Most people know about Google natural search results, which are seen on the left side of results pages after a search is performed. Similarly, Google search ads show for phrases you select that match those searches.
Search Advertising is Based on the Concept of Seek and Find
These Search Ads are created by businesses to trigger the showing of ads when someone searches for products or services they offer. The ads are shown alongside the natural results. But, it’s better than natural results by Google, because we control the results.
The concept is the same as the old “Yellow Pages” model. You know what you want and you look it up by name.
That model is now a digital advertising model, where you look it up on a digital device. As your PPC advertising agency, I put your ads in front of people doing specific searches that match your products or services.
A business would choose to use search advertising when they want customers who know exactly what they are looking for, and you offer it!
The user scans through ads, reading the titles and short text snippets, and selects the one that seems most related to their search.
When they click on your ad, they are taken to your website, and you are charged a fee you have approved based on your bid amount. You are only charged when they click. These ads are categorized as “pay-per-click ads”, or “PPC ads” for short. You only pay when someone clicks your ad – so Paid Search PPC is another name for it.
How does PPC Search Work?
I set up an account with Google Ads and create a paid search campaign around your offering. Settings are available to target your customers very precisely.
Within your account, I create campaigns and ad groups containing keyword phrases where we set the maximum you are willing to pay for a click, referred to as a bid.
The ads I create for your phrases are entered into an ad auction to be shown when a user searches for something that you are advertising, if your bid is high enough.
Ads can be seen in the sections on the top, bottom, and right side of the Google search results pages. Top and bottom on smartphones.
The most simple, effective way into this easy but complex system of advertising is to call Denver search advertising consultant Jon Camrud at 720-520-0639 to get it set up for maximum efficiency and success.
A word of caution about Google Ads:
Google designed the interface to appear simple in order to get amateur advertisers to jump in without analyzing what they are doing… at great cost! If you don’t know your way around the interface, and specifically the hidden features, you will blow your budget with very little results – guaranteed.
Always hire a Google Certified Search Advertising Professional for PPC optimization.
Benefits of Paid Search Advertising
Where do I start? The benefits are numerous over traditional advertising.
Extremely Targeted Advertising
We can target who sees your ad by several methods:
- keywords they type
- whether they type an exact phrase or partial
- user location, or location they type
- what type of device they are using
Keep Out Unwanted Clicks
We can limit who sees your ads by:
- Time of day
- Day of week
- Month of year
- Location they originate search
- Locations they are searching
- Specific words
- Specific phrases
- Specific word combinations
We can also discourage clicks (and therefore wasted budget) when the wrong people do see the ad by the way we write the ad, or what we put in the ad offer.
Budget Control
Pay only when they click your ad.
Budgets are set:
- On a Per Day maximum, translating to a monthly max
- Per campaign
- Per group of phrases
- Per phrase
- Per geographic area
This assures you never get charged more than your budget for a particular month.
You can also have a very small budget, or break out separate budgets for separate parts of your business, easily and without paying large management fees to do so.
Flexibility
One of the really great features that make Google Search Advertising special is the ability to
pause and restart aspects of your campaign at will, including the entire campaign, but also specific ad groups, keyword phrases, ads, devices, locations and more!
This is great for seasonal businesses, small businesses and businesses that get too much business all at once, giving them a chance to pause the ads until they can hire more labor, or acquire more inventory.
Desktop, Laptop, Tablet and Smartphone Advertising
Google Search Advertising works for all devices:
- Desktop
- Laptop
- Tablet and
- Smartphone
If the user is on a smartphone they may choose to call directly from the ad rather than clicking through to your website. Each time they click or call you are charged based on an amount we have determined the click is worth to your business.
Compete With the Big Guys!
Google Search ads allow small businesses to compete with much larger competition.
How? The search advertising price method is auction style. This means everyone who advertises for a specific phrase enters a bid for what a click on that phrase is worth to their business.
If a larger business has a huge volume discount, they can outbid you and be shown ahead of you on the list. But your ad can be shown just below them, for just a penny less per click! You pay less than them if someone clicks your ad instead of theirs.
They may have a larger budget, so may run their ads longer each day than you. But it doesn’t cost you anything when your budget runs out for the day. As your sales grow from advertising, you can extend your advertising more and more.
Free Brand Exposure
Another great feature of search advertising, on the pay per click model of payment, is that your business has the opportunity to be seen even when your ad is not clicked. And that is called free exposure!
So, if they click, great, you get a visitor to your website, or a phone call. If they didn’t click, they still probably read your ad and saw your name for future reference. That future may be tomorrow – or 5 minutes after they leave your competitor’s site if they didn’t find what they wanted!
What Does the Paid Search Ad Look Like?
Google Search Ads are presented as text ads, with a headline, a short description of your business, product and/or offer, and your website address. Your ad elements are the same size as your competitors.
The positions of the ads are shown based on bids and relevancy. This is something I will handle for you.
Links to Your Site Pages
We can also have additional links to various pages of interest in your site, such as testimonials, order pages, maps to your physical location, and even images of products.
