by Steve Pitt | Jun 21, 2020 | Google Ads
Google Ads has recently issued advertisers credits to help advertisers with the impact of the COVID-19 virus.
This is to help businesses face the challenges of the economic downturn over this pandemic. The ad credit is automatically applied to your promotions tab in your Google Ad account and is valid until December 31, 2020. Any credits will automatically be deducted from advertisers ad spend.
The amount of credit seems to be dependent on an advertisers ad spend, so each business may get a different ad spend credit. So far, I am seeing a range of advertiser credits from $300 up to $750.
You will want to login to your Google Ads account (ads.Google.com) and should see a banner notification across the top of your account. If not, hit the drop down under the tools tab (wrench icon) and click the promotions tab to see more details.
Any credits will automatically be added to your Google Ads account, so there’s nothing you need to do. Don’t contact Google regarding this or try to request a larger credit.
“Updated on June 16th with additional information on the ad credit application to eligible Google Ads customers. By the end of this week, ad credits will be launched in Australia, China, Germany, India, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, and Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States. The ad credit automatically offsets future spend; no action needed. Check back here for further updates on which countries have launched.
We want to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) stay in touch with their customers during this challenging time. That’s why we’re giving our SMB customers worldwide $340 million in ad credits, which can be used towards future ad spend, until the end of 2020 across our Google Ads platforms. This is part of a larger commitment from Google to support SMBs, health organizations and governments, and health workers on the frontline of this global pandemic.
This page provides additional information and will be periodically updated. As an additional resource to help you manage your business through uncertainty please visit the Google for Small Business site.”
If you have questions about this or need help, you can contact PayPerClickAuthority.com at 720-600-0515 or email me, Steve Pitt at [email protected]
by Marketing Department | Feb 26, 2020 | Google Ads
According to a recent Google report, businesses earn $8 for every $1 they spend on Google Ads. The good news is that just about every business, whether small or large, can find value in the Google Ads network.
Of course, even an ideal business can have trouble getting started on Google Ads. Many marketers expect immediate results and throw in the towel before they can optimize their bidding strategy. But if you stick with Google Ads in the long run, you can enjoy some of the best marketing ROI available.
Need help getting started with your Google Ads bidding strategy? Here’s an in-depth look into finding success on the platform.
1. Determine Your Cost-Per-Action
What is an action? It’s a task you want your potential customers to undertake. It could mean signing up for the newsletter, buying your product, or visiting your website.
Your PPC advertisement will no doubt ask customers to make one of these conversion actions. Before you search for keywords or prices, it’s important that you get a handle on a targeted CPA. After all, if it costs more than you gain through conversions, your PPC campaign isn’t worth the cost.
Let’s figure out the most you are willing to spend per action. If your PPC advertisement asks visitors to purchase a pair of $60 shoes, then your conversion is worth the profit margin for that product. We will say you make $12 for every purchase of $60 shoes.
To profit or break even, your CPA cannot exceed $12. The cost per conversion depends on the success of your PPC campaign. This means you will have to set initial bids before you can optimize your CPA.
2. Start With Manual Bidding
If your business is new to the Google Ads network, you may be tempted to take advantage of automated bidding. This option allows you to target preset bid strategies that can help you reach your conversion goals. The problem is it’s easy to throw off the bidding algorithm, which can reduce the potency of your entire campaign.
For one, Google Ads requires a high volume of conversions before you can use automated bidding. If you are on the lower end of the conversion scale, the algorithm will have a limited data set to inform its decisions. Smaller businesses may not have the budget flexibility necessary to maintain an automated bidding campaign, as sudden alterations can lead to exorbitant ad spend expenses.
Manual bidding is the best bet for any new business getting started with PPC advertising. Even if you aren’t experienced with Google Ads, it’s easy to set an initial keyword bid.
First, turn to the Google Ads Keyword Planner. This tool can help you find new keywords, but its true value comes from displaying suggested bids. CPCs fluctuate due to factors such as location, competition, and industry, so this data can give you a firm foundation relevant to your business.
