You’ve allocated a big budget for your Google Adwords campaigns and have managed to snag a substantial number of leads while keeping the cost per lead down.
So, what’s the problem?
It’s only when you start analyzing the results, you find that many of these leads aren’t relevant to you. They are nothing more than “junk leads” and just a handful of them are turning into business opportunities, let alone paying customers.
The bottom line – your ROI is dismal. And, it doesn’t make any worthwhile additions to your marketing campaigns.
Worry not, you aren’t alone! Many small to medium businesses face this problem. The generated leads are of poor quality.
Here, in today’s post, we give you proven strategies that help you get the best out of your Google Adwords campaigns. With these tips, you can snag high-quality, bottom-of-the-funnel leads. Let’s dig in.
Hack #1: Create a Highly Relevant Landing Page
The ultimate goal of any PPC (Pay-Per-Click) marketing campaign is to generate a sale and not just earn clicks.
A Google Adwords ad drives qualified leads to your landing page. It’s the job of the landing page to entice and convert casual visitors into paying customers. Ensure that your landing pages are highly optimized and relevant to the message of your ads.
“Keywords —– Ad Copy —— Landing Page” are interconnected.
Ensure that all these three elements are consistent so that you can improve click-through rates and snag lucrative conversions while keeping the Cost-Per-Click down.
It doesn’t make sense to say something on your ad and promote something else on the landing page. Your customers click on your ads because they’re interested in your offer. So, make sure that you follow up on that offer on the landing page.
HACK #2: OPTIMIZE NEGATIVE KEYWORDS
One of the most overlooked components of an Adwords campaign is Negative Keywords. In Google Adwords, apart from mentioning the keywords relevant to your ad, you can also choose the set of keywords that aren’t a good fit for your service or product.
With this, you can prevent your ads from displaying on the search results of customers that don’t match the intent of your ad. This helps you to focus on qualified leads that lead to better conversion rates.
For instance, if you own a business that focuses on renting apartments to bachelors, students, and office-goers in Gurgaon, it doesn’t make sense for your ad to show up on the searches of families. By excluding keywords like “apartments for rent for families,” you weed out traffic that isn’t your target demographic.
HACK #3: DON’T LOSE TRACK OF THE VISITOR’S END GOAL
Since many businesses today use dynamic keyword insertion and bid on similar keywords, most ads today look and feel the same.
This means you are bound to get lost in the melee. So, how do you ensure that your products and services stand out?
This is where the “End Goal” comes into the picture. The end goal is what you wish for people to accomplish with your product or service. Understanding the end goal and figuring it out, is the best way to help you stand out in the sea of Google Ads.
Let’s explain this with a hypothetical example.
Assume that you sell products that clear acne. Then the keywords your visitors are likely to use are “Help me get rid of acne.” Choosing a headline that poses this question, “Dealing with acne?” isn’t all that relevant, since as the advertiser you already know that your customers are suffering from acne.
Instead, of this try to appeal to the End Goal of your potential customers. Look at what they want to achieve. For instance, using a headline like, “Kill Acne Once & For All”, makes better sense.
Remember that it’s pointless to waste your headline space on something that you and your target audience already know. Instead, frame it in such a way that it helps your customers achieve their end goal.
HACK #4: USE THE RIGHT KEYWORD MATCH TYPES
AdWords tries to gauge user intent based on the keyword choice. For instance, when a user types in a search query on Google, AdWords displays the ads that are considered relevant by the auction system. And, keywords are one of the critical elements of any PPC campaign. Apart from keywords, the modifiers you use to determine the keywords also play a crucial role.
Take a look at the four classifications of Keyword Matches:
- Broad – This is the broadest category and will match your keywords in any order with the search query. Apart from the keywords, it also matches them with the synonyms of the target keyword.
- Broad Match Modified – This is the second widest category and is indicated by a “+” sign in front of the keywords. It displays your ads when a user searches using the keywords you specify in a particular order.
- Phrase Match – This displays your ads only when the user searches using a particular phrase you have mentioned.
- Exact Match – This is the narrowest category and your ad is displayed only when the search query matches precisely with your target keywords.
Each of these match types strikes a compromise between relevancy and impression. If you want the maximum number of impressions, then you should opt for a “Broad” match. On the other hand, if you’re looking to target highly relevant customers, then setting the match type to “Exact” will work better.
HACK #5: USE COUNTDOWN TIMERS TO CREATE A SENSE OF URGENCY
It’s human nature to be worried about missing out. This is very true in the digital world. Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is what makes people take action quickly.
Use this psychological factor to boost the click-through and conversion rates of your Google Ads. Fortunately, it’s easy to inject a dash of FOMO into your ads using a new feature introduced by Google.
The search giant has introduced a simple countdown timer that you can include easily in your text ads. All you have to do is insert the following code snippet into the headline or description of your ads.
“{=”
Using this snippet pops a dialogue box, that lets you set the start and end times and dates of the countdown timer.
Here’s what the countdown timer dialogue box looks like:
Once you set the timer, your ad will start the timer. This prompts visitors to take action quickly, due to their fear of missing out.
This feature works great especially when you’re running a sale or a promotion.
HACK #6: GO HYPERLOCAL
When creating AdWords campaigns very often most businesses target more than one city. Some even use the same ad for the whole country. This is a grave mistake.
Even if you provide worldwide services, you have to show your customers that “Help is just around the corner”, when they reach out to you. You may have a nationwide toll-free number.
But, do you know that ads that display a local telephone number see better conversion rates? While it may be hard to believe, your nationwide or worldwide presence could be working against you, especially in Google AdWords.
Wherever possible, try to include local phone numbers to increase relevancy and pull in traffic that’s likely to convert.
HACK #7: CREATE MOBILE-OPTIMIZED CAMPAIGNS
Today, most of your potential users are searching for your products and services from mobile devices. This means, that making your Google AdWords campaign optimized for mobile usage is highly relevant.
Mobile campaigns mean you reach out to your target audience on their preferred devices. So, while creating an AdWords campaign you have to consider the following questions – whether to make it mobile-friendly or create a mobile-only campaign.
Also, remember that CPC on mobile is 25% lesser when compared to desktop AdWords campaigns.
FINALLY, REMEMBER THAT GOOGLE ADWORDS IS AN INVESTMENT
A thoughtfully created and maintained PPC campaign can help you win high-revenue generating clients. However, remember that Google charges for every click made on your ad. So, you must take all steps to ensure that each click is worth the expense. Use the hacks listed here to clear out false positives and focus on capturing high-quality leads that drive conversions.
For a high-quality Google AdWords campaign that keeps the CPC (Cost-Per-Click) low and boosts your bottom line, reaches out to our expert team of digital experts here at Webfries.