The 10 Step Information to Constructing a Worthwhile Google AdWords Marketing campaign from scratch

Starting a new Google Ads search campaign is an exciting process. Excitement, fear, fear, and hope are the emotions that come to mind when I hit the "Activate" button on a new campaign.

If you're just starting out, you may be scared of screwing it up. I get it. The steps I'm going to take you through will ensure that you are depositing more money into your own bank account rather than just funding the Google empire.

If properly set up and managed, Google Ads (formerly Google Adwords) is one of the best sources for new customers.

Over the years, I've helped businesses grow from $ 0 to over $ 1,000,000 through diligent AdWords campaigns. However, I've also watched tens of thousands of dollars wash down the AdWords drain due to poorly managed campaigns.

So let's get to that. Tie on your AdWords apron, use a pen to write down the key steps in a successful Google Ads campaign, and follow the instructions on how to create a profitable Google AdWords campaign from scratch.

Google AdWords Step 1: Is there a customer demand?

Obviously, if your customers aren't searching for your product or service on Google, AdWords search advertising isn't working for you.

So before you get too excited about creating your first campaign, you need to check that there is indeed a search volume for what you want to offer.

I suggest using UberSuggest, my own free keyword research tool. The keyword tool behaves similarly to a thesaurus. You enter phrases that you think your prospects are looking for and other similar, relevant phrases are shown to you.

Ubersuggest measures how often people search for these phrases, how competitive the keywords are, and how much it costs to promote each keyword. You can use this information to determine which keywords to use in your first campaign.

I also recommend that you use the keyword "suggestions" given in the main table. This will give you an idea of ​​related keywords and the search volume of those keywords.

You can also use Google's Keyword Planner tool to find the best keywords to target. You'll get bid estimates and full searches so you can make a plan.

There are three questions you will ask to determine whether or not to advertise a particular keyword:

1. Is the keyword being searched for in Google? If there is no search volume, it means no one is typing that phrase into google. There is no point in advertising on keywords that no one is looking for.
2. Is it likely that the person searching for this keyword will buy my product or service? Or is the person just doing research without the intention of buying? In other words, what is the intent of the keyword? When you're starting out, you'll want to advertise on what I call "purchase intent" keywords that are clearly where the person is looking for a purchase.
3. Can I afford to advertise on the keyword? This question is important, but it does take a little math to work out. Let's look at this now.

Google AdWords Step 2: Can You Afford to Advertise on Top Keywords?

Before finalizing your keyword list, you need to make sure that it makes sense to target this term. This prevents you from looking for keywords that have no chance of being profitable. Better to use these numbers now, before you've invested your time and money in a campaign that is doomed to fail.

To answer the question, "Can I afford to advertise on this keyword?" You need to calculate your maximum cost per click (maximum CPC). You'll compare your company's maximum CPC to the estimated keyword CPC in the Keyword Tool to see if you can afford to advertise.

For example, if your max CPC is $ 5 and the estimated CPC is $ 4, you know that there is a good chance that you can advertise that particular keyword for profit.

Your maximum CPC is determined by the conversion rate of your website, the profit per customer and the target profit margin for advertising. If you don't know these numbers, you'll need to estimate them or set up tracking to calculate them more accurately.

Use the following formula to calculate your maximum CPC, then compare it to the estimated CPC you found above:

Maximum CPC = (profit per customer) x (1 – profit margin) x (website conversion rate)

For example, let's say your average profit per customer is $ 500. For every 1,000 website visitors, you convert 10 to customers. That means you have a website conversion rate of 1 percent.

When you're happy with a 30 percent profit margin, here's how to calculate your max CPC:

Max CPC = $ 500 x (1 – 0.30) x 1% = $ 3.50

Again, your max CPC needs to be near the estimated CPC in Google's keyword planner tool. Otherwise you are in trouble.

For example, let's say your max CPC is $ 3.50 and the estimated CPC for a keyword is $ 10. In this case, you must first increase either your earnings per customer or your conversion rate before you can profitably promote that particular keyword.

Google AdWords Step 3: Conduct a Competitor Analysis

At this point, you now have a list of purchase intent keywords that you are sure you can afford. The next step is to reduce your risk by leveraging information from competitors.

