To get the best RoI from your paid advertising, use 5 - 20 keywords per ad group. any more than 20, and you’re likely not targeting effectively - which means you’re throwing money away. any less than 5 and your ad is not going to reach the eyeballs you need.

8. should I use the keYWord plAnner?

Remember Google’s awesome Keyword Tool? Well, it no longer exists. (Yeah, too many seo bloggers, etc were using it …)

The Keyword Planner combines the old Keyword Tool with Traffic estimator. like the Keyword Tool, it gives you keyword ideas with the level of competition for each, and how often the terms are searched. It also gives you estimated traffic data and suggested bids per keyword.

Use it to get lots of additional keyword ideas, and determine the quality of your RoI for each word.

If Competition for a keyword is low, and the avg. Monthly searches is fairly high - this is a good keyword to use.

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9. use neGAtIve keYWords

negative keywords are a type of keyword. They are like the opposite of your keywords - they tell Google when noT to show your ads.

negative keywords can increase your click-through rates (and RoI), by not showing your ads for certain searches that aren’t related to your product or service.

for example, let’s say you sell clothes. You only sell men’s clothing. Use “women”, “children” and “teens” as negative words. any search with these negative words will not show your ad.

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negative keywords are a more advanced method of targeting to your market. but they’re incredibly effective to increase your ad spend bottom line.

10. understAnd mAtchInG optIons

Google gives you a number of keyword matching options. This gives you control over how closely your keywords have to match the search query that triggers your ad. The main matching options are broad, exact and phrase.

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broad match is the default setting for your keywords. It shows your ad for searches with your keywords, similar phrases, and variations related to your target.

phrase match enables you to tighten your keyword matches. This option will show your ad for your precise keyword phrases, with variations (such as spelling), and words before or after the query.

exact match is just that. This option will only show your ad when an exact match of your keyword phrase is searched for (with minor variations, such as spelling).

This is a more advanced Keyword tool. If you want to learn more, check out Google’s support Pages.

as with any online advertising campaign, it’s essential to monitor your results both during and after your campaign. Use your analytics, and tools like Google’s search term report to optimize your keywords.

next, we’ll take a look at wickedly awesome Google ad Copy, and how you can write ads that get clicked.

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Chapter 6

how to Write Google ppC

Ad copy that Converts: 12 Ways to Succeed

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You’ve planned your Google ad. You’ve slashed through demographics, personas and Keyword Planners to determined the optimal keywords for each of your ad groups.

Think that’s enough? It’s not.

You still need to write an amazing ad that gets your customer to click.

Writing an effective Google ad is an art form. but even without a Peggy olson type background, you too can make ads that get click-throughs and results.

Here’s 12 methods to write ad Copy that converts.

WhAt’s mY GooGle AdWords Ad copY?

first things first. In case you don’t know, your ad Copy is what you write to entice searchers to click on your ad.

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Your ad Copy is comprised of:

• headline - Your Headline is what shows at the top of your ad. It’s in blue. You have 25 characters (including spaces) to write this prominent first impression.

• display url - Your Display URl is what searchers see as the page you’re enticing them to visit. It does not have to be the exact landing page web address your ad links to, but it should be relevant. You can, for example, include your website with the top keyword in your ad Campaign.

• description line 1 and description line 2 - You have 35 characters per line for the ‘body’ of your ad Copy.

as you can see, you need to be concise and precise to motivate a person to click-through to your site. (Yes a Google ad gives you slightly less text than a Tweet!)

additionally, your text ad in search will generally be displayed both as a Top ad and as a side ad.

Top ad:

side ad:

Google mixes these up to change around its ads, and give benefits of the Top ad to more advertisers. This changes how your Headline and Descriptions are seen.

so, now that you know the basics, let’s get to the creative ad Copy best practises and useful tips to increase your business conversions.

buIld trust to GAIn clIcks

like any good marketing campaign, you need to build trust with your prospective consumer. The better you can show that you are who you say you are, and that your

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product/ service/ offer is what that person is searching for, the more likely that person will be to click on your ad.

Think about it, if you see an ad that tells you straight-up what you’ll get when you click, and what it tells is exactly what you’re searching for - you’re going to click-through to the landing page, right?

Here’s a few tips to increase your ad Copy trust:

1. use your top keywords - Write in at least one of your top performing keywords into your ad. This will match the search query your customer is looking for. The more fitting you are with what your customer wants, the more likely they’ll choose your link to click through.

Example: I did a search for “all inclusive Mexico”. These are two of the Top Ads that were shown:

As a consumer, I’d be more inclined to click through on

the “Mexico All-Inclusive” Ad, because it is more relevant to what I’m looking for, and therefore (in ad psychology stuff) it feels more trustworthy. What do you think?

2. use a relevant display url - Your Display URl is what shows as your website in your ads. Google lets you kind of choose what link to display. You should use this to show your homepage domain, and the specific landing page you are directing traffic to. Make sure your link includes a keyword (i.e. from your landing page) to develop trust and show you are who you say you are.

3. be clear and up-front - You have a total of 95 characters in your Headline and Description lines. Use them to clearly show who you are, and what it is you’re offering. Use your company name (particularly if it’s well known), and what a consumer will get from you.

Example: This Ad for a search of “shoe discounts online” clearly indicates what I’ll get when I click. They include their business name, and succinctly tell me their offer.

