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7 Expert Tips For Writing The Perfect AdWords Ad

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Google AdWords: Writing The Perfect Ad (Part Two)

Writing tight, compelling Adwords copy is one of the biggest challenges of Google AdWords. Other forms of advertising give substantially more room to convey your company’s message. But AdWords simply isn’t built for drawn-out sales pitches.

Here’s a bonus Cheat Sheet on Expanded Text Ads:

That’s too little room for carelessness, but more than enough to pique your prospects’ interests — if you know what you’re doing. Here, we’ll look at eight tips for writing lean, compelling ads that grab attention and boost conversions.

People are easily attracted by what they’re looking for — that’s why you should always test including your target keyword in your ad copy. Though why not go further? People don’t use Google looking for keywords, do they? No, they go online looking for answers. They have needs that must be met. If you can write an ad that promises to meet their needs, then you’ll likely get their clicks.

Wield the Fear of Missing Out. If you’re looking to make a purchase, then what’s worse than missing out on the best deal? The fear of missing out — known as loss aversion — is a powerful motivating factor that you can use to your advantage.

Create a Strong Call to Action: A call to action, or CTA, is the part of your ad that tells your reader what to do. And by that, we don’t mean telling the user to click your ad (that would be against the AdWords terms of service). The CTA is where you say “order today!” or “request a free quote.”

Timeliness Is Important: Breaking news is always more exciting than old news. It’s fresh. It just happened. It’s way more relevant to the here and now. Bring that same sense of timeliness to your ads with references to the month or season. Say how many customers you served the month before, or mention a big seasonal sale. Don’t hesitate to invoke the holidays if they’re relevant to your ads.

Specific Details Stick: Specific information is more trustworthy than vague information. Don’t hesitate to list the nitty gritty about your inventory, sale prices, customers served or even how many positive reviews you have. The more specific you are, the more credibility you’ll receive, and credibility leads to more traffic and sales.

Geo-target Your Campaigns (With Phone Numbers). Use a local phone number whenever possible if you’re offering a local product or service. Or, if you do market to audiences from out of your area, consider making separate geo-targeted campaigns with appropriate local phone numbers in each. People are much more likely to dial a local phone number when looking for a local product or service.

Stay Focused: With so little room to write your ads, it’s important to make every character count — and that’s infinitely easier with simple, focused campaigns. This tip applies to almost everything you’ll do in AdWords.

Never create catch-all campaigns or ad groups that send visitors to your website’s home page. Instead create laser targeting campaigns focused on a single product or service.

Bonus Tip: Test everything!

Never settle on a single version of ad copy, even when you find something that works. You should always be testing new versions of your ads to find new ways to attract customers. Just set your test ads to display less often than your proven ads. Testing is the only way you’ll ever improve the many components of your AdWords campaigns.

Also, testing new ad copy carries the added benefit of connecting with customers who might not have responded to your more established ad. Experiment with different calls to action, various product or service details or even references to different cities in geo-targeted campaigns. The more you test, the more you’ll know.

Conclusion:

Writing compelling ad copy isn’t easy. You’ll go through some trial and error. And just when you find an ad that converts really well, chances are you’ll launch a new sale or product line that requires starting over again. Keep your ads focused, be direct with your customers and highlight the most specific, relevant details. In time, you’ll wonder why you ever needed more space!

The main objective with your ad writing is to never stop testing. The ad that does well one week for you inside your AdWords account may be copied by a competitor, so always stay vigilant and watch what other trends are in your niche.

What have I missed here? What tips do you have for writing great ads?

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7 Absolutely Killer Tips For Google AdWords & Why They Crush The Competition

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Phil Adair

Hot Clicks Pay-Per-Click Online Marketing

Suite 12, 5th Floor, Dymocks Building

428 George Street, Sydney 2000, NSW, Australia

W: hotclicks.com.au

I’m a huge fan of connecting on social media. If you’re on these social networks, then let’s follow each other:

About Phil Adair

Phil Adair is the host of one of the most downloaded online marketing podcasts on the internet (go here to subscribe and listen to The Online Marketing Strategies Show.)

Read his inspiring bio now. Feel free to send Phil a message here.

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The Secret Power of the AdWords Search Terms Report

What Is The Search Terms Report?

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Understanding The Search Terms Report

Use the Search terms report to see how your ads performed when triggered by actual searches within the Search Network. Identify new search terms with high potential, and add them to your keyword list.

Look for search terms that aren’t as relevant to your business, and add them as negative keywords. This can help you avoid spending money showing your ad to people who aren’t interested in it.

What’s the difference between a search term and a keyword?

A search term is the exact word or set of words a customer enters when searching on Google.com or one of our Search Network sites. A keyword is the word or set of words that AdWords advertisers create for a given ad group to target your ads to customers.

What Is The Search Terms Report?

Use the Search terms report to see how your ads performed when triggered by actual searches within the Search Network… A keyword is the word or set of words AdWords advertisers create for a given ad group to target your ads to customers.

How to Spot Negative Keywords?

Adwords Search Terms Report: Running this report shows the searches people make in Google before clicking on your adverts.

Sort these searches by the highest cost to lowest cost and identify searches with Low CTR, low conversion rate, and low average session duration compared to the account average or low conversion rate or no conversions at all.

Viewing your Search Terms Report:

Below is a screenshot of what you are looking for:

You’ll see data on which search terms triggered impressions and clicks. To download the data in a report, click the download button.

After you run this report, there are a few things you can use the data for, including:

Add search terms that are performing well to your ad group as keywords.

Adjust your bids — the search terms that appear in the search terms report are receiving traffic, so you will want to make the most of those.

