Advertising on Google or other search engines can be a very productive way to generate immediate leads to your website.

First, think about your website.  How much did you spend on it?  Do you have a marketing plan for it?  I’m a big believer in pay-per-click advertising (Google has made billions on it) only because it is the only online medium where you can target “warm leads” with promotional messages.  The key is to be as relevant as possible to a searcher, then make sure message stand out.  Consider other Internet “marketing” tactics.

a.  Search Engine Optimization.  It’s essential to be optimized so your websites and landing pages have the best chances of showing high on search engines.  Why have a website if you can’t be found easily? So once you’re optimized, your page description is compelling with keywords, and informational in nature; but not promotional.

b. Social Media.  Blogging, discussions, Twitter, LinkedIn; all can be an effective way to build brand and trust, but not promotional.

c. Banner Ad Campaigns, LinkedIn ads, Facebook ads.  These can be purchased through pay-per-click or cost-per-thousand models.  These channels can be effective in their on right, and ARE promotional, but you target demographics and interests.

Only with search engine marketing can you target those searchers most likely looking for you, and you’re providing their answer with a promotional message.  Pay-per-click seems to have a certain stigma with regard to effectiveness, but it does take work, effort, and perhaps using a professional to optimize your campaign.

If anything you should take away,  it’s this:

This is the most important concept and affects all other AdWords tasks. The statement above does start with Ad Content for a reason. When setting up an AdWords campaign, what you want to say comes first- that’s why Google calls them Ad Groups and not Keyword Groups!  By doing the ad first, it makes keyword research easier to categorize.  Keywords need to align with the ad content and if certain keywords do not, either they are not relevant, or you need to create a new Ad Group that will align with those keywords.  SEO focuses on keyword research first, so I understand that emphasis, but for pay-per-click on Google, ads come first.

So next comes keyword research, right? Well, no.  When ads are written, they have to be linked to an appropriate web page or landing page.  By appropriate I mean aligned by theme and ad content.  Remember, once a searcher enters a query, and your ad answers that query with a short promotional message, the landing page better answer that query with more detail answering the search query, or the searcher will leave feeling your website doesn’t have the answer.  (That’s called a bounce)

Now the keyword research starts.  I won’t go into detail on the “how” in this post because Google AdWords help sections does a good job of explaining that, as well as the multitude of blogs and books.  However, since you already (I assume) have your Ad Groups set by specific category or theme, and your landing pages align with your Ad Group themes, keyword research and organizing those keywords by Ad Group should be a little easier and more focused.  This research should also include “negative” keyword research as well, or those keywords or phrases that you don’t want your ad to show when a searcher does a query.  Why?  Because of the Google Quality Score. Read more about this important element here: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=10215

Simply, Quality Score is an algorithm that combines Ad click-though-rate, ad and query relevancy, and landing page quality.  If any of these segments are not optimized, your quality score goes down, and that means your ad positioning suffers, and your cost-per-click increases.  Google rewards relevancy with better positioning at lower cost- remember that.  Negative keywords can be entered onto the Google platform as well as selected positive keywords.

OK here is an example of a good and bad execution:

Bad:

• Query: “Hotel Marketing Services”
• Keyword you sponsor: “Marketing Services”
• Ad Content Theme: “Utilize us for your marketing needs”
• Landing Page:  Generic Home Page covering your services

Comment:  The marketing firm doesn’t do marketing for the hospitality industry, so the firm will receive many wasted impressions that include the word “hotel” and who knows what other industries. The ad is generic, and so is the landing page. Clicks will be limited here; click-through-rate will be low; quality score will be low; ads won’t appear often, cost-per-click will be higher than it should be.  The word “hotel” should be entered as a negative.

Good:

• Query: “Software Marketing Services”
• Keyword you sponsor: “software marketing”
• Ad Content Theme: “Specialists in Software marketing”
• Landing Page: Discusses software marketing services, benefits of your firm, and a strong call-to-action with web form

Comment:  See how each element is aligned? You may have less impressions than the generic “marketing services”, but your ad aligns with the query, meaning more clicks, better click-through-rate, higher quality score, higher ad positioning, and lower cost-per-click.

AD COPY

I touched on ad copy in my last post; and poor ad copy is a pet peeve of mine.  Folks, this is advertising.  You need to stand out; obtain that precious click. You’re competing with other advertisers, optimized listings, images, videos, blog posts and tweets that appear on Google’s first page. You need to raise your hand- “pick me!”  Remember searchers are scanning for a message that attracts their attention and easily communicates a solution to their problem. Here’s my approach to effective ads:

1. Headline:  You have only 25 characters to grab someone’s attention.  This is an AD headline- it’s not your company name.  The headline is usually the best place to put an important keyword or ad content theme.  Let’s continue to use “Hotel Marketing Services” as an example of a query.

• Bad:  Travel Marketing; Marketing Pros (not relevant);
• Good: Hotel Marketing Experts; Better Hotel Marketing?

2.  Second Line:  Is there a key feature that separates you from competition?  What makes your firm special?  (Please, no outstanding service; it’s overused).  Make a list.  Remember you can test a couple of approaches; you’re not stuck on one ad. Second lines can be emotional or informational.

• Bad:  Hotel Marketing Services;  Internet Marketing Experts; Hotel Marketing Agency.  (Folks, we’re not duplicating SEO listings- this is advertising, let’s stand out)
• Good: We Focus on Hospitality; Targeted Marketing Planning;  Increase Occupancy Rates; Our hotel clients have grown

3.  Third Line:  In 35 characters the goal is to combine a key benefit with a call-to-action. Alternatively, utilize a special offer and action words.  Offers can be limited time; ads can be changed any time.  Are you having a sale? Promote it!  Again, make a list and test approaches.

• Bad: Hotel Solutions for You;  We Focus on Service; Serving Hotels for 35 years (so?)
• Good: Free white paper on ROI; 25% off Limited Time; Start growth today-learn more; Free Assessment-Call now;  Time to increase Profit- Visit Us; Our Service Builds Hotel Revenue

Not to pound the point, but if you do any offer; that offer better be front and center on your landing page.

Well, this finished part 2.  I look forward to your thoughts. My last post, http://www.nusparkmarketing.com/google-adwords-optimization-part-1/ discussed some advanced ways to optimize an AdWords campaign on Google. Stay tuned for future posts.