How to Advertise With Google

Why should you learn how to advertise with Google? Did you know Google Ads is the most popular and widely used marketing tool in the world? In 2019, Google Ads yielded over $134 billion in revenue — so it’s no surprise that it leads to 50% more conversions than organic search! This powerful tool is used to identify new target customers, affordably expand reach to millions, and increase revenue, averaging 200% ROI on Google Ads campaign spending. 

Here, we unpack the ways Google advertising works and demonstrate how you can leverage it to strengthen your bottom line. Below we explain how to advertise with Google.

How Google Ads Works

Google Ads is a sophisticated beast that levels the playing field for all marketers. Instead of favoring those with the deepest pockets, Google’s auction is based on keywords as well as the relevance and quality of an ad campaign. 

Businesses and their marketing teams work to identify the keywords that people would search to find their products or service offerings and bid on those keywords, or in other words, they’ll list how much they’re willing to pay every time a searcher clicks on their ad. 

This method of marketing is commonly referred to as pay per click (PPC); an ad auction happens each time someone types a keyword into Google. This positions you to be seen by people who are looking for what you’re selling at the moment in which they need it — the reason why Google Ads is so enticing and rewarding.

How to Advertise on Google

So how do you start taking advantage of the power of Google Ads? First and foremost, if you don’t have one already, you need a Google Ads account on which to create your campaigns. You can create an account for free. From that point, there are several key steps to follow in creating successful ad word campaigns, as enumerated below.

1. Determine what your company goals are

As with all other facets of digital marketing, you can’t formulate plans until you’ve set some smart goals. For example, are you using Google Ads for lead generation, e-commerce, or for establishing your brand? Your goal will determine the way you structure your account as well as the features that will be most valuable for your campaign.

2. Generate buyer personas to establish your audience

When you know who your customers are, you can develop highly effective ad campaigns that lead to maximum sales. You can find out who is Googling products like yours by creating buyer personas, or fictitious characters who represent specific demographics of people who regularly use your products or services. A thorough buyer persona will cover the buyer’s background, goals, demographics, challenges, behaviors, purchasing habits, motivations, and how your company can help them achieve their goals.

For instance, if you sold essential oils, your buyer persona may be “health-conscious women in their 20s to 50s, wary of pharmaceuticals and wanting natural, holistic remedies to everyday health challenges.” Buyer personas help you gain insights into these people and their buying habits — especially the “why” of their online behaviors — which can guide you in creating custom keyword lists tailored to the needs of your buyer personas.

3. Conduct keyword research

Ideally, your ad campaign will utilize high-traffic, low-competition keywords with buying intent (i.e. “buy lemongrass essential oil”). You can determine what those keywords are, bid on them, and make informed decisions to drive success using the intelligent Google Keyword Planner. This tool can generate a list detailing the price, volume, and competition of keywords at each stage of a sale (information, navigation, or transaction). 

For example, here’s what it would look like if you searched the term “SEO”:

If it’s your first time using the Google Keyword Planner, simply log into your Google Ads account and navigate to Tools. Select the Keyword Planner at the top of the menu bar and use a website, product category, or a direct phrase to search for new keywords. Google will provide plenty of suggestions, and from there, you can pick the keywords that yield promising outcomes to drive results more effectively than ever. 

4. Calculate Google ad costs and set your bid and budget amounts

Now that you’ve decided which keywords will be most beneficial to bid on, you can choose your budget and bid amounts based on your keywords. Your budget is the amount you’re willing to spend every day for your campaign and is based on the cost per click (CPC) of the keywords you’re after. When coming up with a budget: 

• Find out how much your competitors are bidding and how much it’ll cost to be competitive with them. 
• Don’t allow yourself to overspend; set a cap, bid strictly on keywords within your budget, or simply bid on fewer keywords and ads. 
• It will be harder to see a good ROI for high-competition keywords than it will for low-competition keywords. If your budget is flexible though, you can afford to spend more time on keyword research and set your budget based on the ones with the best ROI. 

By calculating ROI and CPC of your top keywords in the Google Keyword Planner, you can estimate how much you should be devoting to your campaign each month. 

• Multiply your daily estimate by 30.4 (the average length of a month) to get your monthly budget as an exact dollar amount. 

You also need to set your maximum cost per click (CPC) bid, which is how much you’re comfortable spending whenever someone clicks on your Google ad. These bids determine how much traffic your ads get and how much revenue they generate. The higher your bid, the more traffic you’ll get — and the more money you will spend. 

CPC for a keyword can be calculated by dividing total costs by total clicks. Google Ads has a feature called Enhanced CPC bidding (ECPC), which can adjust manual bids automatically for clicks that are most likely to drive revenue. To find out if you’ll be able to maintain your CPC goal over time, you can find the “get search volume and forecasts” option under “Tools.”

5. Structure your account

Google Ads is organized by accounts, campaigns, and ad groups. Within your Google Ads account, you’ll likely be running multiple campaigns at once, each with its own unique goals, budget, and settings that control where each ad pops up. Each campaign needs relevant ads and a handful of relevant keywords.

6. Write ad copy that converts

The quality of your ad copy is a major determining factor in whether or not someone clicks on your ad. Great copy can improve clickthrough rate, conversions, and CPC. The best way to attract customers with engaging copy is to appeal to their emotions and logic.

In order to “think like your target audience,” you can test features or benefits in your ads. We previously worked with a client offering software that allows you to create 3D objects to import into Minecraft, and we wanted to know if they were more attracted to the prospect of free products/experiences or customizability. We tested the following two ads to see which one performed better and discovered that our client’s users preferred customizability over cost, which allowed us to fine-tune their ad strategies.

Start Growing Your Business With Google Ads Today

Being successful in Google advertising isn’t as difficult as you’d think. It just requires some patience, a lot of trial and error, and a well-planned budget. It’s time to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty, and we’re here to help you get the most out of your investment. 

Avalaunch Media is home to paid media specialists whose expertise is in identifying holes in ad campaigns and filling them to increase leads and ROAS. Contact us today if you’d like to learn more about this platform or get started creating some campaigns of your own.