If you realise a search term isn’t relevant enough to the products or services you offer, add it as a negative keyword.

Select the correct match type (e.g. broad, phrase, exact, or negative) for existing keywords.

Further reading: Understanding AdWords “Match Types” To Win Online

Please note: Bear in mind that you’ll only see search terms that were used by people at least eight hours ago and have either received clicks in the past 30 days or have been searched for by a significant number of people.

Any search terms that did not meet this criteria will be added up in the ‘Other search terms’ row.

I really hope this post helped. Have I missed anything though? Drop me a line in the comments section below!

Like this post at all? Why not Pin it!

Remember to subscribe to my podcast and check out the [FREE] AdWords Video Training Series.

Get Instant Access Here >>

7 Absolutely Killer Tips For Google AdWords & Why They Crush The Competition

How to Build an Email List FAST – 7 Simple Methods You Can Use for FREE

Download The eBook Now:

Download here >>

Phil Adair

Hot Clicks Pay-Per-Click Online Marketing

Suite 12, 5th Floor, Dymocks Building

428 George Street, Sydney 2000, NSW, Australia

W: hotclicks.com.au

I’m a huge fan of connecting on social media. If you’re on these social networks, then let’s follow each other:

About Phil Adair

Phil Adair is the host of one of the most downloaded online marketing podcasts on the internet (go here to subscribe and listen to The Online Marketing Strategies Show.)

Read his inspiring bio now Feel free to send Phil a message here

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6 Magic Words For Writing “Killer” Copy That Always Get Clicks

(The Psychology Of Selling)

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6 Magic Words For Writing “Killer” Copy That Always Get Clicks

Like you, people are curious. They want to know secrets, tips, and the answers to their burning questions. You may have the best articles and blog posts in the world on your website, but if your title isn’t enticing enough to make people click on it, content doesn’t matter. That’s just the way it works.

Many writers don’t write titles to get clicks. It’s just not what we’ve been taught. We want to write for art and for beauty. Writing for clicks seems almost like a sell-out to the commercial gods that want to suck your art-loving soul. But it’s not.

In fact, writing titles with clicks in mind is what will save your blog, increase your traffic, and get you the numbers publishers are looking for. Instead of burying your content under a flowery title with vague references to the material, make it easy for readers to find the posts they are looking for.

Use one of these six magical words. You’ll start getting clicks and new readers.

Who

Using “Who” in your title will help people get connected with the movers and shakers of the world–or at least the ones relevant to your topic.

The 5 Agents Who Will Change Your Life
Who is the Real Hero of the Election?
Channel 9 Already Knows Who Will Win the Next Bachelor – Do You?

What

Your readers are curious. Give them the facts they want. They’ll give you the clicks you want.

What To Do When Your Book Isn’t Selling
What to Watch for During the State Of Origin
What the Olympics Really Did to the British Economy

When

Are you covering time sensitive information? A sense of urgency will help compel people to click on the title and read your content instead of scrolling past it on the screen.

When to Quit Your Job
When the World Will End – It’s Closer Than You Think!
When Will Reality TV Die?

Where

If you are writing about a location, answering the “where” question is one of your best strategies.

Where will my next vacation be?

Where to Get the Best Sushi in Sydney
Where to Camp in the National Parks
Where to Get Free eBooks

Why

Do you know a six year old? “Why” is probably their favourite question.

Not much changes as we age. We want to know the root of a situation. We want to know the why.

Why You Need to Pay Attention to Your Score
Why Your Diet May Be Killing You
Why No One Likes Your Book

How

We’re a DIY obsessed world. Follow up “how” with “to” and you have a dynamic duo that people will read and share with their friends. If it helps them, they’ll want to help others by passing it on. It all starts with the title.

How to Write a Killer Book Proposal in 45 Minutes
How To Make Money With Your Author Blog
How To Keep Your Inbox At Zero

The magic is these words don’t have to do with any sort of spell. Their magic lies in the fact that they answer the exact questions your readers are asking. Knowing your audience and what they will be looking for will help you not only write clickable titles but helpful content. Write to get clicks. It isn’t a bad thing.

Your Bonus “Magical” Word: “Because”

The Ultimate Persuasion Technique:

Over the past few years, I’ve devoured a slew of books about traditional sales, marketing, and advertising. One of the best so far, in my humble opinion, is “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Robert B. Cialdini.

Cialdini distilled the thousands of sales, influence, and compliance-seeking tactics he observed down to a handful of techniques that he calls “weapons of automatic influence,” or the common denominators found in most of the methods he studied.

He claims that each of them is based on a human psychological principle that has the “ability to produce a distinct kind of automatic, mindless compliance from people, that is, a willingness to say yes without thinking first.”

Applying persuasion principles taps into the auto-pilot programs under which we operate every day — programs that enable us to make decisions quickly and survive a busy [and sometimes dangerous] world.

Given how many decisions we make in our lives (and have had to make to ensure our survival), it’s not surprising that we are conditioned to avoid over-thinking every single scenario we encounter.

In his book, Cialdini explores the most effective ways we can influence people to comply with our requests. He writes, “A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favour we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.”

The strategy itself makes sense if you think about it. We don’t like to be told things or asked to take action without a reasonable explanation.

So when you need people to be receptive to your thoughts or requests, always give a reason why. And the most effective transition word when giving a reason why is because. People are simply more amenable to influence with the addition of this simple word.

The ‘power of because’ has been well-documented by social psychologist Ellen Langer. Langer performed an experiment where she asked people queued for a copy machine to cut in line ahead of them.

Langer’s study illustrates the persuasive power of ‘because’

She tested three different ways of asking people the same basic question and recorded the results:

“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”

Result: 60% said OK

“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?”