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Advanced tip: Use Dynamic Keywords - If you’ve been doing Ad research you’ve likely come across some ads that just match exactly what you’ve searched for. Have you wondered how they do it? They’re likely using Dynamic Keyword Insertion. Read more about Dynamic Keywords, and the simple snippet of code to use.

mAke A ctA theY cAn’t refuse

You have about 10 seconds (or less) to get someone to act on your ad. You need to write clear, concise, and irresistible Call-to-actions (CTas) that entice your consumer to take action now.

show that your offer is the most beneficial to your searcher’s want, and that they must click your ad as soon as possible to get it. solid CTa’s increase conversions once they’ve clicked through to your landing page too.

Here’s a few tips to writing effective CTa’s:

4. keep your ctA short, focused and actionable - Use short, one syllable words to get a quick reaction. Make it really easy to understand your ask, and use action

words to provoke consumer initiative to click on your link immediately.

Use scarcity tactics too, such as limited time or product availability, to induce a quick reaction.

action-getting CTa words to use in Google adWords include:

• “shop”

• “Get”

• “save”

• “book now”

• “free”

• “This Week only”

Example: This Ad from a department store uses the CTA “Shop TheBay.com”. They also include “This Week Only” and “30% Off” to motivate an immediate click from people searching for their products right now.

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5. promote a benefit, not a product - When your customer is searching for your product, they likely already know about it. as a marketer, it’s your job to compel that searcher to click on your link. Tell your consumer how they will benefit from your offerings.

Example: This Thai spa shows the consumer that their service will provide the benefit to “Rejunevate Your Mind, Body & Soul”. (It doesn’t tell, for example, about the techniques used - this is found on their landing page, to give the consumer more product/ service information.)

6. use Ad extensions - You’ve likely seen these on Google ads lately. ad extensions are links you can include in your ads. They show up in blue, below your Description lines.

Example of Ad Extensions:

ad extensions can be used to include information about a coupon, other offers, locations, additional landing pages (site links), and even phone numbers. They’re a method to increase your CTa’s - and they don’t cost extra to use.

shoW Your competItIve AdvAntAGe

Your ad needs to stand out against your competitors. Why would someone click on your paid ad results more than both the other ads with your keywords, and the organic search results?

additionally, the Unique selling Point (UsP) in your ad is the starting point in your sales funnel. Clearly showing how you are better or unique will also get you more clicks from qualified customers (people genuinely interested in your promotion) and increase your conversions.

If you can hook your customer quickly and early, they’re more likely to stick with your through your landing page

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conversion, and ultimately - you get the sale.

Here’s three tips to improve your Google ad Copy UsP:

7. search your competitors - Check out your competition with a brief competitor analysis. answer questions like:

• How are your competitors selling their services?

• What’s the missing gap in the market?

• What can you do better than your competition?

Determine your business’ core strengths and look for the opportunity. Then list out your company’s UsP. Use them in your ad Copy.

Example: Here’s an Ad from an ebook company. They’re advertising their selling point: free books online. They word it simply, with easy repetitive language of “No Catch, No Costs, No Fees.”

8. think like your customer - In marketing, your goal is to connect with your business’ consumer. In order to do that well, you’ve got to be able to think in the way your customer thinks.

answer questions like:

• What do your customers want?

• What’s their motivation?

• Why do they need your product?

• Can I segment my market to generate more specific unique selling points?

• What words are going to resonate with each group of keywords?

9. be specific - now’s not the time to wax lyrical about your offers. Yes, you might have the most spectacularly delectable exclusively imported product that you know your customer simply can’t resist. save the mouth-watering depictions for your landing page, blog, or product write-ups.

It actually take a lot of skill to write great ad Copy. You have to know the mind of your customer, your business and your offer so well you can succinctly summarize the

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key feature that will get you the clicks.

Example: Here’s Ad Copy from a department store. In this Ad Group they’re promoting coats and jackets. Their USP is “Free Shipping” and “Easy Returns” (the addition of “Easy Returns” shows a selling feature many of their competitors don’t tell).

A feW more Ad copY tIps

10. check your grammar and spelling - There’s nothing so simple to fix, yet so detrimental to your ad conversion rate than poor grammar and spelling! Incorrect spelling lowers people’s trust, and frankly just makes your business look, well, dumb. spell Check, people!

11. use punctuation (when you can) - Pay attention to Google’s editorial standards. They’re pretty strict about what you can and cannot use with symbols, punctuation and capital letters. Do use exclamation marks, dollar symbols and capitalized words to increase views and click-throughs.

12. review your Ad preview - Does your side ad look just as appealing as your Top ad? When you’re writing your Destination line 1, keep in mind that it might be shown together with your Destination line 2. Check the ad previews for formatting issues.

Bonus tip: I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Always write more than one version of your Ad copy. Run two or three simultaneously, and split test your results. Keep improving your Ad, based on your measured results. Optimize your conversions and ROI.

Hopefully you will use a few of these tactics to improve your Google ad Copy conversions. You are spending your business’ hard earned cash, so the more you increase your profits, the better.

next, we’ll take a look at your landing page, and how to make your Destination URl one that converts.

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Chapter 7

how to Create landing page/ Google adWord Combos That Convert: 21 Tips

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are your landing pages optimized for your adWords campaigns?

If you’ve ever run a Google ad campaign, you know that Google ‘looks’ at your Destination URl - and rates it. If you hit the right marks - with relevancy, ease of navigation and trustworthiness - Google will like you. so will your potential customers.