This is great for local marketing, where the user can see your ad when they enter your service area.
Is Paid Search Effective for Every Business?
Google Search Ads works well for most businesses. Essentially any business that offers products and services that people are aware of. If they are not aware of a product or service, such as a new technology, we can use the Google Display Network advertising to show digital ads to an audience of our choice.
Ready to Get Started with Search Advertising?
I handle everything from the planning to the setup to the PPC management of your ad account.
To start your PPC search campaign or to find out more information please call my paid search marketing agency at 720-520-0639 now. You’ll be glad you did.
Google Search Ads – Why They are Effective
Think about your own habits. If you get something mailed to you, either physically in your mail box, or in your email, what do you typically do with it? Trash it, of course. It might have been well presented; it might have been a good deal; it might appeal to you in the future.
But it just wasn’t the right timing. Maybe you were just too busy to deal with it at the moment it arrived.
Now think about your customers. They are just like you. They are busy, and will throw away advertising that is mailed to them if it doesn’t arrive at the precise right moment. When people are ready to buy, they now have the option to search Google, and get what they are looking for fast, with multiple options.
Even if they do save the mailed piece for later, it gets buried under a pile of paperwork, or if it is in the form of email, gets shoved 40 messages down in your email list in a day or less.
Google search advertising is cost effective because potential customers are only seeing your ad when they decide they are ready to find the product or service they need. You are right there to help them. They can find information on your website and contact you immediately.
“A whole different kind of rep is calling. Bigger producers doing the kind of business we’re looking for. The advertising program is working!!”
~ Jeffery Fanning/CFO, Liberty Partners Financial Services, LLC
Call Denver PPC search consultant Jon Camrud at 720-520-0639 to get started. I perform all the work personally from my Denver office – no offshore labor is used. I look forward to working with you.
Google Search Advertising Has 9 Major Steps
1. Intensive Keyword Research & Analysis for Impact & Cost Effectiveness
Search advertising is completely based on the words that a searcher enters into Google. After a brief conversation with you about your business, I perform keyword searches that identify phrases that actual users entered to find products and services that you offer.
2. Targeted Ads
Organization of keywords into groupings that are very closely related. In order to be successful in search advertising your account needs to very precise. Too short and imprecise keywords result in overspending, wasted clicks, and missed opportunity.
3. Account Organization
Ad accounts are segmented into Campaigns. These paid search campaigns are the organizing tools for topics as well as geographic locations, and can also be used to compartmentalize your budget.
Those campaigns are further broken into Ad Groups. Each ad group contains your keyword phrases and ads. It is important to know how to create parameters for the search subject of your ads, and to only address that subject.
Additional settings include where the ads show, when the ads show, who sees the ads when searching, as well as bidding settings, and negative keywords.
4. Targeted Key-phrase groups
Perhaps the most important strategy is in the targeting of your ads. In order to be effective, the ads have to answer the search. This means they need to get right to the point, present language that is the same, or nearly the same, as the person’s search, and provide a direct solution to the searcher’s inquiry.
In order to get good quality scores and entice the user to call or click-through to your website or app, the ads must be both compelling and exactly the subject of the user’s search.
5. Effective Landing Pages
In addition, the landing pages that the user is sent to on your site must be well thought out and provide a clear action that the user can take to buy from you.
6. Bidding
Several settings are available within Google Ads for ppc search bidding, including automated bidding and manual bidding.
With manual bidding, I employ specific strategies for bids that help control your costs and optimize your PPC campaign. You will read about some micro strategies further down this page. Bidding is a key component of those strategies.
We can’t just leave the bidding to Google without some protection. The default is to try to get you the most clicks, not the best clicks.
7. Protect Your Budget
Google’s default setup includes them “auto matching” your ads to phrases they think may be of interest to people searching. Guess what. Those aren’t logically decided by humans. Enter Google’s algorithm!
It decides what phrases to match to your ads, and uses your ad dollars to do so. I put an initial strategy into each campaign, as well as specific ad groups to counteract this, which saves your budget for only the best clicks for you.
8. Regular Checks and Optimization
One of the best features of ppc advertising is that we get statistics as the account runs.
My strategy is to make adjustments as we learn how Google is showing your ads, what quality scores they are assigning, and how many clicks, phone calls, and conversions the ads are generating. As well as the cost of each.
9. Testing for Better R.O.I.
Another important strategy is to always perform A/B testing. This is where a sample A is compared against sample B to see which performs better.
The A/B testing is done with headlines, ad messaging, calls to action, and more. Furthermore, A/B testing can be done on your landing pages as well. All factors play a role. Headlines, images, content, offers, call to action, form length, and even what the button says.
Your return on investment (R.O.I.) will improve over time when we continually show better performing ads and pages to potential clients.
Bottom line: If you have a good product or service, hiring me to set up and manage your Google Advertising will yield outstanding results.
Call my Denver paid search agency at 720-520-0639 for a no-obligation evaluation to see how your business can benefit from Google advertising.