My name is Ted and I run a Google PPC Agency In Liverpool called Amore Digital. After having been in the industry for over 6 years now I’ve seen many Google ads accounts, some only spending a few hundred a month, to others spending thousands.
Even though Google ads has gotten extremely competitive over the past 5 years, there is still potential to make it work … if you know what you’re doing.
Below I distil advice that I would give any business that is starting a new Google PPC account in the hopes it will help to scale their business.
- Really Understand Your Margin and Max Cost Per Sale
Many times I’ve asked new business owners what their ideal cost per sale/lead is, often times I’m met with a blank expression and the words “We’ll just run it and see how it gets on”. This is a terrible mindset if you’re committed to growing a channel. It also means that the agency or consultant working on the project is unable to optimise the account correctly. Underbidding is as bad and over bidding, so there should be clear targets in place.
- Understand Whether Google Ads is The Right Channel For Your Business
Sometimes pay per click just isn’t the right channel for your business … and that’s okay. Some industries don’t suit it. For example, if your margin is below 20% it’s going to be extremely tough, unless you have an extremely high lifetime value. PPC is great if you have high margins, a high conversion rate and a high deal value. I produced a guide on choosing online advertising channels which highlights all of the options your business has.
- Start Small and Expand Out
This tip might sound obvious, but it’s shocking how many times I audit the smaller accounts and they have hundreds of keywords on broad match just thrown into a sole ad group and expect that’s going to work. If you’re a small business just dipping their toes into Google ads I would definitely suggest starting small and slowly expanding it out from there. The best way to do that is to start with a core set of exact match keywords. If you review Google keyword planner beforehand to assess the volume you should be able to pick keywords that have a good mix of relevance and volume. Once you find keywords that convert, start by expanding out into wider match types by adding in phrase match and broad match.
- Focus on Landing Page Quality
You could have the most optimised Google account in the world, but if your landing pages are irrelevant, messy or lack a clear call to action you will really struggle. The ideal structure for any PPC account is to have an extremely targeted keyword, extremely targeted ad, and an attractive conversion focused landing page. One tool used at Amore Digital is called HotJar, this allows you to see heatmaps of where your users have clicked, but also screen recordings of where they have visited.
- Don’t Make Silly Mistakes
If you’re a local accountant or plumber then it’s pointless bidding in London if you’re based in Manchester. The leads you’ll get will be low quality, and you can’t service them so you’re essentially wasting budget.
Some areas you should look at:
Location targeting: Targeting areas you can service
Ad schedule: If you don’t take calls on the weekends but have a call based PPC campaign then ads should be off on the weekend.
Devices: Device performance can vary greatly, therefor it’s always worth checking how your devices are doing.
If you want to follow Amore Digital on Social Media. You can find the links below:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/amoredigitaluk/
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/amoredigital/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/AmoreDigital