Understanding Adwords own Language

We had discussed that with Google’s online advertising program called AdWords, you can create ads for people who are

• Searching for your products and services.
• Reading content related to what you sell.

Now let's get into the specifics and the terms used in Adwords.

Setting up your own online campaign is what you need to do at first after creating an adwords account at https://adwords.google.com.

What is a campaign and how is it structured?!

1. Campaign:  All AdWords accounts lets you organise your advertising into separate campaigns. You'll have a campaign for each of your business goals or product categories.

E.g.1.You might have one for phone calls and another for online sales.
E.g.2. If you have an online electronics shop, you could have one campaign for televisions sales, one for camera sales and so on.

• Each campaign will target a specific audience – who they are, where they’re located and when they tend to shop
• This is also where you’ll decide major settings, such as your daily budget ,where your ads appear and the locations that you’d like to focus on.

   2.   Ad group: Each campaign holds one or more ad groups. 

• An ad group is a smaller container that lets you categorize your campaign more precisely into specific sets of ads and keywords.
• These are dedicated to your products and services. 
• Usually, you'll have one ad group for each product or theme. For example, if you have a campaign for camera sales, you could create separate ad groups for compact cameras, SLR cameras and so on.

Eg. If you own an online shopping store, think of your ad groups as the various types of clothes you sell in that store.

• Your ad groups are where you'll write text for your ads and choose keywords that can trigger those ads when people search for them.
• For each ad group, you’ll include keywords that people normally use to search for those products and services. 
• You’ll include negative keywords that are related but not relevant for e.g. the product or service that he does not offer to potential customers. This will help filter out people to whom you won’t want to show your ad.

P.S Having two separate ad groups for each of your specialty will allow you to choose specific keywords related to each group

3) Ads: This is what you want people to see when they search using the keywords that you chose for your ad groups.

The selling points that you identify for your products and services can highlight these in your ads.
If, for example, express delivery was one of your selling points, you might have “express delivery!” in the text of your ad.
You can add other information about your business in your ad like a phone number (Call extensions), links to specific pages on your website (Sitelink extensions) and maps (Location extensions).

For further understanding of the terms associated with Adwords,we will start with a day to day example.

Let’s say you are interested in photography and you are running a studio Love and Pics.To get yourself noticed by people looking out for photographers you decide to go for online advertising via Google's Adwords.

You currently have three types of services and so decide to create 3 Ads for the same as below.


You can make different Ads for each area of business.

Each collection of ads makes up an Adgroup.

Eg. For wedding we make different ads which together form the Ad group for category Weddings as shown below.


To each Adgroup assign words or phrases that are relevant to that part of your business-Keywords


Adwords compares the user search term with the keywords to help decide which ads to show.



All the three ads for each of the different areas of your business make up your campaign

If someone searches for experienced wedding photographer in  the search box the search term is experienced wedding photographer.

And the types of search results  are:

Organic- Appear in the middle of the page.No one can pay for it to be displayed here.

Paid-Appear in the top bottom and right of the page. Ads by businesses using Adwords are displayed.You will be charged when someone clicks on your ad.

Whenever someone uses Google to search there is an auction that determines which ads appear and in which order.

Whether your ad will appear or not when someone makes a search for a photographer will depend on two main factors.

Bid-how much an advertiser is willing to pay for a click .
Quality score-how relevant and useful your ad and the page in your website is to someone seeing your ad.

 Bid vs Budget

Bid is how much you decide to spend each time someone clicks on your ad.

Budget is how much you decide to spend each day on your entire campaign.

When someone searches for you and finds you on their search result page it is an Impression
If they decide to find out more, they Click on your ad.
If someone uses your website to do something valuable e.g.buying your product,then it is a Conversion
Both your customer and you as an advertiser is happy.These are said to be Results

Recap with Real life Example of  Peter, the plumber

Business Type: Service

Goal: He requires people to call him up for repair services

Customers: People in Al Barsha, Dubai                                     

Services: Plumbing and kitchen repairs                        

Selling Points: Available 24/7, reasonably-priced

Online campaign:

• Campaign goal: Phone calls
• Targeting: People in Al Barsha, Dubai    

Ad Group no.1: Plumbing
Some of his keywords: broken pipes, fix broken pipes, fix broken toilet
Some of his negative keywords: buy, books

Ad Group no.2: Kitchen repairs

Some of his keywords: leaking tap, oven repair, fix kitchen sink

Some of his negative keywords: design, accessories

What you need to know about Google AdWords-For Beginners

We have been discussing the need for Google AdWords for quite some time now, let’s go into the details bit by bit. Here are the answers to my readers’ queries in the simplest form.