In most industries you will find competitors who have already tested and optimized their AdWords campaigns. That said, they figured out which keywords, ads, and landing pages are working and which are not in your market.

Wouldn't it be great if you could just hack into your competitor's AdWords accounts and steal that information?

Before you get too far with your illegal hacking plot, I should let you know about a very cool competitive intelligence tool called KeywordSpy. KeywordSpy collects, organizes and provides easy access to all of your competitors' historical advertising information.

Think of it like your own Delorean time machine!

To set up your account, go to www.KeywordSpy.com and click the Free Trial button.

When you're signed in and signed in, copy and paste one of your competitor domains into the search bar and select the Domains option (see below).

(To find your competitors, just put your keywords in Google and copy the advertisers' domains.)

When the search is done, click the PPC Keywords tab to see all of the keywords that your competitor is advertising on.

In this example, the competitor is promoting 50 keywords and you can see the date they first started promoting each keyword. The longer an advertiser advertises the better, as it means that the keyword is generating sales.

If the keyword wasn't profitable, a smart advertiser stopped the keyword.

(Important note: not all advertisers are smart, so don't use this rule of thumb blindly.)

Next, you can either search the list manually or export them all, remove irrelevant keywords, and then add them to the list of keywords you've already found in Ubersuggest or Google's keyword planner tool.

When you're done reviewing your keywords, click the Ads tab to review your competitor's ad copy.

Again, you can see the date the display was tested. This indicates whether or not the ad is performing well.

You can also use other competitive analysis tools to learn more about what works for your competitors.

I recommend checking out several competitor ads to see what types of offers will resonate with your target market. While reviewing the ads, look for a way to differentiate your business from all of the competition.

Differentiation is critical to AdWords success. This brings us to step four.

Google AdWords Step 4: Leverage a Powerful USP

Your unique selling point or unique selling point differentiates your company from your competitors and gives your potential customers a convincing reason to choose you.

In other words, your USP answers the question, "Why should I, your prospect, choose to do business with you as opposed to any other option, including doing nothing?"

When it comes to AdWords, there are three top reasons to build a high performing USP:

1. A strong USP generates more traffic from qualified prospects (drive clicks on your ads) and repels unwanted leads (prevent clicks on your ads).
2. A strong USP will skyrocket your sales conversion rates. So not only do you generate more traffic because you get more clicks on your ads, but you also convert more traffic into paying customers.
3. A strong USP can eliminate price comparison purchases. This can be a game changer as you are no longer viewed as a commodity. When you give your prospects a compelling reason to do business with you versus your competition, price becomes a secondary issue.

OK, a USP is a key ingredient. Makes sense, but how do you create one?

First, focus on your core strengths. What can you do better than your competitors?

Second, talk to your customers and most importantly, listen to them. A good USP is based on customer knowledge. Ask your customers why they are doing business with you. Also, ask questions to determine what your customers dislike about your industry and what your customers want in addition to your core products or services.

Third, analyze your competitors and look for an opening. The most important word in the USP is unique.

To get a really strong USP, you need to research your competitors' ads, websites, and marketing materials and find your opportunity to stand out. I recommend using a table to organize all of your competitor's ads and websites so you can more easily find what they have in common. While doing this, look for an opening to say something unique and superior.

Here's a powerful USP that you're sure to recognize: "Fresh hot pizza is guaranteed to be delivered in 30 minutes or less."

Where have you heard this line before? This is Domino's Pizza USP, and they've built a billion dollar empire with it.

They do not claim to be everything for everyone. In fact, they don't even mention quality ingredients, price, or taste. They focused their entire business on what is most important to their customers – fast and on-time delivery.

Imagine some college students having the nibbles late Saturday night and check out Domino's Pizza ideal customer profile!

Google AdWords Step 5: Have a Compelling Offer

What can you offer in your AdWords campaign that is so compelling that your prospects would be foolish not to take action? How can you stand out from all of the other ads your prospect will see in search results?

The answer is your irresistible offer, which consists of the following four components:

1. Valuable

Your product or service must be more valuable than the price. This is Marketing 101. This doesn't mean your listing has to be cheap. All you need to do is clearly define the overall value your product or service will provide to your customer and ensure that it outweighs your price.

2. Credible

If you make an offer that seems too good to be true, your prospect may be a little skeptical. So you need to provide a credible reason for your offer.

