We were really busy leading up to Christmas 2010 which is not something any of us expected, in some ways we were looking forward to a relaxing wind down of a turbulent year for some of our clients and us to a lesser degree. Being honest we are in the right type of business because even though we have faced and are facing tough economic times the online World is buzzing more than ever.The topic I would like to talk about today is Google AdWords and Facebook ads, both very different but together can boost profits. The trick as always is in your preparation of the advertising and the whole campaign from impression, click to order to email.Google:Google is very much about finding the search terms that pay, if you advertise on too a generic term like say “printer” as you sell printers then you will get click from those searching for inks, parts, servicing, reviews and others who are not interested in what you offer. This will cost you a lot of money and more than likely lead to a wasteful unsuccessful campaign. You need to use longer search terms that will reduce volumes of people searching but those that do use the search term are more likely to be interested in what you do. It is much better to have quality over quantity in Google.For example if you sell HP printers then effective search terms could be “HP printer best prices” or “HP colour printer prices”. For our clients we use the Google keyword Tool and others to work out where the most cost effective traffic will be for our client, the Holy Grail is finding relatively low competition search terms but well targeted leading to low click costs but good conversion results!Your advert needs to have a call to action; it needs to make the potential customer click. We always set up a good few adverts to see which adverts perform the best. Anyone with a little experience will think this is obvious but we have seen many trying to take short cuts or thinking they somehow know the best thing to say!PLEASE BE AWARE:Many of our clients have been contacted by Companies on the phone saying they can guarantee getting them on the first page of Google. They make a big thing about and say they can do it for only 60 – 120 pounds a month. I have to explain to my clients that it is not good and here is the reason why:”They are talking about Google AdWords because Organic results can not be guaranteed, what they do is quite simple, get you near the top for the first few weeks which will cost them at least some of the money you give them. Then they drop you down to position 6-8 on the right hand side, still on page 1 of Google like they said they would. Only now the month advertising is costing them less than half of what they charge you. What a great money earner. You will be lucky to recoup your money back.”This was confirmed when I went and gained a new client who had a 100 a month fee paid monthly for 5 search terms, we both checked over several days and his listing didn’t even come up! A waste of money – DONT DO IT!Get in touch with a Company who knows what they are doing, someone who can meet you.Facebook:Facebook is different as you do not target specific search terms from people searching, you are targeting geo-location, age, gender and other options you find in Facebook. This means you are advertising to people like an electronic bill board on one of the most popular social networking sites in the World.The way you advertise is different from Google and should be treated as such for example lets say you offer training for a new career. In Google you would find good search terms and base your adverts text around those search terms. In Facebook you can promote “start a new career” or “Want a new career?” – You also have an image you can upload in Facebook which should be designed professionally. Visual impact counts.You can also use Facebook advertising to promote your Facebook page, increase your social media presence, although we recommend you start by gaining business first.Using both Facebook and Google ads together can be a powerful online advertising & marketing medium. You have researched both and constructed variations of Ads, both provide a good click volume with users spending at least some time on your website. Is this Job done?NoYour landing page must try to capture the person who has clicked (thanks Michael), showing them exactly what they want. For example if you get a click from someone looking to buy a HP printer (everything about your ad has lead to a high probability of this) then the page they come to must show them the HP printer they were looking for or the type of printers they will be interested in, for example if they searched colour your landing page should only show colour printer options. Do not kid yourself people will spend lots of time trying to find what they want from your home page!So here is a little crib sheet you should always think about when using Google or Facebook advertising:• What is your advertising aim (sell, promote get emails?)
• What cost is acceptable to gain 1 x your focus (e.g. you would pay more per conversion for higher valued sales)
• What is your initial budget for a campaign (normally per day)
• Google – list and research search terms to find search terms that get results
• Facebook – write down your target audience (using Facebook profile info as a guideline)
• Setup both campaigns using your researched information (check other ads)
• Create a minimum of 4 ad variations – 10 is better!
• Facebook get a professional creative ad designed
• Create or get your web designers to create a landing page specifically for your adverts (one for Google & one for Facebook)
• Have an incentive, discount code so you know if from Google or Facebook
• Make sure your landing pages are focused on your aim (at the beginning)
• Get a few people to check out the process before going live to proof to make sure you are happy you have done all you can
• Make your campaigns liveIf in doubt always get a professional in, we for example set up the campaigns for our clients, doing the research, ad text, ad images and the landing pages. We then instruct the client on what we do how we do it and provide some training. This then empowers our clients to understand better what is involved and to get involved themselves.Our web page on Google AdWords and Pay per ClickI welcome any comments below especially from any one else who has good experience with Google AdWords and Facebook and would to share some other useful info!Thanks for reading