how to double - bambrick media · high-converting landing pages do, however, share common...

DOUBLE YOUR LEADSWITH GOOGLE ADWORDSA S T U D Y B Y B A M B R I C K M E D I A

how to

About The Author

WHAT’S IN THE

REPORT?T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

How to DOUBLE YOUR LEADS with Google AdWords

Jason McMahon is the head of digital

strategy for Bambrick Media. He

currently oversees millions of dollars

in digital marketing spend and consults

on digital strategies for brands such

as the Coles group, CBRE, Museum Of

Brisbane & Brisbane Powerhouse.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jason McMahonM A R K E T I N G D I R E C T O R

W H O W E ’ V E H E L P E D


DOUBLE YOUR LEADS

how to

Google AdWords is either a money earning machine or a money

burning machine depending on how it’s set up. If you’re like most

businesses, you’ve tried AdWords, you’ve got some traction, you’ve got

some enquiries, but for what you’re paying, shouldn’t you be getting

a lot more? The answer is YES! Sometimes the smallest changes can

turn an AdWords campaign from a money pit into a cash cow. This

report shows you what those changes are and what to do about it.


Relying exclusively on broad match keywords is a sure-fire way to see your AdWords budget drain away without seeing any real returns on your investment. Unless you specify another match type, for example, phrase match, this is the match type your keywords will be assigned. So, what’s wrong with broad match keywords and why should you limit your use of them?

While using broad match keywords does offer some benefits, such as reducing the time you spend building keyword lists, as these keywords generally have a higher acquisition cost, they can lower your overall ROI. What’s more, if your broad

match keywords appear to be relevant for a high number of search terms, they can also hurt your Quality Score. That’s why other match types are often a better choice. For example, exact match shows your ads to users searching for those exact search terms, along with some close variations, which contributes to a higher click-through rate.

Using the broad match modifier is another way you can increase the relevance of your ads, as it shows on searches containing the search term in any order, enabling you to target searches which include at least one of your keywords.

Poor keyword management is the number one reason why businesses spend more money on AdWords than they need to. While managing your campaign keywords effectively won’t fix all that’s wrong with your PPC efforts, it is a major aspect of an AdWords campaign and needs to be given the time and attention it deserves.

KEYWORD OPTIMISATION

BROAD MATCH KEYWORDS WON’T BROADEN YOUR MARKETING HORIZONS


INCREASE AD RELEVANCE WITH SKAGS

Another way to increase the relevance of your ads is to use single keyword ad groups (SKAGs).

SKAGs are highly advantageous to use, for not only does their greater relevance lead to a higher conversion rate and Quality Score, but as they deliver a lower cost per click – and, therefore, lower costs per conversion – they ultimately lead to increased sales and profits.

TURNING NEGATIVE KEYWORDS INTO POSITIVE ACTIONS

Leveraging negative keywords streamlines your AdWords campaigns by helping you to filter out people who your ads would be shown to. This reduces poor-quality clicks, increases the quality of leads, boosts your click-through rate and ROI, and maximises your budget. Additionally, using negative keywords in your campaigns helps to reduce the bounce rates of your landing page.

Essentially, the keywords you select for your AdWords campaign should be aligned with your business goals and have the highest search volume. While some low volume keywords may be relevant, if they’re not driving traffic to your website, there’s little point in keeping them. This also has the effect of helping you to focus on the keywords that are most important to your business.

KEYWORD OPTIMISATION


Many businesses work hard at optimising their AdWords ads, but if they succeed in getting users to click through to an unappealing webpage which they promptly leave, is that success? Of course not.

Don’t forget that getting people to your landing page is essentially what AdWords ads are all about. If your landing page doesn’t convert users into high-quality leads, then there’s no points for guessing where your entire AdWords campaign is heading.

LANDING PAGEOPTIMISATION

THE IMPACT OF THE WEBSITE OR LANDING PAGE THAT YOU SEND USERS TO IS A CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT ASPECT OF YOUR ADWORDS CAMPAIGN.


LANDING PAGE OPTIMISATION

DEDICATED LANDING PAGES DELIVER GREATER IMPACT

So, where should you send users who click your ads? Having your homepage as a landing page may seem logical, but as there’s little chance of them finding what they’re looking for instantly, that’s only going to increase your bounce rate. And that can have a negative effect on your search engine rankings.

A dedicated landing page is essential if you’re to get the most from your AdWords campaign and marketing budget. Having said that, the landing page you send users to needs to deliver the right impact, so you’ll need to create a landing page that effectively explains your business’s value proposition. So, how can you go about achieving this?

That’s something that you’re going to have to work at because there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to landing page creation that you can implement. After all, landing pages are in many ways just as diverse as the people businesses are looking to influence with their AdWords ads.

As you can well imagine, an online fashion store promoting their latest t-shirts will have a completely different offer and call to action to a digital agency promoting their website design services. Or a real estate business offering property management. And so on.