Once you’ve trimmed your list of potential keywords based on efficacy and price, analyze their individual metrics. For example, you can see exactly how much it will cost to land on the first page of the SERPs. Betting the bare minimum will result in your ad landing at the bottom of the page, so increase the payout to claim a spot somewhere in the middle.
These initial bids will serve as the beginning of your Google AdWords bidding strategy. PPC tools can help you get started.
3. Make the Jump to Automated Bidding Strategies
Automated bidding will become more accurate as your conversion volume increases. At a certain point, you can consider switching existing campaigns to automated bidding or testing automated bidding with new keywords and campaigns.
There are 12 ways to bid on Google Ads. What do they all mean? We’ll cover the most common.
CPA Bidding Strategy
Most businesses will use the CPA strategy. This maximizes conversions according to the cost-per-action that you select. The Google algorithm will use the CPA as an average, so some bids may cost more than your preset designations, but others will cost less to compensate.
Maximize Conversions Bidding Strategy
If you’re not worried about your return on investment or don’t have enough data to select a CPA strategy, consider maximizing your conversions. It’s an extremely simple technique so long as you know your daily marketing spend available to allocate.
Set your daily spend and Google Ads will maximize as many conversions as possible within the budget. It’s not the most effective bidding strategy, but it’s a no-fuss way to get started or try and find your footing.
ROAS Bidding Strategy
ROAS is an acronym that stands for “return on ad spend.” This option optimizes your conversions based on your desired return.
Remember that you stand to make $8 for every $1 you spend on Google ads. This would give you a ROAS of 800%.
Maximize Clicks Bidding Strategy
Most of these strategies are built around the idea of driving a sale, but you can run a Google Ads campaign simply to bring traffic to your site. If this is your goal, select the maximize clicks bidding strategy.
After selecting your daily ad spend, Google Ads will seek to maximize the number of click-throughs you receive through your ads.
Impression Share Bidding Strategy
Larger companies may seek to build a brand presence. If so, Google Ads now has a new type of bidding strategy known as impression share bidding.
Your advertisements will appear up to 100% of the time on related search engine results pages. Costs can skyrocket out of control, so reserve this strategy for inexpensive keywords.
Need Help Selecting a Bidding Strategy?
Trial and error are essential to finding success on the Google Ads network. While one bidding strategy may work for a competitor, that doesn’t mean it’ll work for you. Test a variety of different strategies and keywords until you discover the results you’re looking for.
Many businesses find value in outsourcing Google Ads management. If you are struggling to find success or do not have the time to run a PPC campaign, turn to the professionals. Reach your goals with the help of an experienced Google Ads agency.
by Marketing Department | Nov 26, 2019 | Google Ads
Are you having trouble getting visibility with your Google ads?
Google ads not showing is a common problem for those who don’t have the inside track on AdWords.
It’s also troubling, particularly if you’re in a local market and not getting leads.
Fortunately, there are a few easy fixes that can make sure your advertisements are plastered over the top of the page. Let’s get right to it and we’ll help you troubleshoot your advertisements.
First Things First: Declined Payments and Paused Campaigns
The first things to take a look at are obvious, but you’d be surprised at how often users fall prey to them.
An errant click will occasionally pause a campaign. The first thing to do is to make sure that the campaign is still running. If you’ve accidentally checked the pause button you’re not going to show at all.
The second thing you’ll want to make sure of is that your last payment to Google AdWords went through. Sometimes a card gets declined for various reasons and if you haven’t paid last month’s bill Google isn’t going to show your ads.
Check Your Bids
Bidding is the central component of your PPC campaigns and it’s one of the most common reasons for ads failing to show.
Bid too low and you’ll end up not showing at all. Most people are aware of that, but the other direction can be just as detrimental.
When you bid too high you may burn through your budget before you’ve even had a chance to make your first sale. It’s a common mistake for newbies and you can adjust your bids or budget accordingly to get your ads showing again.
Bidding really high isn’t always the best way to do things, however, even if you have the budget to do so. You may end up spending ten times more than your competitors if you don’t keep a tight leash on your AdRank as well.
