Priyanka Shitole

Often I get asked about running a few ads and getting started on a Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Campaign to help businesses grow. Sounds simple enough, but it doesn’t really work that way.

An SEM campaign is not just about creating ads on Google or Bing. There is an intense thought process and groundwork that make for a successful measurable SEM Campaign.

SEM started out as a combination of both paid ads and Search Engine Optimizations (SEO). Over time, SEM has evolved into marketing for search engines using paid ads only. There are vast amounts of information out there on this subject matter and it can get daunting at times. To help clients understand the process, I have narrowed it down to a simple four-step explanation – the FAST Approach – Focus on Intent, A/B Testing, SEO and Tracking.

Focus on Intent

It is very important to create an online ad with high-intent ad quality. An ad should target the audience that is looking for your services or products. Once someone clicks on the ad, they should find more information or be able to benefit from what the ad promises. What’s the point of spending all the money on ads if your landing page does not give a user what they want?

• Think like a “Googler”

  As a marketer, you may know your business and the industry better than anyone else. However, when creating  online ads, you need to think like your target audience, because that’s who your ad will be serving and bringing in as potential leads. Put yourself in their shoes and think about all possible ways your target audience might search for the service or product they need.

• Bridge the Gap

  You might be a know-it-all in your space but that doesn’t make you the ideal one to write your online ads. You need to work with an experienced copywriter who can write effective ads using targeted keywords.

• Negative Keywords

  Many times, in an industry with a broad audience, the ad can get displayed to the incorrect audience and the business can get charged with heavy fees but no real leads. This can be easily fixed by adding “negative keywords” to the ad campaign.

• Near-perfect quality score

  You cannot expect a great outcome by simply placing the highest bids on an ad; you need to strive for a near-perfect quality score for the ads. Quality score measures the quality of your ads, keywords, and landing pages. It will not only save you dollars, but also bring in the quality leads.

A/B Testing

After years of experience, it is quite natural to think that once we have nailed down a perfect ad, we know exactly what a customer needs or predict what they’ll do next once they click on the ad and link to the landing page. However, the assumptions and predetermined user-expectation can go only so far. An A/B test or spilt test is useful to drive traffic to a landing page to test user experience or a design component that provides measurable results.

• What and How

  A/B testing can be done on various levels. You can have ads with variations in keywords or in headline and messaging, thus creating and narrowing down the most effective Ad Groups. The landing page can be tested with variations such as CTAs with different colors and or position, slightly different (and dynamic) copy based on the Ad source or location or any other relevant factor. Whichever version performs better is your winner. 

• Benefits

  As a business owner or a marketer, you want to bring in the quality leads with the least amount of expense. A/B testing helps you get there in an efficient and measurable way. It helps you serve a wide variety of audiences.

SEO

If you want quick and short-term results, running online ads is the way to go. But if you want ongoing and long-term success, then you need to optimize your website for search engines. SEM and SEO go hand in-hand with successful online ad campaigns.

• Mobile-friendly

  Based on the algorithm change in October of 2017, Google started penalizing websites that are not optimized for mobile devices. And since Google has decided to opt-in for “mobile-first” indexing, then that is a double-whammy. So, even if you are paying a huge sum to display your ad and taking users to a non-mobile-friendly landing page, you are doing yourself a disservice.

• Better and worst

  There are several best SEO practices, do’s and don’ts. These practices are not only good for the website and for organic search but also help your online ads get a better position in search and help convert the user with a better click-through rate.

• Authenticity

  I always suggest a simple rule of thumb for ads and landing page relationships: advertise what you sell and sell what you advertise. With all the floating content on the Internet, nothing matters more than authentic content.

Track. Analyze. Adapt. Repeat.

• Track

  As Peter Drucker said “What gets measured, gets managed.” So true. With the newer emerging and improving technologies, you can track the ads and convert your potential lead into a customer– if done right. Whether you know how to and like to find the needle in the data stack, or not, everything should be tracked so that you can assess the performance of the ads and spend time, money and efforts wisely.

• Analyze

  If you can’t, then find someone who can make sense of the ginormous volume of the data you have tracked and collected. Analyzing is the only measurable way to separate the good from the not-so-good.

• Adapt

  Once you know what’s good for your business, use it. Implement the changes, whether in the ad copy or in the landing page or graphics. It’s all in the details.

• Repeat

  Every time you make a significant change based on data, don’t just hope and pray it will work well. Keep tracking, analyzing, adapting. And repeat.

Next time someone offers to set up your  Google Ads for an affordable price, understand that all you are getting is the online ads. You don’t get the research and analytical input for a successful digital ad campaign. Better yet, next time someone assures you that they can set up the  ads for an affordable price and all the guarantees of success, be prepared to say -– it is more than just setting up the ads.

Ready to take the next step and want to learn how Words and Pictures can help your business? Don’t be shy — get in touch today!

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