LANDING PAGES THAT CONVERT CLICKS INTO LEADS High-converting landing pages do, however, share common characteristics. These include a strong headline, informative ad text that speaks the user’s language, a relevant image, a logical flow that encourages them to keep reading, a testimonial that builds trust, a means of contact and, of course, a great call to action that really inspires the user to take the action you desire.

And in an era in which more than 60% of users search via mobile devices, it must be optimised for mobile. While your landing page may contain all these essential elements, how will you know whether it’s converting as strongly as it could? The answer to that is testing.


v

By showing two versions of the same ad or landing page to users at random, you can use statistical analysis to determine which version performs better

for a particular conversion goal. This conversion goal may be a phone call, a download, an RSS subscribe, or the ultimate conversion goal — a purchase.

Failing to test ads and landing pages is a prominent reason why many businesses spend more on AdWords than they need to. Using A/B tests (also known as split tests and bucket tests) essentially takes the guesswork out of ad and landing page optimisation by enabling you to compare two versions of an ad or landing page to determine which performs better.

A/B SPLITTESTING


GAIN POWERFUL INSIGHTS WITH A/B TESTING

A/B testing takes time, but it is an all-important aspect of optimisation which enables you to gain powerful, data-informed insights into every element of your ads and landing pages, from the headline, subheading, ad text and image to the offer and call to action. So, how does it work?

With an A/B test, you create a second version of an ad or landing page with one element — the headline, ad text, image, etc. — altered. 50% of users are shown the original and the other 50% the altered version, with the user engagement data collected and analysed using Google

Analytics and Google AdWords. When the test has run its course, you can then determine which user experience was the more positive of the two, or if both versions delivered the same degree of user engagement.

TEST FOR SUCCESSTo get the most from your A/B tests, only one element should be tested at a time. This allows you to pinpoint which version of the ad text or call to action, etc. delivers the most positive user experience, the most clicks and, therefore, the higher conversion rate. By continually testing your ads and landing pages, you can gain insights into user experiences and optimise your ads and landing page for success.

A/B SPLIT TESTING

AB


QUALITY SCOREOPTIMISATIONGoogle considers three factors when determining how to rank your AdWords ads — your keyword bid, your quality score (the relevance of your website and ads to the keywords targeted) and the expected impact from your ad extensions and other ad formats. Overlooking quality score is a common reason for overspending on AdWords, so give this important metric the time and attention it warrants.

A good way to see your quality score is to compare it to your personal credit rating. Just as your credit score determines the interest rate applied and, ultimately, how much you repay, so

too does your quality score determine how much you’ll pay for your ads and how they perform. Essentially, your quality score has a direct impact on your AdWords/PPC marketing success.


As a general rule, the higher the quality score the lower the cost per click, but as this trend also applies to the cost per conversion — which is higher than the cost per click — you’re also going to get more conversions for less money. Therefore, by optimising your ads and improving your quality score, you’re going to get higher returns on your PPC marketing investment.

To reduce AdWords expenditure, get more qualified clicks, more conversions and, ultimately, improve your overall ROI, you need to improve your quality score.

Therefore, the big question is, ‘How can I improve my Quality Score?’ Starting by understanding that relevance is the primary factor in determining a quality score, there are several key areas to work at improving.

1) KEYWORDS:Research and organise keywords into groups that can be tied to individual AdWords campaigns and add negative keywords to exclude irrelevant search terms.

2) ADWORDS TEXT:Use A/B testing to increase the relevance of your ad text to your target audience, enhance the click-through rate and improve the overall effectiveness of ads.

3) LANDING PAGE:Optimise your landing pages to ensure they directly connect and are relevant to your ads, which provides a cohesive and positive experience for visitors.

THE HIGHER THE SCORE, THE LOWER THE CLICK COST

QUALITY SCOREOPTIMISATION


If you’re not adjusting your bids to take into account factors such as time, device and location, then it’s safe to say that you’re not getting as much from your Google AdWords campaign as you could be. In fact, it’s highly likely that your PPC marketing budget is haemorrhaging money.

BID OPTIMISATION

Monitoring the performance of ads on different devices enables you to identify which devices your ads are performing well on and which aren’t. This allows you to allocate more of your budget to high-performing devices and less to those which aren’t delivering optimal results. The outcome? More targeted ads, more qualified leads and better ROI on your AdWords campaign.

The same technique can also be applied to time and location. By consulting your data, you can determine the time of day your target audience is likely to be online and adjust your ad bids

accordingly. You can also use data to see which search locations are delivering the highest conversions and bid higher in those locations and lower in others, if you choose to bid for them at all — don’t forget that you can exclude geographical areas to use your budget more wisely.

TARGETED ADS FOR BETTER LEADS AND GREATER ROI


BID OPTIMISATION

While mobile devices typically provide better click-through rates, that doesn’t mean you should only bid for mobile devices. Naturally, you should consult your data to determine where you’re getting the most conversions from and adjust your bids accordingly, but you should also factor in what you know about the behaviour of your customers.