Result: 94% said OK

“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?”

Result: 93% said OK

By providing a reason — and using the word ‘because’ — Langer’s desired compliance rate improved dramatically.

More surprising perhaps is the fact that in case #3, it didn’t really seem to matter what specific reason was given (surely making copies is the most obvious reason to use a Xerox machine!).

The word ‘because’ triggered an automatic response in the participants and changed the outcome. This technique is well-known amongst direct marketers and ad copy writers.

Since all we’re talking about is adding the word ‘because’ and a reason to your online requests, why not test the theory out for your next campaign?

Test it in your email subject lines… or Web page headlines… or primary calls to action — basically anywhere you would like visitors to comply with your request.

Bottom line:

If you want to persuade someone to buy your product or complete a task, give them a reason. Of course, a good reason will likely be more effective, but even if you think your reason is less than compelling, the research suggests that site visitors are more likely to comply than if you had given no reason at all.

I Really hope this helped. Hey, have I missed anything here though? Are there any “Magic” words you specifically use. Drop me a note in the comments section below and let me know!

Like this post at all? Why not Pin it!

Remember to subscribe to my podcast and check out the [FREE] AdWords Video Training Series.

Get Instant Access Here >>

7 Absolutely Killer Tips For Google AdWords & Why They Crush The Competition

How to Build an Email List FAST – 7 Simple Methods You Can Use for FREE

Download The eBook Now:

Download here >>

Phil Adair

Hot Clicks Pay-Per-Click Online Marketing

Suite 12, 5th Floor, Dymocks Building

428 George Street, Sydney 2000, NSW, Australia

W: hotclicks.com.au

I’m a huge fan of connecting on social media. If you’re on these social networks, then let’s follow each other:

About Phil Adair

Phil Adair is the host of one of the most downloaded online marketing podcasts on the internet (go here to subscribe and listen to The Online Marketing Strategies Show.)

Read his inspiring bio now Feel free to send Phil a message here

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5 Reasons You Need AdWords To Grow Your Business

Why Use Google AdWords?

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Google AdWords Business Success?

Every small business owner knows that having a great website is not enough in today’s competitive digital economy. Can Google AdWords help your business success?

How do you stand out from the competition and get more customers to visit your website? AdWords are the websites listed at the top and down the right side of every Google search. These are the websites that grab the searcher’s attention first.

Make Sure You Get Found Online When Customers Are Performing A Search

AdWords is where you want your business to be when customers do a Google search for your products or services.

You’ll get fast results. With a well-managed AdWords marketing campaign, your business will move to the top of Google Search results.

You’ll experience increased website traffic immediately. And best of all—the customers who visit your site are those most likely to buy because they are searching for your products and services based on your targeted ads.

AdWords advertising isn’t free, though it can be very cost effective.

You control the budget and decide where your ads appear — locally, regionally, and nationally. There are no surprise costs. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad. You decide how much each click is worth and how much you want to spend each month.

You’ll know when an ad results in a sale and how many new customers you obtain from your AdWords campaign. You’ll know exactly where those new customers come from and what they do when they visit your website.

That’s because AdWords has Google Analytics built in. Together, these two powerful tools provide an incredible wealth of statistics and data to make your website more profitable.

AdWords gives you the information you need to maximise your return on investment and grow your business.

Many business owners don’t have the time or the expertise to make the most of AdWords. They feel their time is better spent running their business.

“Why use AdWords” and “Does Google AdWords Work?” are pretty common keyword phrase searched on Google, which suggests that there are a lot of marketers and business owners out there who have heard about Google AdWords but aren’t sure if and how it can work for them.

AdWords – Google’s enormously successful pay-per-click (PPC) advertising system – can work for almost any type of business.

Using AdWords (or any PPC platform) requires time and money, but thousands of businesses have found that it’s time and money well spent, because AdWords delivers measurable ROI.

But if you’ve never used Google AdWords before, and you’re wondering whether or not it’s worthwhile, this post is for you.

Here are five highly compelling reasons to use AdWords:

1. AdWords Is Scalable

One of the trickiest challenges for any marketer is finding lead sources that scale – meaning, it doesn’t require five times the effort to get five times the leads.

Google AdWords is highly scalable, which is why some business spend millions of dollars a year on AdWords advertising. If you create an AdWords campaign that is converting at a profitable rate, there is no reason to arbitrarily cap spend on that campaign.

You can increase your PPC budget and your leads and profits will increase accordingly. This makes AdWords highly effective for businesses that need a lot of leads but are short on time and heads.

2. AdWords Is Measurable

Compared to traditional marketing channels like TV and magazine advertising, online marketing is highly measureable, and AdWords PPC is one of the most measurable of online channels.

It’s difficult to make exact measurements in SEO because you can’t always know what actions led to increased or decreased rankings.

In comparison, AdWords is more transparent, providing tons of PPC metrics that allow you to see at a granular level what works and what doesn’t. You can pretty quickly determine if your campaigns are working or returning ROI.

3. AdWords Is Flexible

AdWords provides tons of options so you can customise your campaigns and ads to your particular needs; hyper-targeting the audiences you most want to reach. For example, with AdWords you can:

Specify keyword match types – You can, for example, only display your ad to people who search for an exact keyword you specify, like “Sydney hotels” – filtering out traffic on general terms related to Sydney or hotels.

(With SEO you can’t define what you rank for, you can only hope for the best.)

Use ad extensions to display product images, a phone number, and a mega-pack of links to your site, your physical location.

