The Google AdWords platform is a great way for companies to try online marketing for the first time. What makes it so interesting is that if you set your campaign up properly then you will receive targeted traffic arriving on your website very quickly. The adverts that you see on Google appear because the advertiser wanted the advert to appear when a specific keyword has been searched for.
The Click Through Rate (CTR) of an advert is the number of times the advert was clicked on as a percentage of the number of times that the advert was shown (Impressions). So if you have an advert that was shown 100 times and it was clicked on 3 times then the CTR is 3%. Google believes that a 1% CTR is about average.
It stands to reason that you want as high a CTR as possible but while your CTR is important you also need to consider your conversion rate. The conversion rate is the number of people that arrive on your landing page that take the action that you desire e.g. purchase a product, sign up for a newsletter etc. There is no use having a high CTR if your conversion rate is zero, that’s just wasting your money. By following these simple steps you will help increase your CTR.
1. Make Your Adverts Relevant
This may seem really obvious but your advert should bear a close relation to the keyword that has triggered the ad. If you are trying to sell T Shirts then there is little point using “Italian recipes”. Users are on Google for a reason and that is to search for something, your advert needs to help satisfy the users desire.
2. Organise Your Adwords Account into Ad Groups
If you have an online store that sells clothes then you would probably want different ads for different product types e.g. trousers, tops, shoes etc. A good way to organise your Ad Groups is by using the sections on your website as a guide. Ads that are relevant to one section of your website would probably not be very useful for other sections.
3. Use Keywords in Your Advert
Using keywords in your advert shows a user that you are satisfying their need. If your ad contains any of the words that the user searched for then these will appear in bold in your ad. If the user searched for “Men’s T Shirts” Then your ad would look something like this:
Men’s T Shirt Sale
www.example.com
Low Prices on Men’s T Shirts
Men’s T Shirt Sale. Buy Now!
Having keywords highlighted like this helps to attract the users eye to your ad.
4. Include a Call To Action
A call to action could be something like “Buy now” or “Click to find out more”. Adverts that include a call to action tend to get a higher CTR than those that don’t.
5. Choose an Appropriate Landing Page
Make sure that the destination URL that users are taken to when they click on your ad. If you are running an ad for a Men’s T shirt sale then make sure the landing page is your Men’s T Shirt section not just your homepage. Users want to see what they are looking for, in this case men’s T shirts, they do not want to have to go searching within a site. By choosing the most appropriate landing page for your ad you will increase your conversion rate.
Google AdWords is a great way for businesses to obtain relevant traffic to their website. These 5 tips should help you to get the most out of your online marketing.