For example, if you are doing a special sale, you need to explain why you are offering such a large discount. The reason could be anything: clearing inventory, selling at the end of the year, celebrating an anniversary, opening a new store, having a birthday and so on.

3. Reduce or reverse risk

Everyone is afraid of being ripped off online. One of the best ways to minimize risk to your customer is with a money back guarantee. A money-back guarantee carries the entire risk for your company of providing excellent service. Otherwise, you will have to return all of the money to the customer.

Whenever possible, I always recommend that you include some kind of guarantee in your offer. This will improve your response rates and is a great way to stand out from your competitors.

4. Call to Action

One of my elementary school art teachers gave me fantastic advice once while teaching a class. He told me to always "use the KISS method … keep it simple, stupid." I didn't know then, but these are really words to live by, especially when you're making an irresistible offer.

If you want your prospect to pick up the phone and call you, make it crystal clear and easy to call you. Don't expect your prospect to join the dots or search your website to figure out the next step. Use a strong call to action and keep it simple.

At this point, you are probably wondering if you will ever build your AdWords campaign. We're already in the middle of the steps and you don't have any ads for it!

Trust me, the first five steps are absolutely critical. You'll thank me later once your ads are up and you start making a profit instead of a loss.

However, since you asked for it, let's dive in and talk about creating your ads.

Google AdWords Step 6: Create Compelling Ads

With AdWords search advertising, you only pay when people click on your ads. Therefore, your ads have two very important roles:

1. Attract qualified prospects to click your ad instead of your competitors' ads.
2. Block unqualified prospects so they don't click and waste your ad budget.

That means more traffic, more sales, and less wasted money on unqualified traffic, resulting in higher profits for you.

There is still an important job for your ads. Convincing ads with a high click-through rate (CTR) will increase your Quality Score, which in turn will lower the cost per click of your keywords.

So your ads directly affect how much you pay per click for each of your keywords. Good ads lower your costs, while bad ads add to your costs.

See why step 6 is so important? This is why all of the previous steps are also required as we are all using them to make the ads more compelling.

Your AdWords text ads have four main components:

1. heading
2. Description line 1
3. Description line 2
4. Show url

heading

The headline is the most critical component as it is the first thing your prospect will read. Try to include your keyword in the headline of your ads as Google will bold the text, which will make it stand out from other ads.

It's also the easiest way to ensure your ad is 100 percent relevant to prospect searches.

Another good strategy is to ask a question in the headline. For example, if the keyword is "New York Dentist", the compelling headline would be "Need a New York Dentist?"

Not only is it part of the keyword in the headline, but the question will make the potential person nod their head. As all great salespeople know, sometimes just a yes is enough to start a chain reaction that leads to a sale.

Google AdWords allows 30 characters for your headline. So make each letter count and use abbreviations whenever possible.

Description of lines 1 and 2

On your two lines of description, repeat the benefits of your service, include your USP, provide social evidence, and / or describe your offer. And of course your call to action. You only have 35 characters for each line of description. So use abbreviations again to get more of your message.

Show url

The ad url is an easily overlooked area of ​​your ads. Don't just copy and paste your domain name. Instead, use your ad URL to include your offer, call to action, USP, or anything else that makes your ads stand out.

Here are three dentist examples to give you an idea of ​​what you can do:

• www.domain.com/Whiter_Smile
• www.domain.com/NYC_Dentist
• www.domain.com/Free_Whitening

Before we go any further, let me show you an example of a good and bad ad so you can tell the difference.

Example of a good ad for the keyword "Appliance Repair":

Repair below zero on the same day
24-hour service … within 1 hour
$ 25 off coupon. Call us now.

As you can see, the advertiser is clearly targeting a specific niche – people with sub zero appliances. They offer compelling benefits, including 24-hour, same-day, one-hour service. They have an offer of $ 25 off coupon. And they have a clear call to action to call now.

Note that I would try to improve this ad by including the keyword in the title to make it more relevant to the search term.

Example of a poor ad for the keyword "Appliance Repair":

(Company Name)
Family property since 1939 for everyone
Your device now needs to be called

The headline for this ad was the company name, which is not relevant to the keyword "equipment repair". If you are not a well-known brand, no one will recognize or care about your name. It is not mandatory and there is no match between the keyword and the ad.