Narrow your audience by location, time of day, language, browser or device type and more. A good portion of your SEO traffic may be worthless to you (for example, if you only need US-based leads, and half your web traffic comes from Australia), but in AdWords, you don’t have to display your ads around the world.

4. AdWords Is Faster than SEO

For new businesses and websites, it can take months to see results from SEO. This perceived “penalty” used to be referred to as the Google sandbox effect – people assumed Google was intentionally filtering new websites out of the results.

More likely the problem is that competition is fierce and it takes time for a website to “prove” itself and earn authority and links.

AdWords is a great workaround for new businesses because you don’t have to wait around so long to see results. While working on your site’s SEO, you can put resources into an AdWords campaign and start getting impressions and clicks immediately.

Because it’s so speedy, it’s also a good way to test whether a given keyword or audience is worth pursing via organic search – if it converts well in AdWords, you can deduce that it’s worth trying to rank for in SEO and build out your content in that area.

(Just one of the ways that AdWords and SEO are two great ingredients that taste great together.)

5. Your Competitors Are Using AdWords

Then, there’s peer pressure: The old “Everyone else is doing it, so why not you?” argument. It doesn’t work for jumping off a cliff, but it is persuasive when it comes to search engine marketing.

Do a few searches on keywords you care about. Your competitors are likely there in the sponsored results at the top of the SERP. Can you afford not to be?

I really hope this helped. Hey, have I missed anything here though? Drop me a note in the comments section below and let me know your thoughts.

Like this post at all? Why not Pin it!

Remember to subscribe to my podcast

Check out my [FREE] AdWords Video Training Series.

Get Instant Access Here >>

7 Absolutely Killer Tips For Google AdWords & Why They Crush The Competition

How to Build an Email List FAST – 7 Simple Methods You Can Use for FREE

Download The eBook Now:

Download here >>

Phil Adair

Hot Clicks Pay-Per-Click Online Marketing

Suite 12, 5th Floor, Dymocks Building

428 George Street, Sydney 2000, NSW, Australia

W: hotclicks.com.au

I’m a huge fan of connecting on social media. If you’re on these social networks, then let’s follow each other:

About Phil Adair

Phil Adair is the host of one of the most downloaded online marketing podcasts on the internet (Go here to subscribe and listen to The Online Marketing Strategies Show.)

Read his inspiring bio now.

Feel free to send Phil a message here >>

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Hacking Google AdWords “Match Types” To Win More Business

How Keyword Match Types Work

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Hacking Google AdWords “Match Types” To Win More Business

About keyword matching options

Keyword match types help control which searches on Google can trigger your ad. So you could use broad match to show your ad to a wide audience or you could use exact match to hone in on specific groups of customers.

How keyword match types work

In general, the broader the match type, the more traffic potential that keyword will have, since your ads may be triggered more often. Conversely, a narrower match type means that your ads may show less often – but when they do, they’re likely to be more related to someone’s search.

Understanding these differences can help you to choose the right options and improve your return on investment.

It is typically recommended starting with broad match to maximise the potential for your ads to show on relevant searches. You can also use the search terms report to monitor which keyword variations triggered your ads.

Learn more about the search terms report here >>

Keyword match types

Each match type can trigger your ad to show for a customer’s search in different ways. Next, learn a little bit more about each type.

Broad-match

Broad match is the default match type that all your keywords are assigned. Ads may show on searches that include misspellings, synonyms, related searches and other relevant variations. So if your keyword is “women’s hats,” someone searching for “buy ladies hats” might see your ad.

Example keyword: women’s hats

Example search: buy ladies hat

Broad match modifier

Add a plus sign (for example, +keyword) to modify a broad match keyword. Ads may show on searches that include modified broad match keywords (or close variations, but not synonyms), in any order.

Symbol: Plus sign, for example +keyword

Example keyword: +women’s +hats

Example search: hats for women

Phrase Match

Ads may show on searches that match a phrase, or are close variations of that phrase, with additional words before or after. Ads won’t show, however, if a word is added to the middle of the phrase, or if words in the phrase are reordered in any way.

Symbol: “keyword”

Example keyword: “women’s hats”

Example search: buy women’s hats

Learn more about phrase match.

Exact Match

Ads may show on searches that match the exact term or are close variations of that exact term. Close variations here may also include a reordering of words if it doesn’t change the meaning, and the addition or removal of function words (prepositions, conjunctions, articles and other words that don’t impact the intent of a search).

Symbol: [keyword]

Example keyword: [women’s hats]

Example search: hats for women

Negative Match

Ads may show on searches without the term. So, if you’re a hat company but you don’t sell baseball caps, you could add “-baseball caps” as a negative keyword so that your ads don’t show for people searching for baseball caps.

Symbol: -keyword

Example keyword: -baseball hats

Example search: women’s hats

NOTE: In this example, ads will show on searches for “women’s hats” but not on searches for “baseball caps”.

Bear in mind… Keywords aren’t case-sensitive, which means that they’re matched without regard to uppercase or lowercase letters. For example, you don’t need to enter “women’s hats” and “Women’s Hats” as keywords – just “women’s hats” will cover both.

Symbols have special meanings in AdWords, so you should generally avoid using them. Also, keywords can’t contain any non-standard characters like: ! @ % , *

You can use keyword match types with campaigns that show ads on the Search Network. On the Display Network, keywords are treated as broad match by default.

So that you don’t miss out on potential customers, we’ll show your ads for close variations of your phrase match and exact match keywords to maximise the potential for your ads to show on relevant searches.

Close variations include misspellings, singular forms, plural forms, acronyms, stemmings (such as floor and flooring), abbreviations and accents. So there’s no need to add close variations as keywords separately.

