Pay-Per-Click Primer

Imagine you and 100 other providers are sitting in a room when a customer comes in and says, “I want to buy a wheelchair. Who can help?” Naturally, everyone in the room raises their hands—there will be some tall guys (providers with websites with a long history), so their hands will raise up just a little higher. There will be the wavers (providers who regularly post relevant content to their websites, blogs and social channels). And then, there will be the short wavers (providers who do both). Wave as you might, it can be pretty difficult to be seen with these people in the room—unless you’re wearing a giant foam finger. Paid search is your giant foam finger. And with a staggering 67.6 percent of all Web searches conducted on Google, the search engine behemoth’s AdWords should be your go-to vendor for paid search.

How It Works

The AdWords marketplace is an auction where keyword ad placement is offered to the highest bidder every time a customer conducts a Google search. The infographic at http://bit.ly/JVtACH, courtesy of the team at WordStream, will give you a good picture of how the AdWords campaign bidding process works.

Get Started with Google

It all begins with a single Google account controlled by one master username and password. Google’s AdWords maps together with all of your company’s Google accounts, including Analytics, Google+ and YouTube. If you currently have multiple Google accounts that need to be merged or need to change account ownership, Google has you covered with easy-to-follow instructions that can be accessed at http://bit.ly/SedUPA. If your Google accounts are tied to an employee’s personal Gmail account, this needs to be rectified immediately—allowing an employee to own these accounts is like giving them the only set of keys to your store. All set with Google, and ready to point your foam finger in the right direction? Log in to AdWords, and let’s get started.

Your Budget

First and foremost, you are always in control of your spend on any campaign. AdWords uses cost-per-click (CPC) based auctions, which allows you to start small and ramp up your budget as you see results. We have seen providers net great results starting with a budget as small as $500 per month, or about $16 per day. In addition to setting your daily budget, you can set the maximum amount you are willing to pay for someone to actually click on your ad—a good starting place for most dealers is 50 cents per click, but keep in mind that the keywords in the highest demand cost the most, so don’t be surprised to see single words bidding at $1 to $2.

Your Target Audience

Location: While you may decide to experiment with national campaigns to drive e-commerce sales, the majority of your customers are likely within a 25-mile radius of your store. Google gives you the ability to narrow in on an exact radius. From the locations tab, select “Let Me Choose” and click “Advanced Search.” Select “Radius Targeting,” enter your city and state or zip code and select your target radius. Then enter the distance around your central point to set your location radius. Networks: You’re automatically opted in to the Search Network, which includes Google and other smaller search engines they control. You also have the option to add on the Display Network, comprised of Google content sites and nonGoogle partner sites that display ads. If you are just starting out, we recommend sticking with the Search Network exclusively. Keywords: As the name implies, Google AdWords uses specific keywords to match your advertising message with prospects who are actively searching for your products and services in your area. Develop a list of 15 to 20 keywords for your campaign. While you may think targeting branded keywords such as “Sunrise Medical” is a good strategy to capture the largest audience possible, these branded terms as a general rule just don’t work for providers on their own. Why? Good old supply and demand. The companies themselves are most likely going to outbid you for their branded keywords. In order for you to win at the AdWords game, experiment with developing long-tail keywords that are relevant to your dealership’s offerings. So while the keywords “Sunrise Medical” won’t work, you could try “Shop Sunrise Medical Custom Manual Wheelchairs.” While there is definitely some trial-and-error involved in developing keywords that deliver results, Google’s Keywords Planner takes a lot of the guesswork out of the process. Among other features, the tool allows you to see historical performance of your desired keywords to gauge the potential future performance. Get started with Google AdWords Keyword Planner at http://bit.ly/1liOZmG.

Set Your Bid

While Google recommends that you allow it to automatically set your bid, as we discussed earlier, to be on the safe side we recommend that you keep tabs on your maximum bid from the onset. Set your bid manually at 50 cents to start, and tweak from there.

Write Your Ad

The goal of your content is to entice online shoppers to click through to a specific page on your website. Are you having a special? Use specific and actionable content to direct people right to your specials page, fast-tracking them to the deal your ad promises. Below is a sample ad: Shop Home Stairlift (Headline, 25 characters) Straight Rail, Curved & Outdoor (Description Line 1, 35 characters) Free In-Home Evaluation (Description Line 2, 35 characters) www.xyzhme.com/Home-Stairlifts (Display URL, 35 characters) Consider adding ad extensions to display an easy-to-click call button exclusively on your mobile ads or location extensions, which attach your business address to your ads.

Measure Your Success

Your campaign is ready to launch. Job well done, but mission not yet complete. Now you need to monitor your AdWords’ performance like a day trader to ensure you are getting the most out of your AdWords spend. The AdWords platform offers many key metrics to help you measure success, but the one metric that is the most critical is the click-through rate (CTR). CTR is the number of clicks your ad receives divided by the number of times your ad is shown. (This is called impressions.) For example, an ad that receives:

• 1,000 impressions (number of users who were served the ad in their Google search results)
   
• 20 clicks (number of users who clicked on your ad)
   
• 2 percent CTR (percent of total users who saw your ad and clicked on it)
   

You can find your CTR in the campaigns tab of your AdWords account. What’s a good CTR? According to Google, 2 percent CTR is the average ad performance. There’s no single strategy to ensure AdWords success, but this quick start guide, paired with a hands-on approach, will give you a running start. Need a little help? Feel free to send me an email at [email protected], and I will connect you with one of our paid search consultants for a complimentary AdWords coaching session.

Read all the articles in this series at homecaremag.com/digital-sales-marketing-2015