Does Google Adwords Work for Small Businesses
Google gets about 5.6 billion searches per day, making it the biggest search engine in the world. By leveraging its advertising capabilities, businesses can place their products and services in the faces of a sizeable chunk of users who are probably searching for such offerings.
Google Ads (formerly Google Adwords) is one of the fastest and most effective paid advertising methods for driving massive traffic to your website, which you can then convert into leads and sales. The service is so widely used as a promotional tool by businesses and organizations that it accounts for 97% of the revenue generated by Google.
Using Google Adwords to promote your small business can seem like a difficult and unrewarding task considering that there are mega-companies out there competing to rank at the top of search results, without the budget constraints that you have.
Although more prominent brands have a lot of advantages with Google Ads, small businesses can still cut through the noise and get those precious clicks and impressions with smart strategies and the right targeting options despite the size of their budget.
Adwords may be complicated and tough to get the hang of, but when it is done right, you can reap bountiful and immediate results. The good news is that you can start small and learn as you go. Proficiency and success don’t happen overnight.
There are a few things to keep in mind to take advantage of Google Ads for your small business.
- Set a budget and stick to it.
- Optimize your website and landing pages.
- Select the right keywords.
- Target people within a specific geographic range.
- Monitor your competitors and hijack their traffic.
- Track your results.
- Don’t hesitate to ask for help.
Google Ads works for small businesses and can deliver positive results within a short time if used correctly. To get started, all you need to do is create an Adwords account, then follow the prompts to determine your marketing goals, create your ad, choose your spending specifications and targeting options, and direct your leads to wherever you want them to go.
1. Set a budget and stick to it.
The cost of using Google Adwords can quickly balloon to more than you expected to spend in a short time if you let it run wild. Not only will this eat up your budget, but it can also reduce the performance of your ads because Google will have to tweak it to match the changes in your spending.
Determine how much you’re willing to bid for every click on your chosen keywords, then set your budget cap, so your ads stop running once you reach that price. Establishing a reasonable budget is the first step to creating an Adwords campaign that could result in high ROI.
While it’d be good to rank at the very top of Google search results, your business can still enjoy increased traffic, lead generation, and conversion, by spending your budget on less expensive keywords that rank well.
With Adwords, you can make budget decisions based on your resources and requirements at a particular time and create successful marketing campaigns without endangering the revenue flow of your business.
2. Optimize your website and landing pages.
Any effort you put into developing lucrative Adwords campaigns would be wasted if people are bouncing right off your website after clicking.
Your landing page can affect your quality score and cause Google to increase your advertising costs if it does not live up to its promise in the ads. The keywords you’ve built your ads around should feature on your landing page, and the message should be as specific as possible.
For instance, if you are a public adjusting firm and you bid on storm damage keywords, then you have to send people who click on your ads to a landing page that is strictly about storm damage. Sending them to your homepage or general service page displaying all your other services like fire damage, sewer or septic tank damage, and mold removal would reduce the chances of conversion.
Make sure people find exactly what they’re looking for when they visit your website. Take them straight to the product or service that brought them there. Reduce the number of actions they have to take to do what they want so that they are encouraged to stay and complete the task.
You’re going to pay for every click you get, so why not make sure it counts? Some of the crucial components of a high-quality, optimized, and relevant landing page include:
- An enticing headline.
- Compelling graphics and images.
- Features, benefits, and reviews of the product.
- A creative and persuasive call-to-action.
Use various direct ads to dedicated landing pages that contain the specific products and services referenced in your ad. The more targeted and direct your landing pages are, the higher your chances of converting visitors to customers.
3. Select the right keywords.
Refining your keywords is crucial to improving your search rankings and the overall effectiveness of your Adwords campaigns. You need to bid on the best keywords that are relevant to your business and address the problems your customers have.
Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. What are the general and specific words or phrases they may search for when looking for your products and services? If you don’t know what prospective customers are looking for, you can’t draw them to your website.