For example, if your phrase match keyword is “kid’s scooter”, you’d still want to show your ad when someone searches for “kids scooter” or “kid scooters”.

Keep in mind that even though we show close variations of your phrase and exact match keywords, these match types still give you more control than broad match and broad match modifier.

That’s because broad match and broad match modifier keywords also show for synonyms and related searches, which aren’t considered close variations.

For app install campaigns, we may extend the scope of some of your keyword match types in ways that are specific to apps. Here’s how this can work:

For exact match and phrase match keywords, we may make small changes to search terms (like adding or removing the word “app”) to better match with your targeted keywords.

For broad match keywords, we may use app category information to improve both your targeting precision and reach.

Starting With The End In Sight

What is your end goal here or desired outcome? This is the first question I will ask a prospective client in a first time meeting.
Before embarking on any campaign set up, take time to strategise and ask yourself what you actually want.
In other words, begin by deciding what your desired outcome is. Don’t just throw mud at the wall and wait for something to stick.
By taking the time to plan you give yourself clarity with what you hope to achieve from your online advertising efforts.

Ask yourself:

What is my monthly budget? (How much can I afford)?
What outcome do I want for my business?
What are my definitive goals?
What timeline have I set in place for these to succeed?

Your only goal: To generate as much business from your advertising budget – enabling you to achieve superb and ongoing results.

If you apply these principles and stay committed to monitoring them regularly, you will stand head and shoulders above the rest of the pack.

As Google love to tell you in their marketing blurbs, you don’t necessarily have to spend a fortune on AdWords to get a lot more oomph out of your pay-per-click advertising.

Still, even if you have the smallest of daily budgets, you have an obligation to yourself and your business to make sure your money is not being wasted. Your also want to ensure that the “right” people are clicking on your AdWords campaigns.

By using Google AdWords correctly you appear in the sponsored listings (these are displayed above and alongside the organic listings that also appear on the page.)

Again, this may sound expensive, though if managed properly, the money you spend can be very reasonable – taking your business or your brand into achieving real visibility and pulling in the targeted traffic that you need for true online success!

Tips For AdWords Success

Don’t be fooled. Some of these principles will seem like fundamentals – Clearly obvious must do’s.

The reason that I’m giving them kudos here is that they deserve it and are often overlooked! Without applying the correct strategies from the get-go, your campaigns will only ever be average.

The Benefits Of Choosing Google AdWords

Reach 90% of online users instantly
Gain instant positioning for your business
Control your spend with a daily budget
Ability to split test ads to maximise their efficiency
Decide exactly which pages to take you searchers too
Focus your targeting on specific countries or areas
Create and therefore manage your own ads

Believe me when I tell you this: I personally know how challenging and daunting Google AdWords can be, not just for the uninitiated, though even for the seasoned pros out there.

Professional advertisers who never stop looking for ways of staying ahead of the curve. Always looking to gain maximum exposure for their online advertising.

But the good news is: It doesn’t have to be intimidating – if you don’t let it!

Like anything we embark upon in life that is worthwhile, we must all acquire certain skill sets to achieve our objectives as we travel along life’s path.

We all know that Google AdWords has fast become one the most successful forms of targeting advertising in the world.

But due to the huge potential Google AdWords presents, the market is becoming increasingly more competitive.

Google is constantly introducing innovative technology and updates, as a way for businesses to stand out from their competitors.

I really hope this helped. Hey, have I missed anything here though? Drop me a note in the comments section below and let me know your thoughts.

Please take your time to grasp this properly. Yes, AdWords “Match” types can be complicated at first, though it will begin to make sense.

Like this post at all? Why not Pin it!

Remember to subscribe to my podcast

Check out my [FREE] AdWords Video Training Series.

Get Instant Access Here >>

7 Absolutely Killer Tips For Google AdWords & Why They Crush The Competition

How to Build an Email List FAST – 7 Simple Methods You Can Use for FREE

Download The eBook Now:

Download here >>

Phil Adair

Hot Clicks Pay-Per-Click Online Marketing

Suite 12, 5th Floor, Dymocks Building

428 George Street, Sydney 2000, NSW, Australia

W: hotclicks.com.au

I’m a huge fan of connecting on social media. If you’re on these social networks, then let’s follow each other:

About Phil Adair

Phil Adair is the host of one of the most downloaded online marketing podcasts on the internet (Go here to subscribe and listen to The Online Marketing Strategies Show.)

Read his inspiring bio now.

Feel free to send Phil a message here >>

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How To Successfully Setup Google AdWords Geographic Locations

How To Set Up Geo Targeting For Your AdWords Campaign Successfully

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Google AdWords Geographic Locations Tips And Tricks

Target ads to geographic locations

AdWords location targeting allows your ads to appear in the geographic locations that you choose:

countries, areas within a country, a radius around a location or location groups, which can include places of interest, your business locations or tiered demographics.

Location targeting helps you focus your advertising on the areas where you’ll find the right customers, and restrict it in areas where you won’t. This specific type of targeting could help increase your return on investment (ROI) as a result.

When it comes to advertising on AdWords, consider the property adage: “Location, location, location!” Regardless of how good your ad is, it probably won’t perform as well if it doesn’t appear in the right places.

Reach your customers where they are and where your business can serve them by using AdWords location targeting. You can set and then adjust your location targeting settings at any time.

Tips for choosing the right locations for your business:

What to consider when choosing your location targets…

Be sure to target the locations where your customers are – which isn’t necessarily the same place that your business is located. For example, if you own an e-commerce company, target all the locations you deliver to, not just where your business is physically located.

If you target an area where your business isn’t located, you won’t be able to see your ad when you search on Google.com. However, you can use the Ad Preview Tool to find your ad. If you target a small radius, your ads might only show intermittently or not at all.