Take a Look at Your Keywords
Sometimes the search volume for the keyword targeted isn’t there. Keyword research isn’t something you can skip over, particularly if you’re new to using AdWords.
Search volume indicates how many monthly searches roll in for each of the keywords that you’ve chosen to use. Despite what some people will tell you, you can actually use the built-in keyword tools quite effectively.
It can take some additional research into how to use Google Keyword Planner more effectively if you’re insistent on handling things yourself, but the effort will reward you with better results than virtually any other aspect of your PPC campaign.
Or, you may be stuck bidding for keywords that have huge search volumes and commercial potential. In those cases, the competition may simply be drowning you out through virtue of higher budgets and professional assistance.
You may need to move to long-tail keywords and question-like queries in order to have your ads seen on a regular basis.
When it comes down to it, your keywords are the beating heart central to your paid advertising and the time spent will be well-rewarded in most cases.
Is Your Copy Relevant?
Google AdWords doesn’t allow a lot of room for advertising copy. You’ve really only got 270 characters to make the most of.
That means a tight focus on keywords and relevancy, rather than flowery ad copy, is the best way to increase your AdRank.
Leave out the mottos and slogans, unless they were designed with keywords in mind, and instead focus on making sure that anyone reading it knows exactly what you’re selling before they click on the ad.
The truth is that this limitation isn’t too bad. When someone is targeting a keyword with commercial intent they’ll often only read the headline. Just make sure to keep things tight and relevant for the best results.
Your Landing Page and CTR
There are two more components that people often overlook.
Your landing page has to be relevant to the keywords and ad copy you use. People will occasionally get the bright idea to slide into a niche with higher volume but zero relevance towards what they’re selling.
Think someone selling hiking boots but using ads masquerading for cheap Air Jordan sneakers and you’ll see the problem. Google’s focus is always on the end user’s experience and if your ad detracts from that it’ll get shuffled out quickly.
Google’s algorithms are great at sniffing out schemes like that. You can also do it on accident, just not showing what users what their original search intent was looking for. It’s a good idea to check which keywords you’re looking at and see if there could be any confusion.
Google also rewards ads that perform well in the first place. If your click-through ratio is too low you’ll be penalized, while ads that are relevant and receive a lot of clicks will generally have their AdRank improved over time.
It’s all about relevance for the end-user and whether or not Google thinks your ad will be helpful. You’re certainly paying them well, but they’re a titan because they focus on the search engine user and not necessarily on the people who are paying for their ads to be placed.
Google Ads Not Showing? Not a Problem
It can be frustrating to find your Google ads not showing. We recommend going through the above before you start to panic, they’re all quick and easy fixes after all.
In the end, however, many small businesses simply don’t have time to create campaigns that are complex enough to really shine. That’s where professionals come in.
If you’re looking to make sure that your next Google AdWords campaign really makes a splash, why not contact us and see what we can do to help your marketing efforts.
by Steve Pitt | Nov 24, 2019 | Google Ads
5 Tips to Improve PPC Advertising Performance
1) Start with The Destination: Your website or landing page (s) are critical to your Google Ads / PPC advertising results. Focus on this first before running paid ads, as the initial impression the searcher has of your website, and your business, are imperative for increasing leads and sales. To begin, make sure that your site loads quickly, as this is important to users as well as Google. You can use site speed tools to check your site, such as GTmetrix or Pingdom. If you are using a WordPress site, you can use a caching program such as WP Rocket and an image optimization plugin, such as WP Smush. Make sure that your website is mobile friendly. It’s important that your landing pages are visually appealing, has confidence factors (certifications, awards, testimonials, etc.), lower the barriers of entry and makes it easy to contact your business. You can either a) use a website builder program such as Square Space or WIX b) use a WordPress site and a user friendly theme such as DIVI c) hire a good web developer. Use a good hosting company, consider using a CDN such as Cloud Flare.
2) Focus on Best Practices: Setup and manage your campaigns based on industry best practices: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6154846?hl=en This includes running relevant keywords focused on both search volume and relevance / buyer intent to your business. Stay away from broad match keywords or keywords with too broad of an intent. Use the keyword planner tool in your Google Ads account to find relevant keywords with buying intent as opposed to research / informational searches. Make sure that your landing pages have some of the major keywords on your landing pages.