A good example of this is the many online shoppers who do their research on a mobile device — perhaps on the commute home from work or during their lunch break — and then return to a site on their desktop to make the purchase. To maximise conversions and show your ads to as many people as possible, you might increase mobile bids to capitalise on the high number of mobile searches and then create another ad group for desktop searches.

As desktop searches typically show stronger intent to buy, it’s advantageous to use ‘high intent’ keywords which indicate strong intent by the searcher to conduct a transaction. This could be intent to enquire, get a quote or make a purchase. When you have a good understanding of searcher intent, you can adjust your bids to target customers at this stage of the sales funnel.

NOT ALL CUSTOMERS BEHAVE ALIKE


AUDIENCEOPTIMISATION

To give an example, showing your ads at the right time of day is essential if you’re to bring your ads to the attention of your target audience.

USING GOOGLE ADWORDS’ TARGETING TOOLS CORRECTLY IS ESSENTIAL TO MAXIMISING YOUR OVERALL ROI AND DELIVERING HIGHLY QUALIFIED LEADS FOR YOUR CAMPAIGN.

Once you’ve determined the times that your target audience is likely to be online, use the Ad Schedule feature in your campaign’s Settings tab to show your ads only during these times. If your ads show at all times of the day, you’ll exhaust your budget quickly and that

could prevent you from reaching your target audience. While this is a common mistake, one which can prove expensive if it isn’t rectified, it isn’t the only mistake that businesses make with their AdWords campaigns.


Another way to use targeting tools to your advantage involves limiting your ads’ reach to people in your target geographical location. By limiting the reach of your ads to people within your local or service area, you won’t be paying to show your ads needlessly and that delivers greater ROI.

But don’t stop there if you’re to maximise the results of your AdWords campaigns, as you can exclude all non-relevant traffic from seeing your ads by targeting specific devices and times of day. This helps you to further refine your ad audience and reach the right customers for your business.

LIMIT AD REACH FOR GREATER ROI

AUDIENCEOPTIMISATION


Not fully understanding buyer personas and target audiences has prevented many businesses from realising the full potential of AdWords and the many benefits it offers. Basically, if you don’t have the complete picture of your ideal customer, how can you create AdWords ads that appeal to prospective customers?

As all of us can imagine, it’s difficult to relate to people you don’t know, so developing a solid understanding of your buyer persona(s), i.e. the customers you’re trying to attract, is critical.

This understanding is crucially important when creating any marketing materials and strategies relating to customer acquisition and retention. And, naturally, this includes AdWords ads which vie for the attention of customers in what is essentially an increasingly crowded marketplace.

Bob "Do it for me"

"I'm always looking for opportunitiesto expand and I invest in initiativesthat make business sense. I don't

have time or money to waste "

Age: 50Work: DirectorFamily: Married with three kids out ofhomeLocation: Highgate Hill, BrisbaneCharacter: Do it for me

PersonalityIntrovert Extrovert

Analytical Creative

Conservative Liberal

Passive Active

Forward thinking Respected

Analytical Driven

GoalsKeep expanding my business, offer competitive products andefficient and outstanding services.Spend quality time with my family and close friends.Invest in profitable initiatives and partnerships.I want to build a successful empire so my family is comfortableand my kids have a great life.Keen on marketing that helps me move product.

FrustrationsPeople try to sell me advertising all the time. How do I know it'seffective? I don't want to waste money or time. I need someone to manage my marketing for me and come tome with proactive ideas that bring me ROI.I don't have a lot of time to think about marketing I just need toknow it how helps my businesses.

BioBob started his first job in his uncles fruit shop when he was 13,He studied engineering at university where he met his wifeKaterina. Bob decided studying wasn't for him and left uni to workat the Rocklea Fruit Markets and bought his own wholesalesection 8 years later in partnership with his cousin. Bob is forwardthinking and the younger members in his family have influencedhim to embrace internet marketing. He spends a few hours onlineeach week to do banking, check his stocks and the sports news.He is a family man above all and some of his kids work with him inthe business. Bob sponsors the Brisbane Roar and he meetsfriends and family in the box to watch home games and talkbusiness.

MotivationsIncentive

Fear

Achievement

Growth

Power

Social

Brands

Communication ChannelsEmail

Online & Social Media

Phone

Face to face

USING BUYER PERSONAS


USING BUYER PERSONAS

But it isn’t enough to understand your ideal customer’s needs, desires, concerns and behaviour, as you need to tailor your ads so they’ll appeal to your target audience and encourage them to click on your ads. The more detailed your buyer personas, the easier tailoring ad copy, images, offers and calls to action to appeal to these people will be.

Along with lacking an adequate understanding of buyer personas, many businesses waste their AdWords budgets because they don’t understand prospective customers’ intent or position

on the marketing funnel. When you know at which stage of the funnel a customer is — awareness, interest/consideration, and intent/evaluation/purchase — you can then tailor every element of your ads and corresponding landing pages to target customers at that particular stage.

TAILOR YOUR ADS TO TARGET YOUR AUDIENCE


SPECIALOFFER

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HOW 30 MINUTES COULD SAVE YOU THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS AND GET YOU NEW CUSTOMERS

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