Getting your landing matched up with your ad campaign and keywords increases your results.

Here’s 21 ways you can optimize your landing page (and conversions) for adWords campaigns.

Is Your content relevAnt, useful And unIQue?

one of Google’s three main criterion for increasing your landing page’s quality score is relevant, useful, and original content.

here’s 5 ways you can act to improve your score:

1. use related ad text and keywords on your landing page - The better you match your keywords and ad text with your Destination page, the more your customers will like you - and convert. Google likes this too.

Example: X-clusive Nail & Beauty created an ad that included the keyword phrase “french manicure”. Their ad text gives their phone number, and uses the words “nail salon” and “20% off”. This links to their Destination URL that matches their ad. It shows the 20% off page, uses the word “nail” and includes the same phone number.

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2. keep your offer/ product/ service consistent - This seems pretty obvious, but when you’re running an adWords - or any marketing - campaign, make sure whatever your promotion is about remains the same through your advertising funnel.

for example, if your ad is for a new product your store is selling

• Write about it in your ad

• Include it in your keywords

• Make your product page the landing page

3. tell your unique features - Just as you do in a well written ad text, show your unique selling point on your landing page. Why would a customer chose you over a competitor? The clearer and more convincingly you can communicate this, the better your overall PPC campaign, and the better your ad RoI.

4. keep your content original and useful - Don’t just cut and paste your content from your other landing page offers. Make your pages unique and specific to each ad or ad group. To increase conversions (and make Google

like you) include information that your customers will appreciate and value for each ad that you run.

Example: UBC Continuing Studies runs ads for different educational courses they have. This ad campaign is for their social media training program. It links to the program overview page on their website

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5. use ad groups to tighten your focus - You might have a few related offers that you want to run in one ad campaign. You might want to a/b test the landing pages in your campaign. Use your ad groups to direct each ad to a specific page offer.

Is Your Web pAGe eAsY to nAvIGAte?

Google also rates your page on how easy it is to navigate. Here’s 5 tips to make your page a lot more user-friendly:

6. make your call-to-Action (ctA) clear - one of the fundamentals in any good website page is to create a CTa that’s easy to see, and easy to act on. This is particularly true when you’re paying to promote it!

There are tons of tips and tricks to optimizing your landing page CTa. Making your CTas better gets results - even changing the text of a CTa can increase conversions by 161%. Here’s a few ways to improve your CTa:

• Use simple action words like “buy” “act now” or “get yours”

• Make a CTa button with contrasting colors

• Place your CTa where your customers will see it

Example of Wishpond’s homepage - with a contrasting colored CTA, and simple clear action words to “Test it out”.

Read more about how to increase landing page conversions

7. keep your ctA above the fold - again, your Call-to-action is the most important element of your page. You are paying for results. Increase conversions by making your CTa easy to see. Keep it above the fold.

Vocab tip: above the fold means what your customer sees when they click on your page - without scrolling down. (I think this is actually a old newspaper term - for

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anything above the fold of a paper - like what you’d see in a news stand)

8. don’t clutter your page - Keep the text and visual noise to a minimum on your landing page. Make it super obvious to your customer why they clicked through, and what it is they need to do next. Don’t spook them with distractions - make your customers feel comforted that they made a clear clickthrough choice.

9. use numbers and bullet points - People are skimmers and scanners online. Make it easy for your interested consumer to understand your offer at a glance. The simpler you make your page, and the better you can communicate your amazing stuff, the more conversions you will get.

Example: Here’s a Wishpond landing page template that quickly shows the benefits to your customers. Note the contrasted color CTA on the left side. Where is your eye attracted to?

10. segment your products - If you have a lot of products you sell, make it really simple for your customer to find the one they want. Divide your products into categories, and sub-categories. Use simple side tabs to make your site easy to navigate, and find any of your products with ease.

Give each of your products its own landing page. link to specific products when you’re running paid ads for them.

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Think your store is too big to simplify? Check out how the apple store does it (uh - and they have tons and tons of products).

Is Your lAndInG pAGe content trustWorthY?

Trust is another key to Google’s quality score - and increased RoI. Hey, if you can’t connect personally with that person who clicks through on your ad, you’re not going to get a sale. If they click through your ad - you have to pay for it. If they don’t take it further by converting, you lose your hard earned dollars.

Creating a trustworthy page is just as important as creating your ad copy and keywords.

Here’s five ways to do it:

11. be upfront about who you are and what you do - If you want to increase your conversions, show your potential customer who you are. Think of your ad landing page as the first impression a customer has of your business.

Use the opportunity on your page to succinctly communicate who you are and what you do.

show what you do by:

• Using images of your products

• embedding a short video related to your CTa

• showing images of your friendly customer support or sales team

12. Include your contact information - Don’t hide from your consumer. Make your business accessible by including your phone number or other social sites on your page. This makes you look more friendly, and open for your customers’ business.

Example: This kitchen renovation business landing page provides trust in their services. They include a phone number, and a chance to get a free consultation.

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13. use friendly words - Yes, it may seem like a no-brainer - but to build trust (which enhances your Google adWords Quality score), use a friendly tone in your landing page text.

Think of your landing page visitors as people who might be visiting you in-person, at your bricks and mortar store. Craft good quality, natural sounding copy for your lead generating pages.

