Beginning your journey into the world of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising can be confusing and intimidating. Therefore, it is important to understand the basics before getting started so you are familiar with the terminology and functionality of this powerful advertising system. Luckily, we have done the legwork for you. This guide answers the basic questions of, how should a Google account be structured? What techniques should I implement when setting up my Google Ads campaign account? Keep reading to learn more, so you can get the basics down pat!
To advertise on Google Ads, you must begin by creating a Google account by navigating to ads.google.com and create a new login. Once signed in you will be prompted with a variety of questions. Walkthrough each and answer them to the best of your ability. Once complete, you will be prompted to create a new campaign. While you will eventually need to do this, we recommend skipping this step until you are more familiar with the interface.
Next, the system will request that you confirm your business information, which cannot be changed in the future. Now your account is created, and you can explore the different areas of the interface. Before developing your first campaign, a little legwork is required to streamline the process.
The first area to tackle once you have a new account is to conduct keyword research, which is the foundation of all PPC campaigns. Keywords are phrases or words that customers use when searching for a product, service, or information. When a customer inputs a keyword, you are bidding on, ads will appear within the search engine results or on a web page.
To ensure they appear more frequently to potential customers, there are several tips for creating your keyword portfolio, including:
Company Website
A website is usually peppered with core phrases and keywords that describe the business, employees, and products and services. Reviewing the website layout also helps you identify themes that drive the structure of your new campaigns.
Keyword Tools
There are several keyword research tools available that can help you create and expand upon a PPC keyword list. These tools provide insight into the recommended starting bid, competition, and volume of monthly searches. They also help you identify keyword synonyms and variations.
Think as a Customer
Since you are more than likely some form of online customer or browser of information, think about what you would type into a search engine to find a service or product. In many instances, potential customers are searching for an issue by which you can offer a solution.
Utilize Brand Terms
While this may seem obvious, there is value in appearing in organic (unpaid) and paid searches with your branded keywords.Remember, keyword research is a continuous process since consumer interests and buying behaviors change. Beginning with a strong list of initial keywords will set you on the path to PPC success.
There are several key elements required to create successful campaigns including:
When developing the structure of your campaigns, the organization will influence how your account performs and your quality score. Campaigns should be segmented based on higher-level concepts to drill down into tightly themed keywords and ad groups. Consider the following campaign segmentation ideas:
When working through a campaign structure, the best guideline to follow is to confirm ad groups are relevant to their related campaigns. For example, a handbag campaign with ad groups focused on lip-gloss and shoes will make it difficult to track handbag performance from the top level down. It can also create problems when attempting to deliver the best landing page experience and ad copy to your consumers.
The landing page and ad experience provided to the searcher must be structured within your ad groups. The goal is to develop a structure where ads, keywords, ad groups, and campaigns are relevant to each other within the structure.
These sets are the basics of launching a Google Ads account. Beyond the setup time, you will need to maintain your account, review stats, test campaigns to determine winners and losers and continue optimizing your account while launch content on your website. One of the greatest misconceptions of a PPC account is you can set it up and forget about it.
There are alternatives to going through this process. The most effective is hiring the best PPC management firm like https://ppcprofessionals.com/pay-per-click-management.html who will create all accounts, optimize, and maintain the advertising so you can focus on other areas of your website or online business. Start with the basics above and move forward with more advanced topics to maximize your foundation of PPC!