3) Optimize on a regular basis. Pay per click advertising is a fluid, ever changing process. It’s more of a live auction than a set and forget process. You should be strategically optimizing your PPC campaigns on a bi-weekly basis. At the minimum, you should be: a) reviewing and implementing appropriate optimization ideas in your account b) labeling all converting keywords and phone calls, so you can be more strategic in your bidding c) removing low quality score keywords (2/10 or less) d) make sure that you are not running broad match keywords, which can run up your costs and reduce relevance d) reviewing the search terms report, adding converting / relevant keywords and excluding keywords / search terms that are not relevant. e) optimizing ads and adjusting. Normally, I would suggest viewing ad data over a longer period of time and pausing any ads that have over 100 impressions and a click thru rate of less that 1% and writing new ads. Test 3-4 ads per ad group, including running responsive search ads and potentially call only ads.
4) Reduce click fraud. Google does pro-actively filter out and remove invalid clicks from your Google Ads account, so you are not charged for those. However, there are both unscrupulous advertisers that may click on your ads to run up your costs, bots, click farms and more that can waste your advertising dollars. Using another layer of protection against click fraud, such as Click Cease, PPC Protect or other related tools, can help reduce advertising waste and inefficiencies.
5) Track results. It’s critical to accurately track conversions / results in your pay per click advertising. A conversion is simply an action you want a user to perform, such as clicking on your ad and calling your business (website call conversion), submitting a contact form on your site and requesting additional information, making a purchase, etc. Google has an excellent tag implementation team that can help ensure that all conversion tracking is properly setup. You can contact customer support and request and appointment with the tag implementation team (make sure that you have administrative access to your website and that the site is being backed up on a regular basis.)
The above article was written by Steve Pitt, President of Internet Expert Online & PayPerClickAuthority.com Steve Pitt is certified in Google Ads and Bing Ads (Microsoft Advertising) and his company is a Google Partner, Bing Ads Partner (Microsoft Advertising Partner) and A+ rated with the Better Business Bureau. Steve has specialized in PPC advertising management since 2010 and is author of the book, Google AdWords: Better Results In 30 Days”.
by Marketing Department | Jun 26, 2019 | Google Ads
Video marketing is one of the hottest marketing strategies. According to various statistics, 80 percent of global Internet consumption in 2019 will be video content and 85 percent of internet users in the USA watch online video content every month.
This article explains how, and more importantly “where” you may add video marketing into your Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns. It then explains how to create a PPC video and offers video marketing tips.
Creating Video Ads for YouTube
Google Ads has video marketing and PPC, which means you may create a video ad and post it on YouTube. These are the ads you see before or after videos on YouTube. If people view your ads, then you pay a fee. How you pay the fee depends on the type of ad you post, but the most common type is where you pay if the viewer watches for more than five seconds.
Video Ads for Facebook
Facebook is home to the largest children-and-young-people audience on the internet, so it sometimes pays to post a few video ads. As you set your campaign objective, you must pick the “video” related objective, and move forward to upload your video ad.
There are a few options for uploading your video, including a slideshow format. This enables you to give users a sneaky peak at the best bits of your video with the hopes your viewers will then click to watch.
Ads on Instagram
Instagram has a very juicy reputation for helping companies introduce and sell their new products. This is mostly due to the fact that the Instagram audience is a little more mature, and because it is a very visual tool where things that are new and interesting get high levels of attention.
Oddly enough, even if your advertising content varies wildly from the content you post on Facebook, the advertising platform is actually the same. Post video ads the same way you would on Facebook but be sure to angle and direct them to appeal to a more mature audience.
Video Marketing on Twitter
The Twitter advertising platform looks very similar to the one you see on Facebook. You have a series of objectives that you may select. If you are looking for PPC video marketing, then the “Promoted Video Views” option is the one for you. You may upload videos, then set headlines, calls-to-action and URLs to your ads.