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14. show a map of your location - again, make your business look accessible - show your customers where you are, and how to find you. Include a map of your physical location.

Example: Here’s a Wishpond landing page template for auto dealers, that makes it easy to build trust with a map of your showroom.

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15. be clear about your lead generation or sales ask - If your page is email-gated or a shopping cart, be really clear about why you’re asking for information, and exactly what your customer will get from you. This will increase your conversions, and increase your Quality score.

for example, if you are selling a product directly from your online store - use the product page as your Destination URl. on your page include real images of your product, item specs, and exactly how a customer can pay. Offer a money back guarantee to put your prospective customer more at ease.

the technIcAl stuff: hoW GooGle ‘reAds’ Your lAndInG pAGe

Yeah, the tech stuff, right? I will try to make this section as user-friendly as humanly possible. It is pretty advanced, though. so, if this makes your brain shut off, leave it to your tech guys, or use landing page templates, like you can get from us at Wishpond.

16. use good meta tags - Meta tags are the key things Google reads on your site. They’re all that HTMly stuff, like <title> keywords </title>. Use them for your Title, Keywords and Description attributes. Use alt tags too, for

image descriptions. (for more info on meta tags and PPC, check out larry Kim’s informative article.

17. use clear <title>tags - Make it easy for Google to understand what your page is about. Use one title tag for your page, and include your top keywords in it. If you want to get more advanced, place your keywords in descending order based on value to you.

Example: your title tags are what show up in your organic search results, too. Use <title> keyword phrases </title> on your page to code them in:

18. match your content and title tags - Use the keywords you have in your title tags within your page content, and use the more valuable words more frequently. This confirms to Google that you are telling customers that

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same thing you’re telling its crawlers.

19. Watch your words in your landing page url - The website address you use as your Destination URl is super important to the performance of your ad. Hey, Google actually uses the words in your URl path to help you decide what keywords to plan in your ad. so, make sure your keywords, or offer, is clear and easy to read.

Example: Wishpond uses the keywords “Google adwords tool” in its URL path to our Easy Google AdWords Tool landing page.

20. don’t use “fancy features” like flash or javascript - Google cannot read certain types of website stuff. When in doubt, stick with an HTMl5 site for your landing page.

one more tip to optimize your landing pages for Google adWords

21. make your landing page mobile optimized - Use dynamic pages to make your sites scalable for mobile, tablets or desktop viewing. There’s nothing quite as off-putting to your mobile customer than when they click through your mobile Google ad - only to find a super clunky hard-to-read page. Make it easy for your customer, and they’ll convert.

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conclusion

landing pages can make or break the success of your Google adWords. Without an optimized page that gets conversions, your ads will fail, and your RoI will decline. act on one or two of these tips, test them out, and increase your profits.

next, it’s on to the bidding and budgeting process.

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Chapter 8

how to Strategize

budgeting and bidding in Google adWords

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When you’re a busy person taking care of tons of other aspects of your small business, the budgeting and bidding process can seem a bit overwhelming. It doesn’t need to be.

Here’s a few basics you need to know to get the RoI for your Google ad dollars.

WhAt Are these letters? ppc/cpc, cpm, And cpA explAIned

ok, I’ll start by giving you information that will make you sound smart.

You may not need to use all these acronyms and terms, but it will give you more clarity about the basic bidding options you have on Google. The rest of this article will focus on the one you’ll most likely use: PPC/ CPC.

Here’s PPC/CPC, CPM and CPa explained:

ppc/ cpc (pay-per-click/ cost-per-click) is what most small business marketers use. Your cost is based on the number of clicks on your ad. You can choose manual or automatic bidding (which I’ll talk about soon). CPC is the default costing you see when you make your ad.

cpm (cost-per-impression) is best for branding. You pay based on every one thousand views - not the actions taken. This option is only available if you are advertising in the Google adWords network only. Note: If you don’t even know what the Google Network is yet, I’d highly recommend you start with the PPC option.

cpA (cost-per-acquisition) is a more advanced bidding process. It requires you to have conversion tracking, and has a number of other criteria you must meet. You cost out your ads based on what you are willing to pay for a specified ad conversion. For example, if your

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ad’s destination URL links to a product page on your ecommerce site, or an email-gated landing page, Google tracks the conversions on your pages. You are charged based on each acquisition.

note, there is also:

cpv (cost-per-view) - this is for video ads only.

ecpc (enhanced cost-per-click) - this is an advanced option that requires conversion tracking. It enables Google to more strategically go after your target market, and optimize your RoI.

GooGle AdWords ppc: essentIAl bAsIcs

okay, so let’s get into more detail about the bid process you’re most likely to use.

Cost-Per-Click (CPC) is the standard method of budgeting your Google adWords. It gives you great RoI, because you only pay when someone is interested enough to take the action of clicking on your ad.

If you’re familiar with advertising on a more traditional medium, like print, TV or radio, the whole concept of only paying for results may seem strange. With a CPC budget,

you know that people are clicking through to your website, landing pages, or social sites. If you don’t get click throughs, you don’t pay.

If you’ve never advertised online, you’ll also need to get used to budgeting on a daily basis. This is pretty simple to calculate. Just take your weekly, monthly or quarterly ad budget, and do the math to get your daily budget.

for a first time Google adWords campaign, I’d suggest starting in the $20 - $50/ day range. You can change your budget at any time. Monitor your ads. If you’re getting great results - increase your ad spend.

ppc AutomAtIc vs. mAnuAl bIddInG explAIned

With the PPC option, you can choose automatic or manual bidding. This is kind of like choosing to drive an automatic or stick shift car.

