Pay-per-click demystified

I’ve had a lot of conversations this week with people who are concerned about their Search Engine Optimisation and Google Rankings (for those at the back, that means how easy it is for your website to be found on search engines like Google).

Good SEO is important, and it takes a bit of time to build it up and a lot of work to get it right. However, there is another way to get found on Google that is INSTANT, and that is through Google’s Pay Per Click (PPC) programme called Adwords.

The benefit of PPC is that you only pay for the ad when someone clicks on it, and you get to set the amount you want to pay per click, and the maximum you want to spend in a day or a month. This gives you complete control.

Studies show that when someone wants to find out information about a topic, they are more likely to look at ‘natural’ search results (the ones you need good SEO to achieve), but that if they want to buy a product or service they will go straight to the PPC ads on the right-hand side of their Google results page.

My point is that Google Adwords are a great tool for people wanting to sell products or services, and especially good for small businesses because you have complete control over your ad spend.

However, here’s a word of warning: Adwords are very easy to set up, and if you don’t keep an eye on your Adwords account, it’s very easy to spend more money than you expect. It’s also very easy to write ads that will get you lots of clicks but won’t get you the right sort of customers.

There are 2 things you can do about this:

1. Learn how to do it yourself. This is totally feasible and there’s lots of great training on Google’s own site, and some really good books you can buy to help you.
2. Get someone who knows what you’re doing to do it for you. This is my preferred route, and this week I have a guest article from someone that really does know what they’re doing when it comes to Google Adwords – Olga Sladeckova of Marketing Resolutions.

I hope you find Olga’s article useful.

increase your sales with google adwords
by Olga Sladeckova

google search engine – adwords outlined in redgoogle ad words

Google AdWords Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is one of the fastest and most cost effective ways to promote your business.
Here are just a few of the benefits that advertisers can enjoy:

- No minimum or maximum spend
- You are in full control of how much you spend
- You decide on the keywords that will trigger your advert on Google
- You decide on the most appropriate page to send visitors for each keyword
- You can track your sales/conversions/signups etc.
- AdWords gives you account performance data which you can use to optimize your account for ever improving performance
- Brand new advertisers are eligible for an AdWords voucher worth a minimum of £50, so you really have nothing to lose.

All you need to do is open your AdWords account, set up your campaigns and start advertising. This can only take a few moments however if you really want to get the most out of AdWords it is crucial to educate yourself first.

Here are some tips for setting up your first Google AdWords account.
Google AdWords account is very easy to open. Just go to this link www.AdWords.Google.com, follow the instruction and you can have an account open within 3 minutes.

Make sure to get at least £50 Google AdWords voucher from Google if you are a brand new advertiser and keep in mind that vouchers can only be redeemed in the first 2 weeks since you opened your account.

Once you open your account you will need to start thinking about what products or services you want to sell through AdWords. Write them down on a piece of paper and then brain storm other variations to these words.
For further help with keyword variations use the free Google keyword tool on the following link: https://adwords.google.co.uk/select/KeywordToolExternal

The length of your keyword list will depend on the number of products or services that you are selling. Once you are happy with your list, group the keywords by services or products.
These groups will later become your Google AdWords campaigns. Split up your keywords further into subgroups which will later become your Google AdWords ad groups.
You have now created your AdWords account structure:

You will now need to write ads for each ad group. It is a good idea to write 2 ads per ad group and test which one is getting better performance. Make sure to include a strong call-to-action at the end of you ad. A call-to-action can be: ‘Buy Now!’, ‘Order Today’, ‘Signup Now!’, ‘Learn More Now!’, ‘Book Today’ etc.

When writing ads the rule of thumb is to use the keywords in your ad text. This will help in increasing your conversion rates but also help reduce your cost per click.

Olga Sladeckova is a google ad words approved individual. For more information and tips on advertising with AdWords download the FREE Google AdWords Guide