Category Archives: Google AdWords

3 Keyword Research Tools You Have to Start Using Today

Introduction

We all fall into the trap of searching for relevant keywords we THINK our customers are searching for and we rarely look beyond that. Information is everything and you don’t want to be the company that is spending thousands on PPC only to miss out on traffic for nearly half of your products! This is why keyword research is so important and a key piece to a great PPC campaign.

 

Google AdWords Pro

No Admiral Ackbar, it is not a trap, you just need a better keyword research process.

 

1. Google AdWords Reports: Search Terms

The Google AdWords Report: Search Terms is the one tool you should be using first and foremost. Why? Because it will tell you what search terms people are using to get to your ads.

In essence, a search term is what a potential buyer is plugging into Google for your ad to be displayed and eventually for them to click on.

To find these terms, sign into your Google AdWords account, “Campaigns” section and click on the “Keywords” tab.

Now select which keywords you want to learn more about, click on the “Search terms” button to see your search terms.

You should see (hopefully, if you did the above correctly) a list of all the search terms people typed into the Google Search Bar to get your ads to show up and subsequently get them to click on it.

You may or may not find some terms that come from out of nowhere and you’ll think to yourself… “how did my ad show up with that term” those terms you should be adding to your negative keyword list.

The negative keyword list helps to block out any irrelevant search terms that won’t help you attract potential buyers.

The best part about the AdWords Search Terms Report is that it will help you to better understand your customer and how they are reaching your ads. You might also discover phrases you never even thought about bidding on or realize that you need to add better content to your site to help your prospects become leads.

 

2. Google Keyword Planner

Obviously, the Google’s Keyword Planner is another great tool to use. I say obviously because the Keyword Planner is “A tool that provides keyword ideas and traffic estimates to help you build a Search Network campaign” – coming straight from the mouth of Google!

To find this amazing tool just click the “Tools” tab on the Google AdWords main menu bar and select “Keyword Planner” from the drop-down menu.

The Keyword Planner will help you to find new keywords, help you to generate ad group ideas, get historical statistics, and generate traffic estimates.

To find new keywords, enter a term that pertains to what you are advertising. It’s best to choose a location (if it works for your ad) and your product category.

The tool automatically runs a report that will help plan the best keywords possible. What I love about the tool is that it gives you historical stats, like the number of times people have searched for a keyword or how competitive that keyword is.

I also love the fact that the Google Keyword Planner can also give you traffic estimates, like how many clicks and impressions your keywords might get forgiven bid and budget amounts.

3. Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is one of the best if not the best tools to build a MASSIVE list of keywords that are relevant to bring potential customers to your ads. Use Ubersuggest to quickly find new keywords not available in the Google Keyword Planner.

The best part: it’s super easy to use. Take a look at their video that is quick and concise on how to use their tool. It is also available right on their home page.

From the homepage, you will notice a box where you can type in a keyword, once you’ve done that hit the red suggest button. A long list of relevant keywords will come up based on your search.

Navigate to the “Wordcloud” tab for an easy way to visualize the most common terms associated with your search.

Now you’re probably feeling overwhelmed with how many keywords this tool generates, do not fear! They have made it extremely easy to filter the keywords.

As you hover over and click on potential keywords a drop down menu will appear, you can click on the google trends button to see the seasonality of certain keywords you can also copy and paste your keywords into a spreadsheet or download them right to a CSV file to make it easier to filter.

Conclusion

Keyword research is extremely important for the success of any AdWords campaign. Understanding how your clients are reaching your site and capturing potential clients at the moment they are searching for your product or service is necessary for your business success in the 21st century. The tools above will help give you more insights and create a better AdWords account that will set you up for success long-term.

3 Best Practices to Get The Most Out of your Google AdWords Account

So you’ve been dabbling in Google AdWords and you want to get the most out of what you’re spending. At Aleric Marketing we’ve had great success running AdWords campaigns to help our clients drive more sales via their websites. It’s a no brainer that every business needs to be online, but it’s even more important for businesses to be first, second, or third Google’s SERP (Search Engine Results Page).

The first three positions help to drive more traffic and engage users at the point in the customer journey they are searching for a product or service. It’s invaluable for any small business to capture every potential customer they can and AdWords is essential for this to happen.

Google AdWords Pro

Here are our top 3 strategies to get the most out of your Google AdWords Spend.

1. Optimize Your Landing Page

Nothing is more frustrating for your customers than clicking on an ad and being taken to a landing page that is irrelevant to what they searched for. Make sure your landing page is optimized so you aren’t wasting time and money.

A landing page is whatever page you are directing your audience to from your advertising platforms. This could be your home page, a product page if you are an e-commerce store, or a form you want your users to fill out.

Make sure your Call To Action (CTA) stands out and is easy to engage. If you want your customer to call for a free offer, say it. If you want them to download a coupon for 10% off, make sure your CTA says download.

Keep your landing page simple and to the point. Don’t confuse your customers. Make sure you match your AdWord headlines to your landing page headline.

Optimize Your Landing Page

2. Look at your competitors

Make sure you are looking at what your competitors are doing so you can stand out. Reviewing your competitor’s ads (after searching a few keywords) will help you to better understand what the competition is doing so you can beat them. What kind of information will you find when looking at your competitor’s ads? See below.

Google AdWords Competitor Information

Google AdWords Competitor Information 2

3. Use Different Keywords for Different Target Markets

The best example we have is if you are a women’s boutique and are targeting high-end fashionistas use keywords like “high-end clothing” or “trendy clothes 2016”

Alternatively, if your target market is college students try using keywords like “cheap t-shirts”, “low-cost clothes”.

Be Different Google AdWords

As always, think like your customers and your competition.

