Maximizing your Google Ads Performance

Maximizing your Google Ads performance

Google ads are one of the most cost efficient ways to promote your business. But, maximizing your Google ads performance, takes a little effort and focus.

What is Google Ads?

Unlike the traditional method of advertising, which is like shouting from a roof top at people around, who may or may not be prospective buyers; it is like broadcasting; not everybody be listening; and not everyone that is listening need be a prospective buyer.

Contrast this with selling in a street full of people who are interested in products like yours; how easy would that be; that is Google ads for you.

How much does Google Ads cost?

Google ads is one of the cheapest way of shouting out at people who are in line with your business, that is, those who want to, who are considering to, or those who would want to in the near future, to buy products or services that are similar to yours.

Since, Google ads is targeted, it is only when people click or watch your ad (in case of Youtube ads) that your account is charged. The advantage of Google ads is that you know where your money went and how effective it was to your purpose.

There is also scope for analysis and refining your ads, change the scope and change your target audience and so on.

This is what we are talking about, when we talk about maximizing Google ads performance. This also effectively and essentially means that we are going to spend a much lesser amount that traditional advertising.

But still, if one isn't careful, we may end up spending far more than what we should have to achieve a target. But first, let us talk about how Google ads finds me business.

How does Google Ads find me business?

As you know, people the world over make use of Google as a search engine to look for their requirements. It may be information, knowledge, product comparison and even for purchase of products and services.

So, it knows what you are looking for, based on your search terms. It also knows who has a certain product that matches your search terms. So, as you type in your search requirement, Google checks its list of service providers and shows an advertisement that is relevant to you.

If you click on the link that is shown, it takes you to the service providers page. If you like it, you make and enquiry. If everything goes well, you make a purchase. It is a win win for everybody.

That is Google ads, in simple terms.

WHY IS IT THAT I AM SPENDING A LOT, BUT AM GETTING LESS LEADS?

There are various factors that contribute to lead acquisition. They are geography, product category and most importantly filtering out abstract and unproductive searches.

When you are just using a set of key phrases without any customization, a lot of people who are looking for something similar, but not your product or service may be seeing your ad. This leads to avoidable and inadvertent clicks, for which you end up paying, but they end up being wasted.

TARGETING GOOGLE ADS FOR A GEOGRAPHY

If you are a local vendor servicing a small community, it becomes essential that you leave away the rest of the world and focus only on your locality.

Google tells you to broaden your search and to widen your search net in order to increase clicks and thereby increase the chances of you getting the right customers. Even though the logic looks good on paper, it might get people who may be interested, but aren't in your locality, are looking for a different product in the same genre, or looking for a specific brand and so on.

So, you need to keep your keywords specific and to the point. Over a period of time, you may refine the list of key phrases, to improve your hits. So, even though you may be getting lesser hits and enquiries, most of them would be relevant and so, the chances of conversions are more.

The positive side of this is that you get to spend lesser, because you have shrinked your net and unrelated clicks are avoided.

The step by step process of reducing Google ad spend, while increasing your chances of getting conversions will be explained in a later episode.