I’d suggest you choose automatic if you’re new, or really have no time to play around with your ads strategically. When you gain familiarity try out my prefered method - manual bidding which gives you tons more freedom in adjusting your performance.

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Here’s a bit more info on the two types:

Automatic bidding means you let Google determine your CPC for each keyword you’re using in your ad campaigns.

When you are setting up your new ad campaign, in the budget section:

• select “adWords will set up my bids to help maximize clicks within my target budget” for your bid strategy

• set your budget as the amount you are willing to spend per day

When you’re starting out - or you have a million other business tasks to focus on - automatic bidding is the simplest way to bid your costs. Google optimizes your campaigns to give you the most clicks for your budget.

manual bidding means you get to choose your Maximum CPC for each keyword. Manual bidding gives you the flexibility to fine-tune your ad targeting for your business needs.

To technically make a manual bid CPC ad:

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• Choose “I’ll manually set my bids for clicks” in the bid strategy

• set your Default bid - this is your Maximum CPC (the maximum you’ll pay for ads in an ad group)

• set your budget as the amount you are willing to spend per day

The benefits of manual bidding is that you can control which keywords you want to spend more of your budget on. This means you can get a lot more strategic in your advertising RoI and business objective targets.

for example, if you’re advertising for a coffee shop and they want to focus on “lattes” this week, you can adjust your Max. CPC to spend more per your “latte” related keywords for that week.

additionally, costs of bids change throughout the day based on volume of bidding. It’s an auction that’s based on supply

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and demand (kind of like the stock market - but not quite as complex). so, if you get more advanced, and your strategic bidding is bringing your business great RoI, you can try out more specific tactics - like using bid adjustments and optimizing your bids throughout the day.

Are you ready to stop reading because you’re now too confused? Don’t worry, Wishpond has a really easy Google AdWords Tool for you. To set your budget with us, all you have to do it calculate your daily ad spend budget.

hoW to IncreAse Your AdWords roI: 3 tActIcs

There’s many methods to improve your results with Google adWords. In fact, there’s been hundreds of books written about it, and entire careers dedicated solely to increasing adWord RoI.

now, you’re likely not interested in spending all your days outsmarting the pros. Here’s three simple tactics you can use, that will let you get back to running your business - and drive traffic from your ads.

Here’s 3 basic tactics to increase your RoI:

1. Improve your keyword Quality score: Google rates every keyword phrase you choose for your ads. The higher your score, the better your ads will perform, and the lower your cost-per-click.

2. monitor your performance and optimize your bids: always check your metrics throughout your ad campaigns. Track your RoI, and determine what is getting you the best results for the lowest cost. for example, if you are a real estate agent, you might find that tweaking your keywords or changing your landing page lowers your cost-per-click and increases conversions.

3. Adjust your keyword bids: Monitor your results. Increase your Max. CPC on keywords that are getting you results. Decrease your Max. CPC on keywords that don’t.

Not to worry, if this all still seems a bit confusing, you can use Google AdWord Tools. All you need to do is set your daily budget, and we’ll do the rest for you.

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conclusion

budgeting, bidding and increasing your RoI with Google adWords doesn’t have to be a mystery. Hopefully this chapter has helped to shed clarity and confidence in your future adWords campaigns.

next up: a/b split Testing to optimize your marketing campaigns.

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Chapter 9

The practical Science

of A/b testing your adWords

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a/b Testing. You’ve heard the term in online marketing, but do you do it?

Testing out variations of an ad campaign to increase sales and profits is still a mystery to many small businesses and marketers. Unlike more traditional advertising methods like TV, radio or print, in online marketing it’s really easy to make changes, test them out and increase your RoI.

That includes making adjustments to optimize your Google adWords Campaigns.

If you’ve come from an offline advertising background, you may not even know that a few simple tests with your online advertising efforts can increase conversions - and your profits - by 5% to 500% or more.

In this article, I’ll tell you what exactly a/b testing is, why you need it for your Google adWords, and practical tips for you to optimize your own ads.

WhY use A/b testInG?

Most marketers (digital and old-school) know that connecting with your consumer is both an art and a science. You may have a good idea about what works creatively. but you need to test it out, and prove your marketing results with numbers.

In a nutshell, a/b Testing is a way to determine what gets your ads the best results. It’s testing out, for example, your Call-to-action like “buy This” and “Get Yours now”, and then figuring out what your customers are positively responding to the most. The more positive a response, the higher your RoI.

I’ve seen the smallest of changes bring companies increased revenue of 10% to 2,000%. That could be thousands of dollars for your business - at no extra ad spend for you. That’s the value of a/b Testing.

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WhAt Is A/b testInG?

a/b Testing is like a science experiment. Remember high school biology? only, you’re not testing the innards of a frog - you’re testing the innards of your ads, and improving your results to bring in more money! (Or, if you’re like me and studied Psychology - you kinda did science A/B type experiments on people, too - uh, insert evil laugh here.)

In a/b Testing, you make a change in your ad against your current one, and then determine which one gives you the optimal yields. Here’s a simple visual of how A/B Testing for Google AdWords work:

You have group a (the control), and you have group b (the variation).Then you test and measure for the result you’re looking for (ie sales, profit, clickthrough, leads, etc). You then use the group that gives you the best results.