"Family ownership since 1939" is not a specific advantage either. An implicit benefit arises when the prospect puts two and two together and believes that longevity is synonymous with good service. However, this is a lot to ask and clearly does not follow the KISS principle. Stick to explicit benefits rather than implicit benefits in your ads.

After all, the phrase “for all of your device needs” is as vague as it gets. This is an example of trying to bring everything to everyone instead of solving a specific problem for a specific target customer.

Google AdWords Step 7: Use Relevant Landing Pages

At this point, your prospect was looking for your product or service. You found your ad compelling compared to all the other options, clicked to find out more, and landed on your website.

What now?

If you're like many first-time advertisers, now your prospect is on your home page scratching their head trying to find out what just happened. The ad made a promise that the homepage couldn't keep.

This is because your homepage is not an advertising landing page!

On the homepages you can find out everything that your company does, all of your products and services as well as the various customers you serve. In other words, your homepage is not 100 percent relevant to the keyword that you were looking for and the ad clicks. Don't make this mistake.

Instead, create a dedicated landing page that matches the keyword and ad. The aim is to make the entire sales process congruent so that your potential customers are always sure that they are taking the right path.

The most important component on your landing page is your headline. This is the first thing your prospect reads. Your headline needs to grab attention, repeat the offer made in the ad, and force your prospect to read the rest of the page.

The copy of the up-converting landing pages should again be relevant to the keyword and ad clicked on. Include your USP, the benefits of your product or service, details about your compelling offer, social evidence, credibility that you are a legitimate business, and a strong call to action.

Google AdWords Step 8: Conversion Tracking

We're almost ready to get your campaign set up on AdWords, but there's one last ingredient: conversion tracking.

If you skip this step, you never know which keywords and ads are generating sales and which are just losing money. In other words, you cannot optimize your campaign once it is up and running.

Conversion tracking measures the revenue generated with your AdWords campaign. In particular, you want to know which keywords and which ads are generating sales.

If some or all of your sales are made online using an ecommerce shopping cart, conversion tracking is pretty easy. Simply use the integrated conversion tracking from Google AdWords.

The conversion tracking code for Google Ads can be found in your Google Ads account under the tool symbol and then under "Measurements> Conversions".

To create a new conversion, simply click the (+ Conversion) button and follow the steps to define your conversion. Then add the little snippet of code to your order form thank you page or receipt page.

This code is similar to the Google Analytics code if you have it installed on your website. However, it shouldn't be on the last page until after a customer has completed their order.

When a customer lands on your receipt or thank you page, Google automatically tracks the conversions in your AdWords account. That is really all, and there is no reason not to install this before turning on your ads.

Google can also track app installs, web conversions, phone calls, and offline conversions.

What if you generate leads online but end up closing the sale “offline” – over the phone or in person – rather than online? Of course, you cannot add a conversion code to your cash register. So what can you do?

The three tactics I recommend for tracking offline sales are:

1. Create a conversion page in your sales process. For example, send all your customers to a special page to receive their receipt, create an online account, or download an important document. Think about how you can bring your customers to this website and add the AdWords code to this page. Now you can track the sales.
2. Use unique coupon codes in your ads and landing pages. Using unique coupon codes in your ads and landing pages will help you match the codes back to the ad and keyword that generated the sale.
3. Use phone number tracking in your ads and landing pages. By using unique tracking phone numbers, you can match the calls and subsequent sales against the ads and keywords that generated the sale.

Once conversion tracking is in place, it's finally time to sign up for Google AdWords and set up your first campaign.

The Google AdWords interface makes setting up campaigns a breeze, but it doesn't blindly accept the default settings. Some of them can get you in trouble.

Google AdWords Step 9: AdWords Settings for Success

As mentioned earlier, Google Ads makes setting up your campaign very easy. Just click the blue plus sign, then click the New Campaign button (see image below) and follow the steps to add your ads and keywords.

The process is pretty straightforward; However, many of the default settings are not in your best interests. This is why you need to use the correct AdWords settings in step 9 to be successful.

Here are the main settings to look out for:

• Search vs. Ad
• Device bids
• Keyword match types
• Negative keywords

Search vs. Ad

Select "Search Network Only" for your campaign type so that you will only target the Google Search Network and not the Display Network.