It can be confusing as to how this works, but the short version is that you can upload a video of 2 minutes and 20 seconds (or up to 10 minutes with select accounts), and then promote it via the Twitter PPC platform to achieve more views. This is a little different to the types of video ads on YouTube.
Creating Your PPC Video Advertisement
Let’s say that you want to put your video ad onto YouTube. You may be tempted to build an ad similar to the types of ad you see on TV, such as car ads and sofa ad. In most cases, this is a mistake because those types of ads only work for established brands.
One method you may use is to use your regular video format and simply talk to your target audience. For example, if you were Captain Disillusion, you may show examples of your debunking methods in a montage and then maybe say a few words to the audience. This would help explain what you do, give a few selling points, and then give the watchers a connection that may convince them to watch, and/or subscribe.
For example, if you were the Ted Channel, you may take a more personal approach and have the character talk to the audience, probably with a funny comment or two, in order to spread brand awareness and hopefully endear the watcher to the main protagonist.
Your best bet is to sell the steak and not the sizzle, which is contrary to the old marketing saying. People are used to the sizzle, they are bored of the sizzle, and they have no time for it. In genuine terms, they actually have no time for it because most people are going to skip your ad after it becomes skippable within five seconds.
If you want people to continue watching or to click, you need to get right to the point and not dress things up. If you have reached a truly potential buyer/viewer, then your video will be watched or get a click, if not, then people will skip your ad and it will save you money.
A Few PPC Video Tips
As you may have gathered from the last tip, you should consider scaring people away. There is nothing wrong with the bulk of your viewers turning your ad off because the bulk of your viewers will not be your target audience and/or will not be paying customers. That is one of the problems with having ads that are too generalized and too interesting for the audience at large.
For example, Whiskers cat food ran a PPC video campaign with the tagline, “Why do cats paw at things?” and showed a short slideshow of cats pawing things as they sat down. In essence, they were trying to sell cat food, but the video looked like a typical funny cat video that one may see regularly on YouTube. All sorts of people clicked it, from people who do not have cats, to young children wanting to see a fluffy kitty.
Marketing execs may say that it helped grow the brand, but the fact is that most of the people who saw the ad have never bought cat food and will never buy cat food (even if they are now aware of the Whiskers brand).
And the Conclusion is – Target and Test!
As you may imagine, the most valuable video marketing tip is that you should market, test, and analyze.
The creators of the previously mentioned cat food ad thought their campaign was a roaring success because of the massive number of clicks their ad received, but sales of their cat food only shifted a tiny percent, which is less than most all of their (seemingly) less successful campaigns.
In truth, the company had more success with accidentally viral memes in terms of cost-of-advertising to units sold, than they did with their supposedly successful video campaign.
The moral of the story is that even though they cannot be blamed for celebrating a high CTR (Click Through Rate), they should have targeted, tested, and analyzed, and then re-engineered their videos and tried again. This process of trial and error is the only way to consistently ensure results with video PPC marketing.
Check out our PPC blog for more information and in-depth details about affiliate advertising, Pay-Per-Click, and all things marketing. Enjoy expert advice, and tips to help you squeeze the most out of your marketing budget.
by Marketing Department | Jun 6, 2019 | Google Ads
When coming up with the perfect PPC Ad, the dilemma is: How do you use your ad copy to pass your message to your digital audience using the least amount of words? Is it even possible?
Well, Google rakes in well over $116 billion in advertising revenue annually. That’s a whole lot of advertising. So if you’re not leveraging on PPC campaign, well, your competition already has you beat.
This guide compiles 15 PPC tips that will teach you how to write an ad that sells. Read on.
1. It’s not about you
Yes, it’s your company and yes, it’s your brand. Sure, nobody knows it the way you do.
But it really isn’t about you now, is it? You need to make it about your audience and part of that process involves getting into their mindset and anticipate their search queries.
2. How to Write an Ad That Sells: Perspective Matters
When making your PPC ad copy your audience are the ones who’ll be reading your ad copy. So you need to make sure that you imply the word “you” more than you do “ours” or “us.”
