Now that you’re here, reading this post, I am sure you’re one of these – an entrepreneur planning to do some digital marketing, a  digital marketing enthusiast, or an avid reader. I  mean, you could have landed on this page by mistake also, but as a writer, I’d rather save myself the pain of accepting that. Anyway, now that you’re here let’s get the ball rolling and discuss – How to use Google AdWords.

Let me first quickly and briefly explain to you what Google AdWords is; I mean why not? But it won’t be fair if we use Google to google everything else and not Google AdWords. Sorry, too much Google happened in that one statement. So yeah, here’s how Google defines Google AdWords – “Google AdWords is Google’s advertising system in which advertisers bid on certain keywords for their clickable ads to appear in Google’s search results.”

Now coming to how you can go about using Google AdWords. Since this is a beginners guide, I’ll restrict myself to the basic steps that’ll get you started on the platform. Once you get the hang of things, you can play around with many filters and modifiers that Google AdWords offers to its advertisers. In the remainder of this post, you’ll find an outline of the steps that’ll help you launch your very first ad using Google AdWords.

Step 1: Setup your AdWords account

This is pretty straightforward. Just go to Google AdWords and click on ‘Start now.” After that, enter your email id and the URL to your website’s homepage. Google then asks you to fill up details like your budget for this ad campaign, your target audience, your bid, etc. etc. But the fact that you’re reading this article there are high chances you’re not very well acquainted with all of this. Stay calm, and read the rest of this article!

Step 2: Calculate your budget

You’re advertising on Google, so they will obviously charge you for that. Plus, you’re not the only one advertising on Google, there are many others; from your business domain and otherwise. You, therefore, need to calculate how much you’re willing to pay Google for every sale or conversion you make per ad. While Google’s CPC calculation is quite classified and not publicly known, my experience in the field leads to the estimated formula below:

CPC = your profit per sale x commission for Google x conversion rate

Let’s say you’re selling apples via these ads. For every one dozen of apples sold, you make $100. Now assume that you’re willing to pay Google $30 (30%) out of the $100 and you expect that at least 10 people out of the 1000 (1%) that click on your ad buy your apples. So here’s how your CPC goes:

CPC = $100 x 0.3 x 1% = $0.3

In simple words, you’re willing to pay $0.3 for every click on your ad and still make $70.

Now to reach your daily budget, just scale the CPC to accommodate the number of clicks you initially expect per day. Let’s say 10 clicks per day is what you’re looking at. With your CPC this means a daily budget of $3 per day. You can run the campaign for 10 days and just spend $30. That’s a safe budget to start with.

Depending on the quality score of your landing page (more of that later in this post), competitor keyword bid, and the cost associated with a particular keyword, your budget will vary. But for now, let’s avoid those nitty-gritties and keep your first ad budget simple.

Image source: pixabay.com

Remember, others are advertising on Google too? So it’s now time to improve your ad performance by making your CPC bid-ready. Since you’re just starting out, go in for the Manual mode and keep a strict watch on your bids. Later you can let Google take charge with the Automatic CPC mode.

Step 3: Choose your keyword

Move on to Google Keyword Planner now and look for keywords. Keep in mind what a customer would type on Google when looking to buy the product you’re selling. You can try 3-4 different types of keywords. What would you type if you had to buy apples online? Use keywords keeping that thought in mind. A few examples could be, ‘buy apple online’ or ‘buy apple.’

Go to the keyword ideas tab and glance at the search volume for the keywords entered by you and the average CPC for the same. Finally, choose the keywords that offer the best deal regarding the search volume offered for the CPC expected. You may also want to consider whether long tail or short tail keywords serve your purpose better. If you’d prefer surer conversions over a lot of traffic to your landing page, you may want longer and more niche keywords like ‘buy green apples online in Bandra’ vs ‘buy apples online.’

Step 4: Create a good landing page

To convert visitors into customers, you need a promising landing page. Take care of the following:

• Keep the design simple
• Avoid too many videos and pictures
• Use a powerful and attention grabbing headline
• Keep the messaging in the copy direct and simple

Step 5: Write your first ad

Your ad comprises of:

1. A headline
2. A display URL
3. An Ad copy
4. A Call to Action

Here’s what you should keep in mind while writing your first Google Ad:

• Be to the point
• In a single sentence describe the benefit your product offers to its customers
• Highlight what makes your offering different from your competitors (your USP)

After you’ve created your first ad, relax. Google will now review the quality of your ad and notify you once it’s approved. After review, Google starts showing your ad to people. Your ad account is now functional. Over time, don’t forget to pull up the Search Term report and identify potential keywords you may want to add to your campaign, as well negative keywords you don’t want linked to your ad campaign.