Getting Started with Google Ads
Google Ads
Getting Started with Google Ads
If you are anything like me, learning to navigate the Google Ads interface feels extremely overwhelming! As if we don’t already have a million other hats to wear as business owners, now we also need to understand things like how much to set as a daily ad budget and what should my CPA (Cost Per Action) be?
To make matters worse, Google made a bunch of updates to how their ads operate, so anything that was working in the past may not work so well anymore. This is a lesson I learned personally when my once well-performing ad suddenly served up crickets!
I figured since recently went down this rabbit hole I would share what I learned along the way with you. Here’s a quick and dirty overview on how to get your Google Ads running, so you can get back to running your business.
Define Goals
The first step is to get crystal clear on the goals of your ad. And through this process, you might realize that you actually need more than one ad in order to target the right audience or promote the right service.
Is your goal to generate leads, drive sales, increase website traffic, or simply grow brand awareness?
What service or services are you going to promote? If you have many different services, you may want to break them out into their own campaigns.
Who is your audience? Is it simply a geographic region or do you have specific industries you serve? If so, you may want to break each industry out into it’s own campaigns so you can target your keywords better.
Set a Realistic Budget
Decide on a budget that works for your business. Google suggests starting with around $10–$50 per day, depending on the competitiveness of your industry. Be aware that a budget of $50 per day can add up to $1500 per month. That is not always sustainable as a solo-preneur. I have a few suggestions to reduce your overall spending and still have a successful campaign.
Schedule for High Conversion Days
To maximize your budget’s effectiveness, aim to run your ads on days when conversions are highest. Typically Monday through Wednesday are your best bet, with Tuesday often being the top day for engagement. This setup lets you concentrate spending on high-conversion days and avoid lower-activity days like weekends. Studies show that ads on Tuesday generate about 22.5% of conversions, while weekends average only about 8.75% per day.
In terms of hours, target late afternoon and evening, from around 3 PM to 9 PM, with a peak around 7 PM, when users are most likely to convert. This window captures over half of the daily conversions for many industries, making it an optimal time for your ad spend.
By focusing on these specific days and times, you can improve ad performance and minimize wasted spending.
Choose the Correct Campaign Type
There are 5 different campaign types. As a service provider, this first one is more than likely what you are looking to get in front of your target audience.
1) Search Campaigns: Ideal for showing ads in Google search results when users search for terms related to your business.
2) Display Campaigns: Useful for visual ads across Google’s Display Network, which reaches over two million sites.
3) Video Campaigns: Allows you to advertise on YouTube and increase engagement with video content.
4) Shopping Campaigns: Best for e-commerce businesses aiming to show product ads in search results.
5) Local Campaigns: Useful for driving foot traffic to physical locations by promoting your business on Google Maps and other local platforms.
Choose Keywords
If you have no idea how to identify your target keywords, I recommend using a free tool like Google’s Keyword Planner or Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest. Keywords should align with your customer intent, such as “affordable legal services” if you’re a budget-friendly service provider. Try to think about what someone would type into their search bar to locate your type of service. I wrote another blog on SEO Strategies that dives into Keyword Planning in more detail. You can read more on that here.
Monitor and Optimize Regularly
Once your ads are approved and running, keep an eye to see what is performing well. Metrics like click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, and cost per conversion will help you understand which ads your audience is responding to best. I recommend doing a weekly review and then you can test what adjusting your bids, keywords, or ad copy does to improve the results.
Like many of these topics, there is so much more information down this rabbit hole. Too much to cover in one small blog post. Too much to throw at one person as you begin this journey. My advice: just start and know that you can learn and refine your ads as you go. The worst thing you can do is get overwhelmed with the information, so much so that it leaves you paralyzed.
Once you do get started and you want to learn more, my personal favourite resource is Jyll, the Google Ads Pro. Her website is packed with great info and she offers Google Ads training if you want to invest some time and money into the topic. I also follow her on Instagram for smaller bites and daily tips. Hope this was helpful!
Marlo Biasutti, RGD
CEO/Creative Director
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