Designing your Google AdWords Campaign (Part 1)

Launching a Google AdWords campaign can be an effective way to drive potential customers to your site.  Google AdWords is a very popular advertising platform that is accessible to anyone who is willing to ‘pay-per-click’.

A big problem with Internet advertising, however, or any advertising for that matter, is understanding whether or not you are getting value for your advertising dollar.  This is especially concerning for small business where the advertising budget is money that might better be spent on operations.

Here are five steps that you should take before launching a Google AdWords campaign.  Following these steps will help to make sure that you have the proper foundation set-up before investing in a Google AdWords campaign.

Five Steps before you launch a Google AdWords Campaign

1. Identify your keywords
   You first need to determine what search words your users are typing into Google to find your page.  You can do this by setting up a Google Analytics account, or you can simply ask your customers how they would likely search for you or your offering online.
2. Review your current website ranking
   Test the keywords to see how your current website ranks.  If it is not on the first page of results, then you have less than a 10% chance of being found using those keywords.  Check out ‘Search Engine Optimization’ sources of information for details on how you can update your website to improve your ranking.  A good reference book book is Search Engine Marketing by Stephanie Cota.
3. Review your Search Engine Results Page Display
   Review the text that Google uses to summarize the content of your website or page.  If the write-up isn’t very compelling, people won’t click on your link.
4. Update your Page Content
   Click on the link from the search results page and examine the page content.  Does it clearly answer the question that your potential customers want answered?  Search pages will also often bring your potential customers to your website ‘through the back door’, so they need an easy way to figure out where they are.  Finally, the Page Content drives the Google search engine results page display.  You may need to update your Page Content to improve your Search Engine Results Page display.
5. Provide a Clear Call to Action
   Give your potential customers a clear call to action.  Depending on your product or service offering, this could be something like, ‘Buy’, ‘Call for Details’, or ‘Subscribe to our Newsletter’.  This call to action is essential because it will allow you to measure your return on advertising.

By following these five steps, you’ll have a good foundation for your ‘organic’ search strategy.  The great thing about organic search is that it’s free, however you don’t have much direct control over how your website is shown.

In Part 2, I’ll provide the specific steps to launching your Google AdWords campaign so that you can get the most from your pay-per-click advertising investment.

Chris McPhee, MBA
Email: Chris.McPhee@Marketing-Matters.org