What is Google AdWords?!

AdWords is Google’s online advertising program that helps businesses advertise on Google’s advertising networks.

How can it help me?

It helps me expand my customer base and improve my business.

How can it do that?

For a nominal fee, I can choose where my ad appears on Google’s search results and other webpages. The more prominent my ad is, the more chance of customers viewing or clicking on my ad to connect with my business.

Where can I show my ads?

My ad can appear on Google and its partner websites.

Whom can I target?

I can reach people while they are searching for their needs in terms of words or phrases (which Google calls Keywords).It can also help me reach people who are browsing websites with themes related to my business.

Is it very expensive?

There’s no minimum spending amount like other marketing platforms. I set a budget comfortable for me. I am in control.

Example
If you run a small flower shop near Dubai Mall, set your ad to appear to customers in just that location, and when someone living or visiting there searches Google for "flowers delivery in Dubai Mall", they could see your ad and click on  it to connect to your business. 

A Little more About Google's advertising networks

In AdWords, you can set your ads to show on one or both of these networks.
Google Search Network and the Google Display Network.

Your ads show on either the Google Search Network or the Google Display Network depending on campaign type you choose as your network setting.

Search Network

Google’s search network simply means Google search and other google sites like Google Maps, Shopping and many other non-Google search partner websites (like AOL; These are not owned by Google but are advertising partners).
 
Here advertisers’ text ads are shown along with Google’s search results when people search
online. Ads can appear beside, above or below search results

This can help reach customers who may be searching for a product similar to what your business offers.

Eg. Ted runs a travel tour agency and decides to go for Search Network and so he creates a text ad  to get more people in.

He advertises on Google search network using keywords.

This means when people search online for any of the above keywords,Ted’s ad will be shown as below

Display Network

The Display Network is used to refer to collection of Google websites (like Gmail,YouTube), partner sites and mobile sites and apps .

It is possible to reach almost 80% of Internet users worldwide with such a network which can selectively show ads to people who want to hear about you.

This network uses appealing ad formats like video ads and image ads to reach a wide range of customers with broad interests.
Here your ads are matched to the content on webpages based on keywords and other factors and the ad is displayed on pages with similar themes like your business.

This helps build brand awareness and customer loyalty with increased engagement with customers.

For Eg. With display network,if you are running an ad about new offer at your restaurant,it will be displayed on popular food blogs.

 

With topics you can pick and choose specific themes of webpages available on Google's display network for which you want your ads to appear.

Eg. Ted’s travel agency

Now he decides to go for Display Network and creates an image ad to project his business.He uses travel and hiking themed webpages as topics.

Key takeaways:

1.Google AdWords is google's online advertising program that helps you grow your business by advertising on Google's advertising networks.

2.You can choose where your ads appear to customers on Google's Search and Display networks.

Why should you advertise online-Why Google Adwords?

Your business can think about online advertising if
1) You want to show your ads to the people who may be interested in your products and services, while filtering out those who aren't.
2) You want to track whether those people clicked your ads.
3) You want to reach potential customers on multiple devices - desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

Google AdWords (Google’s advertising platform) allows you to do just that:-show your ads to the right people in the right place and at the right time. 

Your ad is displayed to people who are already searching for the kinds of products and services that you offer. So those people are more likely to take action.

Key benefits of Google AdWords

1. Targeted ads: Targeting is to show relevant ads to people with specific interests like those who are interested in your products/services.

Targeting possibilities in Adwords

• Ad location: Show your ads on search engines, commercial sites or personal sites.
• Age, location and language: Choose the age, geographic location and language of your customers.
• Days, times and frequency: Show your ads during certain hours or days of the week and determine how often your ads appear. 
• Devices: Your ads can appear on all types of devices, and you can fine tune which devices your ads appear on and when.  
• Keywords: Words or phrases relevant to your products and services, which are used to show your ads when customers search for those terms or visit relevant websites.                   

