By John Eberhard
Here is the process we follow in setting up and managing a Google Ads advertising account.
- Selecting keywords that the target audience would type in.
- Writing headlines and descriptions for the ads.
- Creating custom landing pages that are exactly about what the ad is about, and will speak to and appeal to the people who typed in those keywords. I’ve done a lot of research over the last year into what other people are putting on landing pages and what is working. What it comes down to is a response to how busy people are today and how you have to hit them fast with all the relevant info “above the fold,” meaning what they see before scrolling. You have to have a headline that speaks to either their pain points or the benefit your product or service will provide, some copy, a big visual (either a still image or video) that communicates about your product, some third party endorsement info such as Google and Yelp ratings, and a phone and response form. All above the fold.
- I usually favor a separate landing page for mobile, formatted to look great on mobile and communicate your info fast on mobile.
- Set up conversion tracking in Google. This sends a notice back to Google when someone fills out the response form, and thus tells you which keywords and which ads are producing conversions.
- I also set up a tracking phone number. That way you get an accurate count of how many conversions (leads) your campaign is producing.
- Start the campaign.
- Closely monitor the results of the campaign, including number of conversions, average cost per conversion.
- Work to eliminate clicks from people who are not really the target audience, people who are not going to become leads, but who may be clicking on your ads and spending your money. One way to do this is to come up with a list of “negative keywords,” which are words or phrases that, when they are included in a keyword phrase that someone types in, Google will not show your ads to that person. This is especially important in cases where you have keyword phrases you are targeting that will be typed in by your target audience, but also by others who are not your target audience. We do this in the setup process, but also revisit it after the campaign is running.
- Make modifications to your landing pages in order to increase conversions. I have several data sources I use for this. I will look at other companies advertising on the same keywords, and look at their landing pages for ideas. I have studied YouTube videos on landing pages and what others have found successful. And I have asked the AI chat services for ideas for improvement. But in all cases I create a new landing page and run it at the same time as a previous version (this is called an A-B test). Then I look at the conversions and whether the new version is working better.
Examples
Last year I studied YouTube videos on landing pages, and tested a format with the headline, copy, visual, Google and Yelp ratings, and phone and response form, all above the fold. One client started getting significantly more conversions each month and over a 6 month period doubled their conversions, from 100 to over 200 per month.
Earlier this year I noticed with another client that they were not getting many response form conversions from mobile phones. I did some research on YouTube about landing pages specifically for mobiles, and created a separate campaign targeted specifically at mobile phones. Within two months the conversions tripled and hit hi8ghest ever for two straight months.
For another client, whose business is highly seasonal, by doing the actions above we are keeping volume conversions coming in during the off-months.
I want to stress that the above is a process, that we work at over a period of time. Sometimes we get great results right away, sometimes it takes a little longer. But consistently working at the process is what gets results.
If you’d like a free consultation on Google Ads or any marketing issue, contact Real Web Marketing at 661-441-2429 or fill out a form here.
