Here are 10 tips for small businesses to effectively use Google Ads in 2023 to grow their business on a limited budget.
When you’re a small business owner, there’s a multitude of mediums that you can spend money on to promote your brand, products, and services. However, when it comes to online advertising, Google is arguably the most important player on the internet. There are more than 8 billion searches on Google every day, and by using Google Ads, you can target potential customers based on who they are, where they come from, and what they are searching for. Although advertising on Google may seem overwhelming at first, if you know how to approach it strategically and effectively, your business can reap huge rewards from it.
And the good news is, it doesn't have to be expensive! In fact, a recent study revealed that nearly 75% of small business owners feel that paid advertising on Google offers the best value for their ad dollars when compared to other forms of online advertising like social media or YouTube ads. So whether you just started your own business or are an established company looking to grow your online presence, this guide will provide you with everything you need to know to get started using Google Ads effectively.
So here are 10 tips that you can use to implement a successful Google Ads strategy for your business (in no particular order):
Create buyer personas: Knowing who you are targeting can help you craft your message in a way that resonates with your potential customers. It can also help you determine how often you should be updating your ads to ensure that you’re reaching the right audience at the right time.
Set a clear objective: Before launching your ad campaign, it’s important that you clearly identify what you want to achieve with your ads. Are you looking to increase your brand awareness? Increase online sales? Generate leads? Whatever your goal may be, make sure that it is well-defined before implementing your Google Ads campaign.
Choose a good campaign structure: There are many different campaign structures available, and each allows you to reach a different target audience in different ways. For example, a “universal” campaign can be a good option if you want to reach all of your prospective customers at once. On the other hand, if you’re looking to increase conversions on your website, you might want to create a “landing page” campaign instead.
Select relevant keywords: A good keyword strategy is essential to any successful ad campaign. Keywords are the key to connecting customers with your products or services online. So make sure that you take the time to research the right keywords for your campaign, and knowing the difference between Phrase Match, Broad Match, and Exact Match keywords.
Utilize effective ad formats: When creating your ads, be sure to consider what type of message will resonate with your target audience. Do you want your ad to be text based or video based? Or maybe you want to combine images and text in an eye-catching format?
Target long tail keywords: Long tail keywords are longer phrases that describe what a customer is looking for rather than what they might be searching for in general. Targeting these more specific keywords is more likely to lead to a higher conversion rate than broader keywords.
Use negative keywords: Negative keywords can be used to target ads to specific types of customers or exclude certain terms from your campaigns. For example, you might use negative keywords to exclude words like “free” or “cheap” from your campaign so that you’re not attracting the wrong type of customer.
Track your results: Once you’ve launched your campaign, it’s time to evaluate its performance in order to determine its success. You should be tracking everything from conversion rates to average order value in order to optimize your campaign and increase ROI.
Use competitive keywords: If you’re planning to run an ad campaign for a competing brand, make sure you include their brand name as a keyword so that you can run ads against them. Although the person may already have their mind set on their brand of choice, you may still be able to persuade them to switch by targeting them with specific ads.
Make sure your landing page is targeted and relevant: Your landing page is where visitors will go after clicking on your ad so make sure that it’s highly relevant to what they’re looking for. Having similar phrases in your keywords, ads, and landing pages will ensure a smooth customer experience and improve overall conversions.
Google Ads can be overwhelming for people or teams new to the platform as there are a lot of settings and adjustments to be made so that you're not burning through budget on junk traffic.
If you're stuck getting started with Google Ads or you're looking for ways to improve your existing campaigns, outsource that portion of your marketing efforts to a digital marketing freelancer or local marketing agency who has the experience. You don't want your digital marketing efforts to be less effective just because you don't have a dedicated team monitoring your accounts.