Start by carrying out research using search engines and tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs Keyword Explorer, and Buzzsumo to discover the keywords that people are searching for which apply to your business.
You can also learn how many times people search for a particular term and the value you may derive from including it in your Adwords campaign. Google Adwords provides essential keyword information, such as:
- Search volume: The number of times people search for a particular word or phrase in various locations. The higher the volume, the more expensive it’d be to bid and rank for.
- Difficulty: Certain keywords are much harder to rank for because the audience for them is limited. The more specific a keyword, the lower the traffic it could generate.
- Competition: The more popular a keyword is, the higher the number of people trying to rank for it, which makes it more expensive and harder to rank at the top.
Once you know the keywords people are searching for, you need to figure out why they are searching for it. Understanding search will help match the right keywords to the motives of your audience and help lure them to your website where you can then satisfy those motives.
The search intent behind keywords can be grouped into three main categories:
- Informational: To learn more about a particular topic.
- Navigational: To find a specific website that they are probably already familiar with.
- Transactional: To purchase a product or service.
When it comes to Google Adwords, transactional keywords are the most likely to lead to conversion, so you should prioritize them in your campaigns.
4. Target people within a specific geographic range.
Let’s say you manage to create the best ad with a quality landing page optimized for conversion; you may end up not getting quality leads because your ads are being seen by people who are too far away to take advantage of it.
Ensure that the right customers can find your business by targeting people in nearby areas. It’s especially important when you’re providing a service or running a business with a physical location. Try to keep your keywords and ads as local as possible.
Help people within your geographical area discover your business because they are the most relevant of your potential customers.
Google Adwords allows you to target audiences by location. This feature comes with several options:
- Radius targeting: This makes your ads visible to potential customers within a specific geographical area.
- Bulk location targeting: This allows you to target multiple locations―up to 1,000 at a time.
- Places of interest targeting: With this option, you can target places like universities, airports, malls, or other commercial areas.
5. Monitor your competitors and hijack their traffic.
Paying attention to what your competitors are doing with their Google Ads can give you meaningful insight into what strategies you should be implementing. You can do as they do, or do even better by finding ways to make your Adwords campaigns stand out from theirs.
By pasting a link to your competitor’s website in the keyword panel of your Adwords account, you can see the keywords that they’re bidding on, and use them to guide your approach.
A shady but highly effective way to increase your traffic is by stealing traffic from your competitors. Google Adwords allows you to bid on your competitors’ names―as long as you don’t use the names in your ads―so that your business appears in search results when people search directly for your competitors.
6. Track your results.
Since the goal of using Adwords is to drive conversions, Google allows you to track your campaigns to see what kind of returns you’re getting on your investment so you can optimize for better performance.
With Adwords’ Conversion Tracking tool, you can monitor what happens after someone clicks on your ads. It shows you how efficiently your campaigns are performing across various metrics, including lead generation, downloads, sales, click-through rate, and email sign-ups.
You can also A/B test different copies and landing pages on your ads and measure their performances to see, which has a better ROI. By tracking your Adwords data, you can discover the keywords that are most effective and focus on them and eliminate or tweak the keywords that are not doing so well.
7. Don’t hesitate to ask for help.
It will take a while for you to master Google Adwords, but with a little patience and a commitment to learning, you will eventually get there. There are numerous online courses, tutorials, webinars, and YouTube videos that you can use to build up your knowledge and compete effectively on this channel.
If you don’t have the time to manage campaigns for Google Adwords or you just want proven strategies that can give you positive returns in a short while, then it’s time to bring in the experts.
Consider hiring Ads specialists or a marketing agency to develop and handle your Adwords strategy. These professionals are not only highly experienced, but they also have access to specialized software and analytics tools that you can use to maximize ROI, optimize your campaigns, and measure results.
Conclusion
Google Adwords can do a lot for your small business with regards to helping increase brand visibility and boost the inflow of qualified and ready-to-convert leads to your website. With a strong value proposition, optimized landing pages, and targeted keywords, you can use Adwords to take your business to the next level.
