It’s been about a month since I purchased Perry Marshall’s Definitive Guide to Google Adwords. I’ve been having a blast creating and launching Google Adwords campaigns since then. Since launching my campaigns, I’ve definitely come to understand the Google Adwords tips regarding customizing and catering the entire sales process in order to improve ROI.
I started my Google Adwords PPC campaigns researching my competitions’ PPC campaigns. I was delighted to discover that most of my competitors do the same thing: they create only generic ads that only link to their home pages. Talk about missed opportunities and a way to kill Adwords ROI.
In order to make PPC marketing more effective, you need to maximize your return on investment (ROI). This way you can bid higher and earn more for every dollar spent.
3 Google Adwords tips for improving ROI are as follows:
- Improve Adwords quality score so you pay less for premium placement;
- Bid on effective keywords
- Cater and customize your ads to your landing pages.
This article focuses on the The PPC and Google Adwords tips pertaining to #3 above: “cater and customize your ads to your landing pages.“
Many businesses load up on every conceivable keyword and then link every ad to their home page. Big, big, BIG mistake.
The Google Adwords tip “cater and customize your ads to your landing pages” has 3 important elements:
- Cater your ads
- Create more than 1 ad
- Customize your landing pages
The 3 customization Adwords and PPC tips in detail
Adwords Tip 1: Cater your ads
In a nutshell, write your ads so they speak to your prospective customers AND are directly related to the page you link the ad to. You want the ad to specifically answer the very problem or question the searcher has. There are many PPC and Adwords copywriting techniques out there, but a simple and effective method is:
- Solid, attention-grabbing title
- Set out the feature
- State the benefit
Google Adwords gives you 3 lines; you can structure your 3 lines in the order of the 3 points above. This is a simple and effective Google Adwords copywriting tip.
This is important: the page you link the ad to must address the feature and/or benefit stated in the ad. If you go to a generic, all-encompassing home page that doesn’t directly address the feature and/or benefit, you’re conversion rate will likely be lower.
I’m not saying that you’ll never link to your home page. However, only do so when your home page directly relates to the ad.
Google Adwords Tip 2: Create more than 1 ad
It’s imperative you get your click through rate (CTR) as high as possible so that you can improve your quality score with Adwords. In order to improve your click through rate, you’ll need to test several ads at the beginning of a campaign. Changing one word in an ad can impact click through rate. Write numerous ads trying different copywriting techniques.
Monitor the click through rates daily. After a few days or weeks, improve the ads with low click through rates or dump them. You can also configure your Adwords campaigns to display the ads with higher CTR more often. Make these changes based on the data.
You can, of course, continually add new ads into the mix to see if you come up with better click through rates. For example, you can build on the ads that work well in the hopes you can continue improving click through rates.
Don’t forget to monitor conversion rates:
Just because an ad has a high click through rate doesn’t mean it’s effective. It could well be that the visitors from high CTR aren’t buying. You can monitor this if you also use Google Analytics to track the traffic in more detail on your site.
Naturally, you’ll need conversion tracking tools on your site to determine with any kind of precision, which visitors, from which ads are converting. This is beyond the scope of this article, but it’s something to keep in mind so that you know exactly which ads are generating the most business.
Adwords Tip 3: Customize your landing pages
I’ve alluded to this PPC and Google Adwords tip already. It’s important your landing pages (the page where an ad links to) specifically address the promise in the ads. The more specific, the better.
Does this tip mean you must create landing pages?
Yes, most likely you’ll need to create some landing pages. Driving all traffic to a home page simply isn’t the best approach unless your home page specifically address the ads you create. This will depend on the content of your home page. I’ll explain further with an example of a plumber’s website.
Suppose our fictional plumber does plumbing for both commercial and residential buildings. Likely his home page presents information explaining generally the scope of services. However, the ads a plumber creates will differ; ads targeting residential customers will be different than those targeting commercial customers.
The plumber would be wise to drive ads targeting residential customers to web pages that specifically discuss residential plumbing services. Likewise, commercial customer ads should direct to web pages discussing commercial plumbing services.
Again, the more specific the ads and landing pages, the better.
Taking the plumber example further. The plumber could create ads for toilet installation and then link to a web page that discusses and highlights the toilet installation service. The plumber likely offers services other than toilet installation, but customers looking for that specific service will be impressed and like the fact they’re directed to a page addressing their sole concern.
Note, you can also create general ads that link to general pages. Again, this will be determined by the keywords targeted.
A brief Google Adwords keyword research tip:
Do not use the same batch of keywords for every ad. Tailor the targeted keywords by ad group.
Returning to the plumber example again, the ads about toilet installation should target “toilet installation” keywords only. The more general plumbing keywords such as “Chicago plumber” should link to more general pages, and maybe even the home page.
PPC and Google Adword Tips in a nutshell
Put yourself in your prospective customers’ shoes when planning your Adwords campaigns. Think it through from start (keyword research) to finish (the landing page). Customize as much as you can so that you create the best user experience possible for people searching for your products and/or services.
Please note that catering and customizing your ads to your landing pages is just one Google Adwords tip; it’s also important to learn and execute well on the other PPC and Google Adwords tips, which are:
- improving your Adwords quality score, and
- bidding on effective keywords.
Yes, launching effective Adwords and PPC campaigns takes some effort, but once you get even one campaign working well, you can generate a great deal of business.
Moreover, all 3 Google Adwords tips work in concert. When you cater your ads and bid on the right keywords resulting in a higher click through rate, you’ll improve your quality score. A better quality score means your ads will receive better placement without having to be the highest bidder, which in turn will generate a higher click through rate (generally).
The entire process works together and once you hone your understanding and implement all of the important PPC Google Adwords tips, you can continuously improve your PPC ROI.
Finally, PPC encompasses more than just Google Adwords. PPC stands for “pay per click” which is any online advertising where you pay for clicks. Google Adwords is the largest PPC network, but certainly not the only one. There’s Facebook, MSN … pretty much any website that charges for clicks on your ads.
This article simply sets out some of the basic Google Adwords tips I’ve discovered over the last few weeks launching Adwords campaigns.
If you wish to learn how to do this Adwords thing better, or wish to know the basics to see if your web marketing company is doing it right, check out my article about Perry Marshall’s Definitive Guide to Google Adwords.
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