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For example, let’s say your business is aiming to increase sales by 10% this month. Here’s how you could run a simple A/B Test to reach your goal:

• Make two ads in a Google ad Group.

• Choose a variable to test (say your Headline).

• set up your metrics to measure results (in this case sales conversions).

• Write two different variations (in this case, Headlines) in your two ads.

• name your ads something like “Hln a” (the control) and “Hln b” (the variation).

• Run the ads simultaneously, for a certain time, say, one week.

• Track your “a” and “b” results.

once you’ve run your a/b Test, determine if one ad gives you significantly increase results. If is does:

• Put your budget into to the ad that brings in more sales.

• Increase your profits.

• Repeat.

a/b Testing can be as simple (or as complex) as your business goals, time and resources allow. but, when even small changes in your adWords can result in conversion increases of 50% or even 500%, it pays to get into the practise of a/b Testing your paid advertising.

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Choose a goal to achieve. You can even put numbers to it, like “generate 25% more leads within 2 weeks”.

plAn Your A/b test

before you jump in and start testing up a storm, you need to limit what you’re looking for. In a digital landscape, you can a/b Test for infinity. focus on your goals, and profits will follow.

for some marketers, who do this as their day job (and get into advanced methods like multivariate testing) it might be ok to test forever. but -- if you’re a small business owner, or a practical marketer, and you’ve got millions of other profitable tasks to work on - you need to narrow your scope.

Plan your a/b test with these 7 simple questions:

1. What’s the GoAl you want to improve?

for example, do you want to:

2. how are you going to meAsure your results?

set up your analytics to measure and report whatever you’re tracking. This is always something you need to do in science - instead of beakers, though, you need:

• Google adWords stats

• Google analytics

• or even a third party tracking system like we give you at Wishpond.

3. What pArt of the Ad are you testing?

There are tons of tweaks and tests you can make to your Google adWord. are you testing:

Choose one ad part to test, to make it simple.

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4. What are the tWo vArIAtIons?

Make the two ads you’re going to run. Use “a” as your control ad. Make the variation ad as “b”.

vs

5. how lonG will you run the test?

before you start, determine the length of the test. That way you’ll have a finite time to conclude, assess your results, and move on.

6. What result do you need?

Decide much you need to improve your sales, leads, brand awareness and so on.

7. What ActIon will you take?

Decide what you’ll do when you reach your results. for example,

• If one ad is doing way better than the other (like significantly better), then use that higher performing ad.

• If there’s not much difference, will you keep running the test for a longer time, keep using both ads and stop the test, or try another a/b test with a new “ad b”.

ok, now that you know about a/b testing, and your mise-en-place marketing is in order, let’s take a look at an actual a/b Test example.

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Here are 3 tests we ran. You can easily do these too.

1. headline: “party rental equipment” vs. “party tent&event rentals”

Your headline is the first thing people tend to see in your text ad. We tested out different variations that would be relevant to the consumer and what they were searching, their keywords and their landing page offer.

for the party rental company, their headline a reads: “Party Rental equipment”.

Ad “A”

They were advertising their business with this ad:

Ad “A”

A/b testInG GooGle AdWords In ActIon

I’ll be using a client of ours (but inserting a different name), to show how easy it is to a/b test, and how it impacts your bottom line.

The example is from a company in the party rental equipment business.

1. Their goal was to: increase website traffic

2. They measured results with Wishpond analytics

3. We measured a number of parts of their ad (I’ll show you 4 of them soon)

4. We made the ad variations before running the a/b Test

5. We ran each test for one week

6. They needed a 15% increase in web traffic in 4 weeks

7. They used the higher performing ad, if it reached their goal

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We changed the ad headline to be more specific about their products. our headline b variation reads: “Party Tent&event Rentals”.

Ad “B”

We ran the test for one week, with keywords, targeting, budget and everything else the same.

the result: a 3% increase in clickthroughs to their website.

2. display url: short vs. long

as you know (if you’ve been reading my series on Google adWords), you can change the website address in your ad Copy. Test out if a change in your Display URl makes a difference to your advertising outcomes.

In the party rental ad example, ad “a” has the the Display URl of “www.partyrentals.com” (a site I made up):

ad “b” gives viewers a specific landing page, “www.partyrentals.com/equipment”

We ran the test for one week, with no other changes to variables.

The Result: an 11% increase in clickthroughs to their site.

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3. call-to-Action: “book online” vs. “call us”

Your Calls-to-action can motivate a customer to click your ad, book your service and buy your products. Test out your action asks to increase your conversions.

In the same party rental ad, we changed the CTa of “book online today”.

Ad “A”

We tested it with: “Call us today”.

Ad “B”

We ran the test for one week, with no other changes to variables.

the result: 17% increase in website traffic.

Yeah, this seemed like a strange result, considering the CTa was to call them, not visit their site. but, they don’t have their phone number on the ad, and I surmise the “Call us” gives a more personal connection with the consumer.

Given these strong results, we could test out other CTa’s, too. The best CTa’s are action oriented, short and inspire a quick response.

Here’s a few more examples we could use:

• “book online today” vs. “Rent Tents and more”

• “book online today” vs. “book now and save”

We could then run the tests using “Call us today” vs. the next highest performers. (See, I told you, this testing stuff can go on forever….)

