Get your nose in front.

Test keywords using Google AdWords.

Welcome to the Melbourne Cup* edition of Click Tips.  We’ll review how paying for Google AdWords helps you get your nose in front and win the web traffic race.  Like the Melbourne Cup, competing for web traffic is a long race so saddle up and be ready to go the distance.

* For readers outside Australia, the Melbourne Cup is a horse race held the first Tuesday in November.  We love Melbourne Cup Day because it’s a public holiday in honour of a horse race. Everyone in Melbourne has a day off work to go to the races wearing stylish head ware or to have a BBQ.

What is Google AdWords?

The Google AdWords program allows you to pay for an ad linked to your website to appear in the Sponsored Links section of a Google Search Engine Results Page.

The aim of Google AdWords is to get your website on page one of Google and increase your web traffic and enquiries.

This form of advertising is also called Pay-Per-Click (PPC), as you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.

Setting up a Google AdWords campaign

To run a Google AdWords campaign you need to:

• Set up an account at adwords.google.com
• Set a daily advertising budget that you’re comfortable spending
• Decide which geographic area* you will target with your ad

• Choose keywords that are relevant to your product or service
• Write Ad Copy that encourages people to click on your ad
• Carefully choose which page of your website your ad will be directed to.

This is called a landing page.

* For the geographic target area for your ad, you might choose:

• a whole country like Australia,
• a state like Victoria or New South Wales
• a city like Melbourne
• or it’s even possible to target an area within a set distance from your office address

What makes a good landing page for your Google AdWords ad?

Relevant content.

Good landing pages have content that is relevant to what the searcher was looking for. Using the same keywords in your headline and body text helps make the content relevant.

Clear Call to Action

Make it easy for people to convert by having a clear Call to Action. A Call to Action is an action that you want people to take, such as buying a product, signing up for your e-newsletter or downloading an ebook.  A person that takes an action on your website is called a Conversion.

Key information above the fold

The fold is the imaginary line at the bottom of your monitor when you’re viewing a website.  The area above the fold includes the information that you can see when you first visit a website, without scrolling down. Putting your important information above the fold makes it easy for web visitors to find.

When does Google AdWords display your ad as a Sponsored Link?

Your ad is shown whenever someone in your target location searches for one of your selected keywords. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad.  Each time your ad is shown is called an impression.

Why would you pay a Qualified Google Advertising Professional to manage your ads?

This article gives a basic overview of how AdWords works. Business owners often set up an AdWords campaign but then get to a point where they are not sure if their results are good or bad, or what to do next.

Skill and experience helps to:

• Get you ad on page one of Google if there are a lot of other advertisers bidding for the same keywords.
• Write your ad copy so that the right people click on it and you only have to pay for clicks from people that have an interest in whatever you are offering.
• Optimise your ad over a period of time so that you get the maximum possible visitors and enquiries for the budget you’ve chosen to pay.

Back to the main topic of this article, how can Google AdWords help your keyword strategy?

The Google Keyword tool gives an indication of recent monthly search volume in a wide geographic area, for example Australia. It allows you to compare the search volumes of different keywords relative to each other.

Once you’ve selected keywords that are relevant to your website, testing them using a Google AdWords campaign allows you to:

• Find out the actual search volumes for each keyword in your target area.  This is based on  the number of times the ad is shown.
• Test headlines.  Use keywords in the headline of your ad copy and use the same headline on the Landing Page (remember from earlier, that’s the page that your ad is directed to).  If the ad and landing page generate a lot of enquiries, sign ups, sales etc then they are effective.  If not, make some copy changes and review the keywords you’ve selected.
• Check the level of competition. You can get a feel for how competitive the keywords are in your area, based on how much you have to pay per click, and the position that your ad appears.

To find out how to optimise your own Google AdWords campaigns, enquire about a Google AdWords coaching session.

Results of the “Google Analytics coaching” keyword optimisation test

If you read the last Click Tips article, Don’t go changing, use keywords consistently, and you’re wondering how my live test using the keywords “Google Analytics coaching” turned out, go to Google and search for “Google Analytics coaching”.  Last time I checked my website was first in Australia and second in the world. Might give myself a bonus 🙂

Click Tip Summary

When you’ve selected your keywords, use them in a Google AdWords campaign to find out actual search volumes in your target area, how well your website generates enquiries and how competitive the keywords are.