That’s because small targets might not meet our targeting criteria. It’s also a good idea to keep your language and location targeting settings consistent. For example, if you’re targeting English-speaking users in England, remember to target the English language, and be sure that your ads are written in English.

Unless you have plans for world domination, your pay-per-click ads don’t need to be seen by everyone on the planet. It’s much more likely that the products and services you’re advertising will be limited to a handful of countries, cities, or even city blocks. This is where geo targeting comes in. Geo targeting, or local PPC, is an AdWords feature that lets you target your ads to only appear to customers in a certain location, or set of locations, that you specify.

For businesses that rely on foot traffic (like restaurants), proximity (like used car dealerships by city), and deliveries (like an e-store that ships to certain countries but not others), geo targeting is an absolute no-brainer.

With geo targeting, you won’t squander your ad budget on wasted clicks from people who are outside your target area, and you’ll increase the chances that the people clicking on your ads are actually eligible to receive your products and services.

In other words, geo targeting is essential if you want to make the most efficient use of your limited advertising spend.

Really hope this helped. Hey, have I missed anything here though? Drop me a note in the comments section below and let me know!

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Remember to subscribe to my podcast and check out the [FREE] AdWords Video Training Series.

Get Instant Access Here >>

7 Absolutely Killer Tips For Google AdWords & Why They Crush The Competition

How to Build an Email List FAST – 7 Simple Methods You Can Use for FREE

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Phil Adair

Hot Clicks Pay-Per-Click Online Marketing

Suite 12, 5th Floor, Dymocks Building

428 George Street, Sydney 2000, NSW, Australia

W: hotclicks.com.au

I’m a huge fan of connecting on social media. If you’re on these social networks, then let’s follow each other:

About Phil Adair

Phil Adair is the host of one of the most downloaded online marketing podcasts on the internet (go here to subscribe and listen to The Online Marketing Strategies Show.)

Read his inspiring bio now Feel free to send Phil a message here

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How Mobile Friendly Is Your Website?

Are You Accidentally Ignoring Your Mobile Audience?

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The Best Websites Are Definitely Mobile Friendly. Is Yours?

It’s critical to accept today’s reality: our website visitors are increasingly accessing our sites from their mobile devices (and that’s most likely a majority of visitors.)

Whether with tablets or smart phones, we continue to see our online lives through the lens of a mobile device.

That’s why any and every landing page/website page you create must be responsive and mobile friendly. Ignoring this best practice will have a negative impact on your business.

If a prospect or customer visits your landing page from their mobile device, you have to make it just as easy for them to see, read, understand, purchase, or submit information on that device as it would be from a desktop or laptop computer.

Here’s a mind-boggling statistic: there are now officially more mobile devices than there are people in the world.

Recently the Internet was shaken when Google modified its algorithm to favor mobile-friendly sites, and sites that previously had performed well in search completely fell off Google search engine results page (SERP) because their sites weren’t mobile-friendly. Basically, this was Google’s way of acknowledging that consumers are unequivocally going mobile.

How Mobile-Friendly Is Your Website?

Find out how well your site works across mobile and desktop devices here >>

Optimising A Landing Page?

From brick and mortar business owners looking to build their email list for the first time, to the most seasoned digital promoters, we’re all at different levels of marketing know-how.

But regardless of where you might fall on that spectrum, it never hurts to head back to the basics, and dig into the absolute best practices for your marketing.

Let’s start at the very beginning by defining exactly what a landing page is.

Landing Page Definition

What a landing page is not: For starters, a landing page isn’t just any page you arrive on for a particular website. It’s not necessarily your website’s homepage either.

Instead, a landing page is a webpage that is designed to take web traffic, and convert visitors in a particular way, for a particular reason.

In other words, landing pages are created to get people to do something (ideally, just one thing). And there’s a few primary actions any business might want people to complete on a given landing page.

Subscribe to an email list or newsletter.
Download a piece of content (like an eBook or free report).
Register for a live and/or digital events like webinars or conferences.
Purchase an actual product or service being offered.

You might notice that all of these behaviors have something in common. They are all ways that anonymous or fleeting website visitors can be converted into leads. That’s because at the end of the day, the primary purpose of any landing page, is in fact lead generation. Landing pages are built to grow your email list (and your audience) so that you can promote future products and events to a warm audience, build a community, and grow your business.

What Is A Landing Page? The Ultimate Beginners Guide

The Biggest Landing Page Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them)

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The Biggest Landing Page Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them)

What is a Landing Page?

In the purest sense, a landing page is any web page that a visitor can arrive at or “land” on.

However, when discussing landing pages within the realm of marketing and advertising, it’s more common to refer to a landing page as being a standalone web page distinct from your main website that has been designed for a single focused objective.

This means that your landing page should have no global navigation to tie it to your primary website. The main reason for this is to limit the options available to your visitors, helping to guide them toward your intended conversion goal.

Types of Landing Pages

There are two basic types of landing page, “Click Through” and “Lead Generation” (also referred to as Lead Gen or Lead Capture pages).

Click Through Landing Pages (as the name implies) have the goal of persuading the visitor to click through to another page. Typically used in ecommerce funnels, they can be used to describe a product or offer in sufficient detail so as to “warm up” a visitor to the point where they are closer to making a purchasing decision.

There are many uses for lead generation or landing pages. Here are some examples:

• eBook or white paper

• Webinar registration

• Consultation for professional services

• Discount coupon/voucher

• Contest entry

• Free trial

• A physical gift (via direct mail)

• Notification of a future product launch

All too often, inbound advertising traffic is directed at shopping cart or registration pages. This leads to poor conversions as the ad doesn’t provide sufficient information for someone to make an informed decision.

