You know the basics of AdWords. A user has a question, they type a keyword or keywords that relate to their inquiry into Google and then they see your relevant message (advertisement). Finally, that user heads to your website to take advantage of the service or product you have to offer. Basic enough, right?
As with most things in life, AdWords is really only basic on the surface.
If you want to use Google Adwords to accelerate the traffic your company experiences and increase your revenue, you’ll need to understand more than the basics. The only issue with this, though? The above-the-basic rules of AdWords are changing all the time.
As such, I want to share six AdWords strategies with you that are working right now. If you’d like to bring more people to your website as quickly as possible, follow the advice below:
1) Keep Things Natural
Consumers today are constantly overwhelmed with advertisements and messages. This is why content marketing has risen to popularity so quickly. Good marketing fills a customer’s needs without being too promotional.
Similarly, when it comes to online search, people want answers to their questions, not over promotional advertisements. If you can quickly give a searcher an easy-to-understand response, your advertisements will perform well.
To try your hand at this idea, start with crafting a long-form advertisement. Expanded Text Ads are designed to help advertisers write advertisements that read more naturally, so take advantage of this offering. In general, you’ll still want to use two to three keywords in your advertisement—in a natural way.
2) Guess Who’s Back?
Did you know that it takes an average of six to eight contacts with a customer before they become a viable lead? The consumers that view your website generally visit to simply gather information about your business and your offering.
Fortunately, the more a user returns to your site, the more likely they are to convert later on. In fact, if you can cater your ads to returning users, you’ll find that they convert three times more than new users that view your advertisement.
To get started with this technique, look no further than Google’s Remarketing. This option enables you to show ads to people who’ve visited your website or used your mobile application. After they abandon your site or app, remarketing will help you reconnect with them by showing them your advertisements across their devices.
3) Cater to Mobile
Last year, for the first time in history, more users accessed the web from mobile devices than computers for the first time. Although this was shocking to some, it spoke to a trend the best advertisers have been keen on for years. More and more, people are switching from traditional computing platforms to smartphones.
So, if you want to stay relevant in the world of PPC, you need to cater to these users. More specifically, you’ll need to use mobile-specific Ad Extensions. The three types of Ad Extensions you’ll want to use are Call Extensions, Location Extensions and Message Extensions.
Call Extensions allow customers to call your business simply by clicking or tapping on your advertisement. With the ease of a click-to-call button, you’ll drive more calls to your business and provide customers with the information they need in a personalized way. Oh, also, Call Extensions can increase your clickthrough rate by six to eight percent, and they’re free of charge … So, you’d be a bit silly not to use them.
Another way you can cater to mobile users is with Location Extensions. Individuals that are searching on their phones often live “on-the-go lifestyles.” When they come across your business, they want to understand where you’re located as quickly as possible. Luckily, a location extension can provide them with information like your address and a map to your location within seconds.
Another benefit of Location Extensions is that they can direct users to your affiliate locations. For example, if your company is technically based in New York but sells its products throughout the United States, you can simply have your advertisement tell a user where the nearest store that carries your product is located.
The last—and arguable most important—extension is a Message Extension. Mobile users might call you, but they’re much more likely to send you a message. With Message Extensions, you can allow users to simply text your business to receive a quote, request a service and much more.
4) Don’t Be Impersonal
When you address an audience, you want to speak directly to them. Simply put, your advertisements should include pronouns—like we, you and him or her.
When you write in this way, you’ll find that your copy comes across as more natural. This technique will also help you keep your audience in mind and write for them—instead of for your keywords.
Also, I’d be amiss not to mention that pronoun targeting can go very wrong if you’re not careful. All too often I work with companies that waste countless dollars advertising their gender-specific products to the wrong sex. If you’re going to take advantage of gender targeting, don’t make this mistake. Find your audience, pick your pronoun and stick to it.
Here, Google’s Demographic Targeting will be your friend. With this tool, you can personalize ads for your audiences based on a variety of variables, such as gender. For example, if you want to show a different messages to your female and male shoppers, you can do so with the Demographic Targeting tool.
5) Automate for Audiences
Although there’s a lot you should do manually on the back-end of AdWords, you don’t have to do everything yourself. One of the best ways to automate your PPC campaigns on this platform is through the IF Functions tool.
This feature allows you to tailor the ad copy your audience sees based on the conditions they meet. For example, if your reader is using a mobile device, you can show them ad copy that’s tailored for mobile users.
The IF Functions tool is also very important when it comes to your remarketing efforts. To increase your conversions, create special offers and messages for returning users in IF Functions.
6) Think About Search Trends
Consider for a second how much voice-activated assistants have progressed in just a few short years. These advancements are necessary because query lengths and the complexity of follow-up questions are on the rise. Online, the trend is no different. People use voice search tools to conduct long-tail online searches. To cater to this, you need to ensure that your advertisements and website are optimized for voice search.
Moving Forward
If you’re not up-to-date on the latest and greatest AdWord techniques that deliver quick results, it’s time to get to work! Optimize your current and future campaigns with the six strategies above, and then let me know how it goes. Seriously, I want to hear from you in the comments section below!
