Setting up a Google adwords campaign gets more and more complicated by the day. I am not sure how any small businesses can survive an pay per click advertising campaign these days without backup help fro a consultant. Don’t get me wrong, Adwords works but to get results that make it worth your while, you have to be deeply involved with your campaign. I am just not sure that your typical small business has the time or resources to go through the financial education that Adwords can quickly dish out.
Here are five tips of setting up a campaign:
Locations
You need to be as granular as possible to get the best results. So instead for targeting Canada or the US where you will run out of money before you can add a back up credit card, target your local city and move your campaign out from there.
Networks
Choose Google search only when you get started. Again, let’s see how your campaign is running on Google first before spending money elsewhere. Not only will you save money but you can learn from your early mistakes before moving forward. If you really want to run ads on the display network, open up a separate campaign. Google search and the display network are 2 very different beasts, so its best to try to tame them individually for a number of reasons.
Ad Extensions
Make sure to add ad extensions to your ads. You can use your location through Google Places (you can link to your Google places account in Adwords) or you can add your products or services through sitelink extensions. Either way you are making your ads stand out from your competitors.
Ad Scheduling
Initially, you can schedule your ads around your specific industry standards. You may be open from 9-5 during the week or your particular service might be available 24×7. Later on, you will start discovering that on certain days or at certain times of day, no one is buying your products or services. Keep your eyes on your Google Analytics account for this type of information. You can link your Adwords account to your analytics account through adwords.
Ad Delivery
Rotate your ads evenly. Its to Google’s advantage to show the best performing ad as quickly as possible. That might not be enough time for you to get the best understanding of what is working or not working for you. Better for you to review the ads, discover what is working or not working and fine tune your campaign.
In my next blog post, I will look at setting up your ad groups.