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AddItIonAl A/b tests to optImIze results

as you can see, there are many many variables you can test on your Google adWords campaigns, ad Groups and ads.

each change can lead to exponentially increased returns on your advertising investment. You may be pleasantly surprised at how a few simple words can take your ad results from a 5% CTR to a 17% (or higher) CTR.

a 5% increase to your CTR can increase profits by thousands.

a few more top adWord components to test include:

• Your offer

• Punctuation and capitalization

• Wording your competitive advantage

• location targeting

• ad extensions

• landing Page Destination URl

• ad Group Keywords

• Device targeting

• Time of day

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conclusion

a/b Testing is effective. It works. once you get used to it, it’s really not that hard to do. When you are a/b Testing, make sure you keep your end goals in mind. It’s about increasing your business RoI, and making your company more profitable without excess spending. Don’t get so drowned out by the testing details that you lose sight of why you started a/b Testing in the first place.

start by trying out one or two variables. Test. Improve your results.

Read on. The next (and final) chapter is all about measuring your RoI and KPI’s. It’s the bottom line money part!

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Chapter 10

how to measure

roI and kpI’s

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Do your eyes glaze over when you hear the words “RoI”, “KPI”, “tracking metrics” and “Google adWords”?

I hear from a lot of small businesses and online marketers who get frustrated and overwhelmed by the prospect of tracking their online advertising results.

but measuring your returns - especially when you are paying to get them - should be your business’ top priority. Without tracking your profits on ad spends, you don’t know if you’re making money. If you don’t know if you’re making money or not, well, you’re not going to be in business very long!

With Google adWords you can track and measure just about any metric.

and it doesn’t have to be complicated!

In this article I’ll give you simple formulas to calculate your RoI and show you how to measure KPI’s for the top three advertising goals.

meAsurInG Your return on Investment (roI)

When you’re a small business, I’m thinking you likely don’t have a big accounting department to track and

analyze your ad budget spends.

but you still need to know if your ad investments are generating profits.

Hey, if you’re spending money and you’re not getting back more money than you’re spending - you’re wasting your hard earned cash. You’ve got to stop the leak. You also should know if one ad is generating more profits than another - so you can put more money into the profitable one.

Measuring your RoI doesn’t have to be overly complicated. You do need to do a bit of math, but, hey, that’s part of business. let’s take a look at how to calculate your RoI.

A sImple cAlculAtIon for Your AdWords roI

as you likely know, your Return on Investment is basically a ratio of your net profit over the costs you spend to get the profit.

To put it in an equation, your RoI looks something like this:

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Your RoI is your revenue less your cost of the thing you sold divided by the cost of the goods sold.

So, for example, let’s say you sell t-shirts. The cost to produce one t-shirt is $10, and you sell them for $20. You sell 100 of them from advertising them on Google. Your revenue (as you can see) is $2,000. Your cost to produce them was $1,000. And you spent, let’s say, $500 in advertising.

Your ROI is: 2,000 - (1,000 + 500)/ (1,000 + 500).

Do the math. Your ROI ratio is .33, which is 33%.

meAsurInG roI for sAles

To measure your RoI for sales, you need to know:

• The revenue you made with your ad Campaign

• The costs of your goods

• Your advertising costs (this is available through your Wishpond account, or your adWords account, if you used Google adWords directly)

now, you may not always know exactly where your sales are coming from. Whether you sell goods online or offline, here are a few tips to improve your tracking.

online sales:

If you sell your goods online, it’s actually pretty simple to track. Here’s two methods for determining the online revenue you made from your online ads:

• Create a product landing page specifically and uniquely for your Google adWords Campaigns. Then you can calculate how much product was sold via that page.

• or, if you’re using Google adWords directly, set up Conversion Tracking and connect it to your adWords account. (It’s not that hard to set up Conversion Tracking - you just copy an HTML code Google gives you, and you paste it onto the website you want to track results from.) Put the

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code on your product landing page to track hits. Or better, put the code on your “thank you” page, after the transaction has been completed.

offline sales:

If you don’t sell your products online, you can still track your sales made from your Google advertising. Here’s my favorite way to track offline sales:

• Use promotions, like coupon codes, which are unique to your adWords campaigns. That way, when someone redeems your offer, you can track which coupon code they used and you’ll know where your sale came from.

cAlculAtInG roI for leAds, WebsIte trAffIc And more

Calculating the investment return for conversions and traffic is a little more tricky. You may not know the exact monetary value for a lead of someone who downloaded your ebook or requested more information. You probably don’t know the value of a click on your site, either.

You guessed it, there are formulas you can use to ballpark your investment returns.

The first calculation you need to know is: cost-per-Acquisition (cpA)

Your CPa is how much it costs your business to gain an action (such as a lead or a click, or even a sale) from a potential customer.

Calculate it by simply tallying your total costs for the ad and dividing it by the total number of sales you obtained from your ad campaign. In other words:

cpA = (Cost/sales)

Let’s take the t-shirt example again. Let’s say you were also generating leads from potential customers by using an email-gated landing page that gave them access to a series of ‘how-to’ videos you made. You got 1,000 leads from this campaign. 100 of these leads purchased a t-shirt. Your net profit (revenue - costs) is $1,000 (as calculated above). Your total Advertising costs were $500.

Your CPA = 500/1000. Or $0.50.