2. Control costs: You have full control over how you spend your money. There’s no minimum spending commitment.
You decide how much (your maximum amount) or little you want to spend monthly, and you’ll never be charged more than that amount. With cost-per-click (CPC) bidding, you’re charged only when someone clicks your ad, not when your ad appears. There are a variety of bidding options that you can choose from.

3. Easily manageable campaigns:It's simple to get started, and it's easy to pause or stop. Easy tools to manage and monitor accounts. A) My Client Centre (MCC) manager account is a powerful tool that could save you time by letting you view and manage multiple AdWords accounts from a single location. By seeing which ads get clicks and which ones don’t, you’ll also quickly see where to invest in your campaign. That, in turn, can boost the return on your investment.

b) AdWords Editor, a free, downloadable desktop application that allows you to quickly and conveniently manage and make changes to your account offline. With AdWords Editor, you can download your account information, edit your campaigns offline, and then upload your changes to AdWords. 

You can use AdWords editor to manage, edit and view multiple accounts at the same time, copy or move items between ad groups and campaigns and undo and redo multiple changes while editing campaigns.

 

4.Measure success: You can check out impact of your ads and find out what exactly is working and then build on whatever is working and change whatever is not working for you. There are reports which shows how your ad performs and Adwords tools that help you edit and improve your ad.

If someone clicked your ad, you’ll know how many new customers connect to your business from your ad, where they're coming from and other details. If they clicked your ad and then did something valuable to your business - purchased your product, downloaded your app or phoned in an order - you can track that too.

5. Ad visibility:Your ad is given preference over ads showcasing products and services similar to yours..

• Reach people at the precise time they are searching for you:  People are more likely to take action on your ad when it is displayed to them as they are searching for products and services similar to yours. You can choose where your ad appears - on which specific websites and in which geographical areas.
• Reach people across the web browsing sites related to your products and services:- Eg. You sell fashionable jeans your ads can appear on sites discussing trends on latest jeans.

6. Adwords for mobile customers-:This would benefit customers on the go who reserach the internet for products like yours.They can call your business directly on the go for more information.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Google Adwords help you to advertise online by showing your ads to the right people in the right place and at the right time. 
• Targeted ads, controlling how much you spend over ads(there is no minimum),measuring success(see exactly what's working in your ad, and build on it) and easy to manage tools are some of the benefits of Adwords.
• Targeting can be on the basis of type of user devices, keywords set by you on which you ads show up, ad location, customer( age location and language),the days,time and frequency when you want ads to appear. 
• MCC-Tool to manage multiple AdWords accounts from a single location.
• Adwords editor-manage changes to account offline and to view multiple accounts at the same time. 
• You can setup your Adwords account at google.com/adwords

How easy is it to promote your Business Online ?

Now that we know why the business has to be online , I have been receiving requests on how to go about it.
Promoting any business online always requires a certain amount of testing to arrive at the right tactic  for your business ,but I believe a mix and match of the below approaches would do the trick for you.

1. Free Website listings on search engines- Google.com/webmasters
2. Ads on search engines- Google.com/adwords
3. Local listings on search engines-Google.com/placesforbusiness
4. Social media
5. Email marketing

1. Free Website listings on search engine

Before we begin, Id like to familiarize you with the term Organic search results.It simply means the free web search results that show up on your search engines like Google as per your search term.

For most of your queries the list spans multiple pages with innumerable websites.

Are you on page 1 of Google's search results?!

Ideally you would like your customer to meet you on the 1st page of the search results. But there are many similar business offering similar products and services.
The more relevant your website,higher the chance for it to be on PAGE 1.

Steps to make organic search work for u

• Make sure your website domains are listed on Google. Go to Google.com/addurl and add your business if not already listed.
• Give your website a content face-lift –Just make sure your website has text, images and other kinds of content that are related to the words that people use to search for products and services like yours. In short make it interesting enough so that people come back!

Google will locate a match between your website and what people are looking for and your business will show up in their search results.

Note:If you are not too sure how to give your website a content face lift,go for Google’s webmaster central at google.com/webmasters or hire a creative web developer.