This is where the click through page comes in. As a result, the destination page from a click through page is typically the shopping cart or registration page – now with a much higher chance of conversion having passed through the details of the landing page.

Lead Generation Landing Pages are used to capture user data, such as a name and email address. The sole purpose of the page is to collect information that will allow you to market to and connect with the prospect at a subsequent time. As such, a lead capture page will contain a form along with a description of what you’ll get in return for submitting your personal data.

PAGE HEADLINES AND AD COPY

For great landing page design, landing page headlines and advertisement wording should complement each other.

Since your AdWords quality score is determined by the quality of the content on your ads and landing pages, make sure your ad content closely matches your landing page.

Your score will improve by having consistent content between the ad message and the landing page.

CLEAR AND CONCISE HEADLINES

Since they are the first things a visitor will read, landing page headlines should not confuse or bore, but compel a visitor to take a closer look.

Addressing a specific point that is related to the content of the website will catch a reader’s attention more than having a vague and uninteresting headline.

IMPECCABLE GRAMMAR

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF TRUST INDICATORS

When ACLens, an eye glass and lens company, began using VeriSign, they saw a 41% increase in conversions and a 58% increase in revenue per transaction. The same can happen with any online landing page.

USE A STRONG CALL-TO-ACTION

After a visitor reads the landing page headline, it is crucial that they know what to do next. Use a strong call-to-action to lead them to the next step.

BUTTONS SHOULD STAND OUT

Identify the keywords people interested in your service might be searching for and use words such as Get started, new, buy, or download now.

PRO-TIP: Be really specific with the CTA button copy on your online forms. Just adding one word after “Submit” can increase conversion rates by as much as 320%.

KEEP IT ABOVE THE FOLD

The space a visitor sees without having to scroll is where the most important parts of the landing page should be.

Place the call-to-action above the fold and in a location where the viewer’s eye will scan too. Never have the button or form in a place where it has to be searched for.

ALWAYS BE TESTING

Optimise a landing page for conversions over time. Run A/B tests and change copy, images, and call-to-actions to see what resonates most with users.

In addition to A/B testing, testing two completely different landing page designs against each other can be beneficial in the long run.

PRO-TIP: A/B testing is where two versions of a landing page or form are tested against each to see what gets more conversions.

USE IMAGES AND VIDEOS THAT RELATE TO COPY

The best landing page designs use imagery to draw in viewers.

Implementing videos of user testimonials and product images in a landing page can have a positive impact on viewers, as well as give shoppers an extra push to look further into a product.

GO EASY ON THE LINKS

Links connecting the user to a bunch of other sites or pages will distract them and have a negative impact on conversions.

Lots of links may make sense on a regular home page, but on a landing page, simplicity is key.

Really hope this helped. Hey, have I missed anything here though? Drop me a note in the comments section below and let me know if you’re having any issues with your own landing pages.

Like this post at all? Why not Pin it!

p.s. If you enjoyed this, you might also like:

Best, Phil

Remember to subscribe to my podcast and check out the [FREE] AdWords Video Training Series.

Get Instant Access Here >>

7 Absolutely Killer Tips For Google AdWords & Why They Crush The Competition

How to Build an Email List FAST – 7 Simple Methods You Can Use for FREE

Download The eBook Now:

Download here >>

Phil Adair

Hot Clicks Pay-Per-Click Online Marketing

Suite 12, 5th Floor, Dymocks Building

428 George Street, Sydney 2000, NSW, Australia

W: hotclicks.com.au

I’m a huge fan of connecting on social media. If you’re on these social networks, then let’s follow each other:

About Phil Adair

Phil Adair is the host of one of the most downloaded online marketing podcasts on the internet (go here to subscribe and listen to The Online Marketing Strategies Show.)

Feel free to send Phil a message here >

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How Do I Improve my Quality Score in Google AdWords?

Google AdWords Quality Score: The Ultimate Guide

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Quality Score is Google’s rating of the quality and relevance of both your keywords and PPC ads. It is used to determine your cost per click (CPC) and multiplied by your maximum bid to determine your ad rank in the ad auction process.

Quality Score: Definition

Quality Score is an estimate of the quality of your ads, keywords and landing pages. Higher quality ads can lead to lower prices and better ad positions.

You can see your Quality Score (reported on a 1-10 scale) and its components (expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience) in the “Keyword Analysis” field of your account.
The more relevant your ads and landing pages are to the user, the more likely it is that you’ll see higher Quality Scores.
Quality Score is an aggregated estimate of your overall performance in ad auctions, and is not used at auction time to determine Ad Rank.

How do I find my Quality Score in Adwords?

Run a keyword diagnosis:

Click the Campaigns tab at the top.
Select the Keywords tab.
Click the white speech bubble next to any keyword’s status to see details about that keyword’s Quality Score. You’ll be able to see ratings for expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience.

How can I improve my Quality Score ?

Aside from variable factors like location, your keyword’s Quality Score is determined by:

The click-through rate (CTR) of the keyword and its matched ad.
Relevance of the keyword to its Ad Group.
Landing page quality.
Relevance of your ad text.
Historical account performance.

About Quality Score

Quality Score is intended to give you a general sense of the quality of your ads. The 1-10 Quality Score reported for each keyword in your account is an estimate of the quality of your ads and landing pages triggered by them. Three factors determine your Quality Score:

Expected click-through rate
Ad relevance
Landing page experience

So, having a high Quality Score means that our systems think your ad and landing page are relevant and useful to someone looking at your ad.