The display network is a completely different beast from search advertising and requires different keywords, ads, and landing pages. You should therefore always set up separate campaigns for each network.

Keyword match types

Lots of first-time advertisers have no idea that there are different types of matches. As a result, they are wasting money on irrelevant search terms that are not part of the keywords listed in the account.

There are three main types of keyword matches:

As you now know, a broad match is the standard match type. If you leave your keywords broadly matched, Google will show your ads for any search terms that Google deems relevant to your keyword.

This means your ads will get more impressions, but you will likely show ads for irrelevant search terms that are just wasting your budget. So I don't recommend Broad Match.

Keywords with phrase match will trigger ads if the exact phrase is part of the keyword entered into Google. For example, if your phrase match keyword is "office space", your ad will appear for "New York office space" and "New York office space". However, your ad will not appear for "Office in Space" because the word "In" separates the term "Office Space".

Phrase Match gives you much more control over your ads than General Match. To change your keyword to Phrase Match, just add quotation marks around the keyword (see image below).

Exact match simply tells Google to only display your ad once the exact keyword has been entered into Google. Exact Match gives you the most control, but you limit your exposure. To set your match type to Exact Match, add square brackets around your keywords, as shown below.

I recommend starting with the phrase match as you get the best of both worlds in terms of targeting and range. However, if you are using phrase matching, you need to make sure that you include negative keywords.

Negative keywords

You can use negative keywords to prevent phrases from triggering your ads. For example, if you're an office rental company who promotes the phrase match keyword "office space", you might want to block the keyword "movie".

That way, your ads for an office space rental won't show to people searching for the office space movie.

To add negative keywords, go to the Keywords tab in your account, scroll down and click the Negative Keywords link, as shown below.

Then click the Add button to add the keywords to be blocked.

Once you have completed the setup process, you can activate the ads and start optimizing your campaign.

Google AdWords Step 10: Optimization

Once you've set your bid, activated your campaign, and Google approved your ads, it's time to take a deep breath. Congratulations, your ads are live!

Unfortunately, you can't relax just yet. Most campaigns are not profitable to begin with and always require continuous optimization to remain profitable.

There are three main areas to improve the performance of your AdWords campaign:

1. Your keyword bids. I recommend using Smart Bidding to get started. Sobald Sie jedoch Klicks und Verkäufe generieren, möchten Sie möglicherweise Ihre Gebote entsprechend anpassen. Wenn Ihre Keywords einen profitablen Umsatz erzielen und Sie nicht auf Platz 1 stehen, erhöhen Sie Ihre Gebote weiter. Wenn Ihre Keywords keinen profitablen Umsatz erzielen, müssen Sie natürlich Ihre Gebote senken oder das Keyword vollständig pausieren.
2. Ihre Klickrate für Anzeigen (CTR). Wie bereits erwähnt, wirkt sich die Klickrate Ihrer Anzeige direkt auf Ihren Qualitätsfaktor aus, der wiederum bestimmt, wie viel Sie pro Klick bezahlen. Um Ihre Klickrate zu optimieren, testet A / B verschiedene Anzeigen, um festzustellen, welche Version die meisten Klicks erzielt.
3. Ihre Zielseiten-Conversion-Rate. Der letzte zu optimierende Bereich ist Ihre Zielseite. Es gibt viele Tools, mit denen Sie verschiedene Zielseitenversionen testen können. Wenn Sie jedoch gerade erst anfangen, empfehlen wir Ihnen, Google Optimize zu verwenden. Der Einstieg ist einfach und kostenlos. Erstellen Sie ein Experiment, um zwei verschiedene Versionen Ihrer Zielseite zu testen und zu messen, welche die meisten Conversions generiert.

Conclusion

Inzwischen sollte Ihre Google AdWords-Kampagne so eingerichtet sein, dass Sie sich auf die Optimierung der Keyword-Gebote, der Klickraten für Anzeigen und der Conversion-Raten für Zielseiten konzentrieren.

Wenn Sie diese zehn Schritte ausführen, sind Sie auf dem besten Weg zu einer profitablen Google AdWords-Kampagne. Viel Glück!

Haben Sie eine erfolgreiche Google Ads-Kampagne gestartet? Welche Tipps müssen Sie teilen?

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