2. Ads on search engines

If you feel  that just the free listings are not helping you to be on page 1 and you need more control over when, where and how often your business appears on Google you can use Google Ad-words.It helps you place ads on Google by choosing phrases or words for which your ads have to appear.

Search Advertising or Search engine marketing programs like Ad words will place ads for your business next to and above organic search results.

3. Local listings on search engines

If you provide services in a single city or a definite area 
for e.g. Local Plumbing services Google's Local listings is the one for you.
Local listings are displayed in search results when people search for products in a specific location or area.





E.g. Pizza near Dubai mall



Local Listings is a premium opportunity to drive nearby customers to you.According to the nature of your business you may include any of the below in your business listings along with a map.

Real time updates means updating your offerings real time.E.g. Tax free Tuesday or hot Donuts or Sunday-Specials. 

               

4. Social media

I don’t think I would need to elaborate, as it’s role in promoting business by deepening relations and attracting customers is well known and accepted by now.








Social networking sites,Blogs and video-sharing sites helps you to

• Get valuable customer feedback
• Share exclusive offers and information about your product
• Reach customer's family and friends easily

5. Email marketing

My belief!, it is one of the most helpful cost-effective method to market your products and services to new and existing customers and drive traffic to your website.

Many companies offer easy to use low cost email services that help you to design, send and manage email marketing campaigns.
You can always email your customers

• With news about latest products and services
• By thanking them for their prior order and inviting them to come back.
• With Special offers, discounts and promotions.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

A combination of the below techniques will help you go a long way in enhancing your online presence.

1. Free Website listings  helps search engines like Google notice your brand online.
2.  Ads on search engines lets you take the next step by making sure that your business appears on the 1st page of search results.
3.  Local listings on search engines can be utilized if your business caters to local needs.
4. Social media is becoming inevitable for long term customer relations.
5.  Email marketing is a cost effective method to retain and regain your customer base.

Your Online Marketing Plan

To develop an online marketing plan of your own, I would tell you to first think about the end product or your goal, then figure out steps required to reach that goal and in the process set a marketing budget that helps you to achieve the goal.

1.Setting Your Goal

A smart Goal would be whatever your business needs to grow but it should be

•   Few in number 
•   Measurable
•   Actionable 
•   Realistic 
•  Time bound 

Examples of a goal can be

• To make more people find your website. 
• To boost sales by spreading news about your company. 
• Promoting a discount. 

A more specific goal set for a time frame by a medical management representative would be

• Sign up 200 new customers for a free consultation by August. 
• Sell 500 units of a particular medicine by September. 
• Collect 100 Qualified sales leads from 400 existing customers by April.
•  Drive 1000 unique visitors to the site by the end of the month. 

2. Steps to reach the goal

•   Identify where the customers are-Try asking yourself ‘Where are my customers most likely to look for me?’ Different ways to get noticed online would be

 
   a) A Website-A website would be right for you if your goal is to increase sales.

  b) A Blog or social networking site- if your goal is to build stronger relationship with your existing customers.
             




c) Local Online Listings-If your goal is to make sure that potential customers in your  local area can find you easily.

     
Whatever route you choose, existing and potential customers must be able find you.

•  Point customers in the right direction                                                                                                Once you have identified where you customers are point them in the right direction by

              a) Creating an appealing look to your  website suited for customer needs.
               b) Creating ads that link to your website and promote special offers.
               c) Including your business on Google’s local listings to drive local sales.
               d) Creating a social networking site and sharing updates, coupons and more with followers.
               e) Listing your deals on coupons site. 
                f) Listing your business on review sites and ask happy customers for referrals. 

3. Set a marketing budget that works for you

• Think how much you want to put in by analyzing how much a new sale or referral is worth to you. 
• Also factor in any cost associated with your action steps including hosting website, listing your deals ,running ads online and more.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1.    Think about final goal and steps to reach that goal when setting a marketing plan for your business and assign marketing budget for each step

2.    Goals should be few and realistic, time bound, measurable and actionable.

3.    Website, Blog or Social Media and Local Listings are some ways to get noticed online. Whatever route you choose, existing and potential customers must be able find you.

4.    Set a marketing strategy that works for you. There is no "one" correct strategy.