Conclusion

Google AdWords is one of the best ways to capture your target audience at the point they are looking for your product or service. Making sure that the user has a great experience when they click on your ad, making sure you are differentiating your company from your competition and tailoring your keywords to your customers are all keys to AdWords success.

10 Reasons Why Your Business Needs to Engage in Google AdWords

Read Time: 6 minutes

You’ve created a great website, you develop amazing content, you have social media accounts, and you do your best at engaging your audience… but if you’re not utilizing Google AdWords your online presence SUCKS!  

Sure you get a few likes here and there on Facebook. Your tweets get a retweet now and then and your website has a few hundred visitors a month. But I can almost guarantee that all this is because you have a few loyal followers or have engaged in boosting a Facebook post now and again. So yes… your online presence could probably use some work.

If you aren’t engaging NEW customers then your businesses won’t last long.

But what if I told you that you’re missing a HUGE opportunity to engage people that haven’t even heard of you? What if I told you that there was a tool that could pinpoint potential customers with insane accuracy? What if I told you that there was a tool that would increase your call traffic, drive more sales and build your brand, you would jump at the chance to have it right?

That tool is Google AdWords, and we’re about to tell you 10 reasons why your business needs to start using it.

  1. Google AdWords Allows you to Reach your Customer When They Need You:

No matter how big your company is, it’s essential that you’re being found on the first page when searched for on Google. In today’s fast-paced, Ad intense, over hyped marketing environment you have to be number one or you will lose.

You have to be seen at the exact moment your customer is looking for your services, products, deals, information, or location. This is known as intent marketing (marketing done at the moment your customer is searching for your product or service. Here’s a great article by MDG that touches on the subject of intent marketing).

Intent marketing is not only smart, it’s obviously profitable. With Google AdWords small businesses can finally compete with the career SEO experts.

  1. Google AdWords is Easy to Measure:

The problem with most advertising is that it can’t be measured. Sure you can always ask how your customers found you, but that takes time. With Google AdWords every click, every impression, every visitor to your website can be tracked and used to enhance your online advertising.

Google AdWords is also great because it gives you customizable options to track and measure all of your campaigns in one dashboard. You can set and track goals for Return on Investment (ROI), Traffic to your website, Brand Awareness, Sales and Conversions.

You can see metrics like what keywords are performing the best, the times your ads are performing the best, what headlines get the best click-through rate, conversion rate and more. You can even connect your website Google Analytics to see what pages your ad traffic is visiting within your site. Google can teach you more here.

  1. You Only Pay for Results:

Google AdWords is probably the only advertising you will ever use where you get what you pay for. Because Google AdWords is pay-per-click, you don’t pay unless a potential customer clicks on your ad.

  1. No Minimum Spend Requirement:

Google AdWords doesn’t require you to spend thousands of dollars in order to reach your potential customers.  If you want to dip your toe in and test AdWords out you can spend as little as $1. This probably won’t get you anywhere but the point is clear, it’s your choice. At Aleric Marketing we have clients that are spending as little as $500 a month and clients that are spending well over $10,000 a month.  

  1. You can Get Local:

Adwords allows you to get local. Cutting through the noise to get to your prospective customers. With location targeting options your business, whether it’s local (such as a neighborhood restaurant, boutique or doctor’s office) or regional (such as a credit union or health center) can be seen by your customers.

AdWords allows you to target based on country, areas within a country, and even by radius to show your ads within a certain area of your business (perfect for doctor’s offices and other local businesses)

You can also target by demographic data such as income, age, and gender. So if you own a high-end women’s clothing store you can target the top 10% of earners who are women in your area. You can learn more about demographic targeting from Google.

  1. You can Show your Customers your Contact Info:

With Ad Extensions you can enhance your Google Adwords with phone numbers, addresses, app downloads, site links, reviews, and so much more. The best part, they don’t cost any more and just like the ads you’re only charged when someone clicks on them.

  1. You Can Get Specific:

AdWords is all about keywords. The more targeted your keywords (and keyword phrases) are the better Google will rank your ad.

This is when knowing your customer is SO important. Put yourself in their shoes. What are they searching when they are looking for your service or product?

Google’s Keyword Planner is a great tool for this as well. It can help you decide which keywords might be best and how they might perform.

  1. Reach your Mobile Customers:

Mobile is becoming the king when it comes to advertising. Mobile is now more popular when it comes to search than desktop, with a whopping 51% of all time spent on digital media coming from mobile devices. This is a statistic you ignore at your own peril.

Google AdWords gives you a ton of mobile optimization tools and allows you to target with both text and image ads.

For example: If you’re marketing for a local restaurant your customer might be walking through your neighborhood and looking up “best places to eat near me”. If you’ve optimized for mobile your ad is going to show up first and they just became a paying customer.

  1. Google AdWords Allows you to Run Multiple Campaigns:

One of the best parts of Google AdWords is that you can run multiple ad campaigns for each marketing objective you have.

Let’s say you own a women’s boutique you can run ads for:

  • Jackets
  • Pants
  • And dresses

You can set up three different campaigns – one for each of your targeted products. Then you can set up multiple ad groups within each campaign. So your ad groups would look like this:

  • Jackets – Jean jackets, winter jackets, rain jackets
  • Pants – yoga pants, jeans, trousers
  • Dresses – wedding, maxi, slip

Learn more about how ad groups work

  1. Google AdWords Allow you to Always Improve:

Google AdWords take time. Here at Aleric Marketing we tell our clients it takes at least 3 months to get the perfect ad. With AdWords it’s easy to monitor your ROI and tweak your copy to get the results you desire and improve your profits.
Google AdWords gives businesses insights, allows you to reach your ideal customer, drives traffic, and helps to grow your business utilizing the largest search engine in the world, Google. Are you ready to grow your business with AdWords?