Why should I advertise on Google Ads?

Google Ads, specifically Google’s text ads, have a key advantage over other digital ad platforms in that your ads are served when your target audience is in the process of trying to solve a problem. When someone types a phrase into Google, they’re looking for something, whether that be an answer to a question, a product, or a service. If you want your business to be among the solutions the user considers, showing up in their search is key. 

Get started in Google Ads.

First things first. You have to set up an account. Here’s how to do that. 

Before diving into ad creation, establish these things:

1. What you want to accomplish through Google Ads (website clicks, leads, etc.)
2. Your target audience (If you haven’t set up your buyer personas, hit pause and create them now.)
3. The action you want them to take (fill out a form, place a phone call, etc).

You’ll also want to choose your KPIs so that you’re able to measure success. We typically track clicks, CPC, and conversions. 

For our purposes, let’s say that we want to target small business owners who are looking for a new way to generate more leads. We want them to request a 15-minute Google Ads consultation by filling out a form on a landing page.

Choose your keywords.

Keywords are the words or phrases that describe your product or service and determine when your ad appears. Tools like Google Keyword Planner are a great way to see a keyword’s historic search volume and what kind of CPC budget you can expect.

We typically recommend that you keep your keyword list simple and use only one or two phrases that closely match your buyer persona’s search query. With that in mind, target your buyer persona using both exact match keywords and phrase match keywords. 

For our campaign, we’ll use these keywords:

• [small business lead generation] <- this will target users who type in these words exactly
• “Small business lead generation” <- this will target users who type these words and add words before or after the phrase. For example, “small business lead generation in Atlanta” could trigger our ad to appear. 

Write your ads. 

Thinking back to your buyer personas, what information do they need that would prompt them to click your ad? We recommend that your headline match your keywords so that your ad is more likely to resonate with your user. Make sure the copy is clear and concise. 

Create extensions.

Extensions are simply bonus ways for users to engage with your ad. Here you can add links to additional pages on your site, phone numbers, and product information. They’re free and increase your ad’s visibility, so you should make sure to include them.

Create your landing page or lead form.

If your buyer persona won’t need information in addition to what’s in your ad to convert, lead forms are a good option. They eliminate a step in the conversion process (the landing page) and present the lead directly with a form to sign up. 

If you opt to create a landing page, be sure to check out these tips. We recommend that the headline on your landing page match the headline in your ad. Doing so helps the message resonate with your lead and increases the chance they’ll complete your conversion action.

Track your progress.

Once you’ve completed the steps above, you’re ready to launch and wait on those new leads to come in! As your ad runs, be sure to check on it after a few days to see if adjustments are needed to optimize the ad.

Congratulations. You’ve got the basics down!

There is a lot more you can do with Google Ads beyond what we’ve outlined here, but this will give you a good start. 

Now go generate those leads!