3. What Makes Your Brand Unique
When writing your ad copy you need to include what benefits your products bring to the table that makes your brand different from your competitors. This is what ultimately informs your audience’s decision when it comes to whether or not they’ll click on your ad.
4. Check out Your Competitors Ads
It’s very likely that you have competitors in your industry. It doesn’t hurt to check out how their ads compare to yours. It’ll give you an idea of what features you should place emphasis on.
5. Think Bigger Picture
When you’re writing ad copy make sure that you think about the ad extensions you’ll use to avoid redundancy.
If not you might end up repeating the same message when more ad extensions show up relaying the exact same text copy. Not only will your audience find this distracting, but it’s also quite off-putting as well.
6. The Call-To-Action Is the Heart of Your PPC Ad Copy
Forgetting to include a CTA is a PPC marketing crime. Ensure you use an action verb that is strong and clear, to push your audience to take the next step. Great examples include: “Learn more,” “Request a Quote,” “Shop Now,” etc.
7. Include Keywords
At the risk of stating the obvious, you need to include relevant and highly targeted keywords in your PPC ad copy. These need to be situated in your first or second headline.
8. Match Your Ad Copy to the Search Phrase
Mirror the exact phrase users enter into the search engine. This is likely to give your ad more traction than if you used a different phrase altogether.
For instance, people searching for coffee shops in LA will most likely input “Coffee shops LA.” So, your ad copy should have that exact phrase incorporated. This will get you more traction than if it read “Places where you can have coffee in Los Angeles.”
9. To Price or Not to Price
Stating the price point in your ad copy can be a double-edged sword. Weigh the pros and the cons of doing so, relative to the industry you’re in.
If your product is price-competitive, then you should definitely include it. You’ll need to keep a close eye on your ads in case your competitors decide to undercut you.
10. Qualify Your Prospects
In order to get the most of out of your PPC marketing campaign, you need to qualify your prospects. This eliminates the possibility of your ads getting clicks from audience segments that you don’t serve.
Make it clear who the ad is intended for so that those who don’t qualify can keep on scrolling. For instance, say you’re running a dating service for the older folks. You have organized a singles’ mixer.
An appropriate qualifier would be something along the lines of “…for straight singles aged 40 and up.” That way when singles aged 39 and below see your ad, they won’t bother clicking on it.
11. Headlines Are King
In the digital marketing realm, content is king. But, when it comes to PPC ad copy, headlines take the crown.
You need to craft them carefully and beautifully. All other elements like the description line, display URL and ad extensions exist to complement what‘s written in the headlines.
12. Test and Optimize
You might think of yourself as a modern day genius when it comes to crafting the perfect ad copy. You might very well be, but, it’s always better to create another two or three ads for each ad group.
Let Google Adwords rotate them every so often. That way you’ll know which ads are performing better and which ones you can optimize to get the results you want.
13. Address Your Audience’s Objections Before They Do
Take control of the objections your visitors may have and respond to them right off the bat. For instance, if your ad copy has to do with a food delivery service, you can address hygiene issues, freshness issues, and nutrition issues within your ad.
You can say something like, “…fresh ingredients used daily without trans-fats or artificial additives… All food is prepared in adherence to strict food-safety standards…” You get the idea.
14. Be Location Specific
When creating your PPC ad copy localize it so that you can be both relevant and familiar to your target audience.
For instance, if your business is a flower delivery service make sure your ad copy is geographically specific to the people looking for flower delivery services in your area. It could read something like “Long Beach, CA Best Florist – Save 35% Off & Free Delivery.”
15. Optimize for Mobile
Ensure you optimize your PPC ads for mobile viewing as well. You can take advantage of Ad text customizers.
This Adwords feature allows you to create a text ad with a headline and description specifically optimized for mobile devices. It helps to read through the Google PPC ad copy best practices to learn how to do this.
The Bottom Line
When all is said and done, even the most targeted PPC ad campaign can’t survive bad Ad copy. Now that you know how to write an ad that sells, use the tips in this guide to writing captivating PPC text ads that will capture your audience’s attention and get your message across effectively.
Not quite sure where to begin? Check out our beginner’s guide to PPC.
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