How to make the most of Google Adwords on a small budget
Promoting your business online can be an incredibly successful form of marketing. But if you’re a startup or a small business or are simply on a tight budget, how do you get the most from online advertising without spending a serious amount of money?
What is Google Adwords?
Google’s online advertising program, Adwords, allows you to place an ad in front of customers searching for products/services you offer and ads start from as little as £5. They operate on a pay per click basis which means that you only have to pay when someone actually clicks on your ad.
How do you make the most of Adwords on a tight budget?
The best way to get as much as possible for as little as possible from Google Adwords is to make your ad targeted to a specific group of people who are most likely to buy your product or service. This means that not everyone on the interest will be presented with your business, but unless you have big bucks then that’s just not possible. By narrowing the reach of your ad it will provide the most sales potential at the lowest cost.
So how do you narrow down your ad to create the best impact possible?
Choose keywords carefully
Choosing the right keywords is really important as this will determine who is going to see your ads. Include your company and brand name and the products or services that you offer. Branded keywords are low cost per click (CPC) and drive the highest conversion rates.
Target location
You can select a specific location so that only people in and around the area local to your business, or whatever location you choose to target, will be presented with your Google ad. You might also choose to target people who are not local to your business in the hope of spreading your reach further afield.
Target times
You can set your Google ads to only appear at certain times. This way you can trial which times are effective for generating leads and which are not. That way you are not wasting money by having your ad running when nobody clicks on it. Or you may only want to run your ads during business hours.
Target device
It could also be worth selecting a specific device to place your ads on. For example, if you know that most people tend to use your site on a mobile device, only place the ads to appear there, or if you know people tend to use a desktop when looking you up, place your ads to appear on a desktop.
The success of the tips listed above is totally reliant on one thing: knowing your target market. There is no point choosing the best time, location or device to focus your ad on if you don’t know what is most used/appropriate to your target market. Before you set up your Google Adwords campaign you need to research your market and find out exactly who, where, when and how they are going to respond best to your business.