How to use Google Ads to attract more people to your website

Congratulations! Your new website is live, what’s next? How do we bring your ideal clients to it?

Google Ads sends people to your digital front door. This marketing approach reaches people exactly when they’re considering buying your products or services. Millions of searches happen every day on Google (despite the rise of AI assistants helping us) and this tool accounts for the one of largest market shares in online search.

Here are a couple of interesting tidbits you might not know:

• According to a 2017 Research Australia survey, 78% of Australian adults use the internet to find health-related information. (Source: AIHW.org.au)
• And according to 2016 data from Think With Google, 76% of people who conduct a search with a smartphone visit that physical location within 24 hours. (Source: Think With Google)

Essentially, you need to be found where people are looking. And if Google is where they’re looking, then Google is where you should be!

But should you use Google Ads?

Almost all business types are eligible to use Google Ads. But just because you can, it doesn’t always mean you should.

Here are 3 good use cases for Google Ads:

1. You use a form on your website to collect leads to call back or follow-up via email.
2. You offer an on-call/emergency service via phone call.
3. Your business is an online shop where customers order online, and have goods delivered to their home or business.

It’s vital to set up your website to attract and convert your customers. Yes, even if you want your customers to call you on the phone.

Why your website matters

In the early days, when Google Ads was formerly known as AdWords, things were simple. Advertisers were able to place an ad on search results, which would be triggered by a keyword of your choosing, and placing a bid. But that’s not entirely how it works anymore. While your keywords and bid matter, they’re not the only winning factors!

Better results from Google Ads happen when your website and ad work hand-in-hand.

Google not only considers search query terms, but also analyses your web pages to determine how relevant they are to the context of that search. Put simply, if you’re a gym offering yoga lessons, but you don’t have a page on your website about this, nor an option to book, then your Google ad might not show at all. In other words, if your ad offers something in particular, your web page needs to clearly allow your visitors to receive it.

Working with AI-Powered bidding

Google Ads is not just about paying for a position on the first search page of results. Google uses AI-powered “smart bidding” to determine which user sees your ad.

In order for this to work, Google needs to be able to “see” when someone takes a positive action on your website. Google Ads specialists and digital marketers call these positive actions “conversions”, and the more complete an action is, the better. For example, a person completing a contact form is a much more definite and complete goal than someone simply clicking a button.

When Google can see users taking the actions we want, it will seek out users who are more likely to take action. This is part of the reason why paying for the topmost spot isn’t always the aim. In other words, depending on the behaviour of your audience, you may find that a click from your ad in the second position on the Google Search results gets the sale or lead! This is something you won’t know if you don’t allow Google to use smart bidding.

What to expect when using Google Ads

A lot of people I’ve encountered believe Google Ads work like this: keyword + your ad = lots of traffic and buyers. However, it’s a bit more nuanced than that. These two indicators will help you determine if your ads will get a sale:

1. You need to prove your product can sell — If you are fresh out of the gate, and you haven’t booked your first client or made a sale yet, you’ll be investing a lot of advertising dollars into experimentation. Be prepared for that.
   
2. Your customer has high intent to buy — Sometimes the decision to buy is straightforward, for example, a customer is looking to buy a 20kg bag of dog food for their fur baby, and so all they really want to know is if someone has it in stock nearby. Ergo, their search query would likely be, “20kg dog food near me.” The dog food sale isn’t complicated. If your shop has that item in stock, then you’re more likely to get a sale with your ad.

However, if you’re someone like a business coach, it won’t be that simple. Someone seeking “business coach in Melbourne” might not be ready to buy in that search session. They may want to explore a few different coaches, do some research, and might even have other moving parts to take care of before making this investment. Therefore, while you can run an ad on this search query, it becomes a little fuzzier as to whether or not a Google ad is a good idea.

Budget

The budget you invest in Google Ads is going to vary from one business to another.

The key to getting your budget right is having a good grasp of what a lead, acquisition, or AOV (Average Order Value) is worth to your business.

For some business types, spending $50 in ad spend to acquire someone who spends $1,000 over their lifetime with you might be a good deal. This is your ROI (Return On Investment) or ROAS (Return On Ad Spend).

While it’s certainly possible to see what competitors or other people are aiming for with their ROI, only you know what values make sense for your business. And if this is something you don’t know, it’s something you need to work out with a money mentor.

Getting the Click

Understanding what to say in an ad, is really not that complicated. In most cases, these are the principles to follow:

• Get to the point.
• Use your customers’ language.
• Include the keyword or search phrase in your ad copy.
• Speak of benefits, not just features.
• Use a Call To Action (CTA).

Post-click Experience

Getting someone to click an ad is only one piece of the puzzle… As once they do, then it’s the website’s job to close that sale.

In most situations, you’ll want to send your Google Ads traffic to a dedicated landing page for your product or service. As discussed earlier in this article, if someone’s looking for an item on Google Search, they’ll likely have a high intent to buy. So, instead of sending them on a treasure hunt, reduce as much friction as you can and send them directly to the page for the product or service they are interested in.

Here are 4 more key considerations for your landing page:

1. Make your page fast-loading and easy for your ideal customer to read and understand.
2. If you’re offering a service, create a headline with your UVP (Unique Value Proposition) — Something that will make the buyer say, “Yes! That’s exactly what I want.”
3. If you’re collecting leads, set up a form that has the minimum info you need to qualify your prospect. If it’s too long, people might not complete it. But if it’s too short, you might get too many spammy or irrelevant enquiries.
4. As for products, ensure you have adequate descriptions, clear photos, and your payment, shipping and returns information. Essentially, have everything your customer needs to know so they can trust doing business with you.

Confirming your Google Ads work

Understandably, you’ll want to know whether or not your advertising dollars are bringing in money. It’s a little different if you’re selling goods or collecting leads. So let me explain:

Services and Lead Generation

With Google Ads, it’s possible to trace a phone call or lead form submission back to an ad click. When this is done correctly, you can associate a CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) to your ad campaigns. Your CPA is the amount of your ad budget that went into someone taking action; i.e., their phone call or form submission. For example, a CPA of $20 means that out of all your ad spend, it took $20 to get one lead to call, email, or make a booking.

As previously discussed under the Budget heading, a good CPA depends on what makes sense for your business and operating costs. Your money mentor can help work this out with you.

eCommerce

When it comes to selling products, Google Ads has a different metric for that; ROAS (Return On Ad Spend). Essentially, ROAS looks at the value of all orders generated through a campaign and calculates a multiplier. For example, a ROAS of 5 means for every $1 spent on ads, $5 was made in sales!

Bear in mind that for Google Ads to accurately calculate your ROAS, it needs to be able to talk to your website and see the value of your transactions. If this isn’t set up properly, then you won’t be able to utilise ROAS as your metric.

Conclusion: should you use Google Ads for your business?

Well… it depends! As previously stated, just because you can, doesn’t always mean you should.

Google Ads work best when you already have a proven business and are looking to scale. And whether or not you can afford it depends on your financial situation.

If you can determine that the numbers make sense, and you’re ready to take on extra customers, then give it a go! You can certainly try! A successful Google Ads strategy can return 5x or 10x the amount of money you invest.

If you are looking for someone to help set up and manage your Google Ads, make sure:

• All parties are crystal clear on your business goals.
• You retain ownership and access to your Google Ads account.

Happy advertising!

Lou Kozlevcar
https://loukoz.com/