If math is not your thing, try ClickZ’s online CPa calculator.

or, if you’re using Google adWords directly, set up your

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Conversion Tracking. You can measure both Conversions and Converted Clicks with the Tracking.

here’s a few more formulas you can use to put your Ad dollar spends into perspective:

value of a lead = (net Profit/ Total number of leads)

Advertising roI = (Total Revenue - Total cost)/ advertising costs x100

Average value per customer (Avc) = (Total sales Revenue/ number of Customers)

Note: If most of your customers are through recurring payments, you can use a much more complicated, but more accurate, formula:

AVC for recurring payments = (Total number of recurring payments/number of customers) x ((Recurring Payment Price #1 x Number of Customers Paying this Price) + (Recurring Payment Price #2 x Number of Customers Paying this Price) + … / Total Number of Customers)

Read more about AVC for recurring payment.

metrIcs to meAsure Your top AdvertIsInG GoAls

In addition to understanding the costs incurred and the profits you make, it’s important to measure other Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) too. Your ultimate goal in business is to make profits, but there are many steps along the road to achieve this success.

Your business has its own unique goals. Three top goals that Google advertisers want are:

• Website traffic

• brand awareness

• sales and conversions

let’s take a look at what metrics to use to measure your business and campaign objectives.

kpI’s to meAsure WebsIte trAffIc

The simplest goal to track is website traffic. even with the most basic of Google adWords Campaigns, you can measure your clicks and click-through-rates for your Campaigns, ad Groups and ads.

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Measure your website traffic so that you can improve your results, and get more out of your advertising spends.

The top KPI’s to measuring your website traffic are:

• clicks - Your Clicks are the number of times someone clicks on your ad Copy. Technically, a click is counted even if that person never actually reaches your Destination landing page. You can measure your Clicks for a Campaign, ad Group or ad. You can generate performance charts to analyze against your Impressions or Click Through Rates, or measure daily, weekly and quarterly performances.

• click-through-rate (ctr) - Your CTR takes your Click rate further, and measure how many people have actually clicked through to your Destination URl. Your CTR gives you more accurate data on the website traffic derived from your ads.

Note: According to Google itself, a good CTR on a search network ad is 1%.

Using these metrics, you can measure your Clicks per Keyword, your Clicks per Cost of Click, your Clicks vs. Impressions, and lots more.

When you get to understand these metrics, you’ll learn to improve your results by improving your quality score, keywords, search terms, CTa, ad copy, and more.

kpI’s to meAsure brAnd AWAreness

not all advertising is to gain direct sales. Your business (or non-profit) objective might be to bring increased awareness of your company, products, services or cause.

For example, you may be introducing a new product or hosting an upcoming event. It’s not available yet, but you want to build excitement and generate anticipation. Use brand awareness advertising methods.

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Tip: Display Network Ads are the best method to increase brand reach. Your Ad will be shown on sites related to your keywords (including Gmail, Google Finance and Blogger sites) - not just on search when people are more actively looking for you. You target your Display Network sites by keywords and topics via contextual targeting.

The top KPI’s to measuring your brand awareness campaigns are:

• Impressions - an Impression metric is kind of like the old school method you may have gotten from advertising in the Yellow Pages or a newspaper. Your Impression metric indicates how many people have viewed your ad. You get much more accurate Impression data when you advertise online, and you can see specific information for your ads, your ad Groups and your ad Campaigns.

• ctr - again, your CTR is a good indicator of your ad’s success. The more people who are interested in your ad Copy enough to click through to your site, the more successful you’ve been at raising awareness.

• reach and frequency - Your Reach shows the number of people who could see your ad. Your frequency shows you how many times a person is likely to see your ad. (It’s the old marketing adage: The more someone sees your brand or product, the more familiar they become, and the more likely they’ll buy from you.)

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Tip: Use a CPM bidding strategy rather than standard CPC when your goal is raising awareness. CPM is Cost-per-thousand-impressions. It tends to lower your costs if your goal is to get more views than clicks.

kpI’s to meAsure sAles And conversIons

Getting conversions - and sales - is generally the end goal of your advertising spends. a conversion means getting your prospect to take action on your ad’s landing page.

To measure your conversions directly through Google, you need to set up Google’s Conversion Tracking. otherwise, you’ll have to either do it manually or use another third party conversion tracking software.

What you want your customer to act on could be anything:

• downloading an ebook

• signing up for a webinar

• a mobile phone call

• purchasing your product

The top KPI’s to measuring your sales and conversions are:

• cost per conversions - Within Google adWords, you can assign a dollar value for each conversion. This helps a lot when you are measuring your RoI. You can set up a whole spectrum of reports to show you where your Conversions are coming from, and where you should be spending more of your ad dollars to optimize profits.

• conversion rate - Your conversion rate can make it easy to track how many clicks you need (on average) to get a sale or other conversion.

• landing page url - You can measure which Destination URls (landing pages) are generating the most conversions.

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conclusion

Did you learn a new term or a new tactic to measuring your Google ad return on investment? Try out one or two of these methods to start to track and improve your business profits. Then implement a few more.

Hey, you might (I said might) just get rich, and grow your business to the success you’ve always dreamed about. and that could make you happy, too!

Thanks again for downloading my book. and thanks for making the effort to read it through to the end! Keep these tips as your go-to resource, and you’re well on your way to Google adWord success.

I wish you all the best with your online marketing endeavours!

Written by: Krista Bunskoek

pr and Content marketing manager

wishpond.com

Thanks for Reading!