Quality Score is based on past performance data

Quality Score is an aggregated estimate of how well a keyword has performed overall in past ad auctions. Based on this data, each of your keywords gets a Quality Score on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest score and 10 is the highest.

Null Quality Scores, designated by “–” in the table, appear when there aren’t enough impressions or clicks to accurately determine a keyword’s Quality Score.

What is ad rank?

Ad ranking in Internet marketing is the position of a pay-per-click (PPC) ad on a search engine results page (SERP). The position of this ad depends on the position of each keyword included in the ad, which is determined by your bid for that keyword or ad group multiplied by the matched keyword’s Quality Score.

I really hope this helped. Hey, have I missed anything here though? Drop me a note in the comments section below and let me know how you’re doing with your quality score…

Like this post at all? Why not Pin it!

Remember to subscribe to my podcast and check out the [FREE] AdWords Video Training Series.

Get Instant Access Here >>

7 Absolutely Killer Tips For Google AdWords & Why They Crush The Competition

How to Build an Email List FAST – 7 Simple Methods You Can Use for FREE

Download The eBook Now:

Download here >>

Phil Adair

Hot Clicks Pay-Per-Click Online Marketing

Suite 12, 5th Floor, Dymocks Building

428 George Street, Sydney 2000, NSW, Australia

W: hotclicks.com.au

I’m a huge fan of connecting on social media. If you’re on these social networks, then let’s follow each other:

About Phil Adair

Phil Adair is the host of one of the most downloaded online marketing podcasts on the internet (go here to subscribe and listen to The Online Marketing Strategies Show.)

Read his inspiring bio now.

Feel free to send Phil a message here >>

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How To Create Ad Groups That Outsmart Your Competition

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Ad Groups? What Are They – And How Do I Set Them Them Up Inside My AdWords Account For Success?

An ad group contains one or more ads that target a shared set of keywords. You set a bid, or price, to be used when an ad group’s keywords trigger an ad to appear. This is called a cost-per-click (CPC) bid.

Organise Your Account With Ad Groups

Organising your account allows you to better serve the right ads to the right customers, and it allows you to better track the effectiveness of your advertising efforts. When people are searching online and they type a word or phrase, they’re looking for information that’s closely tied to those words.

For example, if Dave types digital cameras and he sees an ad for Camera tripods, he probably won’t click the ad. To show ads that are relevant to the searches of people you’re trying to reach, bundle related ads together with related keywords into an ad group. That way, all of your related ads can be shown to customers searching for similar things.

Organise Your Ad Groups

A common method for organising an AdWords account is to organise with a category or business goal in mind. For many businesses, the way your website is structured is a good place to start, where each ad group representing a different page or category on your site.

Ad groups can help ensure that your ads are relevant to your keywords. For example, for your camera campaign, you may want to create separate ads for digital cameras and compact cameras. You can create ad groups for each type of camera, each with its own set of focused, relevant keywords.

For example if it was a television campaign, you can also create an ad group for each type of television you sell, such as flat screen and plasma TVs. You can also set prices for individual keywords within the ad group.

How To Create An Ad Group:

Sign in to your AdWords account.
Click the Campaigns tab.
Under All campaigns, click the name of the campaign that you’d like to add an ad group to.
Click the Ad group’s tab.
Click the + Ad group button
On the “Create ad group” page that appears, follow the instructions to complete your new ad group (you’ll be given the chance to create an initial ad and its keywords).
Click Save ad group.

For instance, you are selling surfboards for both men and women. You set two different campaigns, one for men’s surf -boards and the other for women’s surfboards.

Let’s name them Men’s Surfboard Campaign and Women’s Surfboard Campaign. You have beginner’s surfboards, Intermediate Surfboards and Performance Surfboards for both men and women.

Now you create 3 ad groups based on these categories (Beginners, Intermediate and Performance) in both the campaigns.

Let’s name these 6 ad groups as:

• Men’s Beginners Surfboards
• Men’s Intermediate Surfboards
• Men’s Performance Surfboards

• Women’s Beginners Surfboards
• Women’s Intermediate Surfboards
• Women’s Performance Surfboards

Now you have 6 ad groups, each of them has two key components, ads, and keywords

How many keywords should be in my ad group?

The best rule of thumb is to use no more than 20 keywords per ad group. Sometimes you can get away with using a few more, but exceeding a 20 keyword limit is a sign that your ad copy isn’t matching the keyword being searched as closely as it could.

Strategies to optimise your ad groups:

• Identify an ad group per keyword group (theme)

• Add diverse titles and texts for your ads.

• Remember to integrate your keywords into the URL’s that will appear on your ads.

• Use a variety of targeting and ad extension options to the ad group theme.

Really hope this helped. Hey, have I missed anything here though? Drop me a note in the comments section below and let me know!

Like this post at all? Why not Pin it!

Remember to subscribe to my podcast and check out the [FREE] AdWords Video Training Series.

Get Instant Access Here >>

7 Absolutely Killer Tips For Google AdWords & Why They Crush The Competition

How to Build an Email List FAST – 7 Simple Methods You Can Use for FREE

Download The eBook Now:

Download here >>

Phil Adair

Hot Clicks Pay-Per-Click Online Marketing

Suite 12, 5th Floor, Dymocks Building

428 George Street, Sydney 2000, NSW, Australia

W: hotclicks.com.au

I’m a huge fan of connecting on social media. If you’re on these social networks, then let’s follow each other:

About Phil Adair

Phil Adair is the host of one of the most downloaded online marketing podcasts on the internet (go here to subscribe and listen to The Online Marketing Strategies Show.)

Read his inspiring bio now Feel free to send Phil a message here

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