Search advertising show stoppers
23 June 2009
Many small online businesses don’t know where to start when it comes to running effective search advertising campaigns, but a few simple steps can give you the best chance of success.
Every week, our office takes calls from desperate small business owners seeking advice on how to set up and run their Google AdWords campaigns. Most have already been running their own campaigns, but the challenges are too often greater than the successes.
Most SMEs don’t have the time to become adept in the myriad of ins-and-outs and best practice methods that allow you to address Google AdWords issues such as high keyword competition, unaffordable cost per clicks, minimum bid pages, poor quality scores and conversion tracking. Often ‘success’ simply means working through each challenge and barrier as it arises. Without good advice or technical assistance, these barriers often become show stoppers.
My advice is quite simple and consistent.
First, apply Google Analytics to your site – it’s free, what are you waiting for? Google Analytics will track all traffic to your site no matter where it came from. There was an excellent tutorial on using Google Analytics in last month’s issue of Nett.
Once you have deployed it, spend some time or a few dollars with a consultant so you truly discover the power of the V8 under the bonnet. If you aren’t tracking your traffic or trying to understand how this core software can improve your bottom line, you may as well go back to basket weaving.
No matter what it takes, get the Google Analytics code on every page of your site. No excuses. This is a simple process and web designers should not charge you much at all. If they do, ask why.
Second, to make your Google AdWords spending easier to manage, set up AdWords Conversion Tracking. This is a small snippet of code added to your sale confirmation page or thank you page for an enquiry. This allows you to measure your return on advertising spend instantly by seeing where your conversions are coming within your paid search campaign. This way you can quickly adjust budgets – delete non-performing keywords and, ultimately, manage your advertising effectively and improve return on investment.
Once you have these two core tracking systems in place, you are ready to start doing some analysis.
Like a good red wine, Google Analytics keeps getting better with age. The features, reporting and functionality, and the pure simplicity of this tool, are truly empowering if – and it’s a big if – you know how to set it up and use it.
The top-level reporting is very helpful, but the true power comes from setting it up for your business. In Google Analytics, you can set up profiles and goals. How many people purchase, how many people sign up, how many enquiries this month? Where did the traffic come from? What keyword did they use to find the site? How long did they stay? You can even set up full e-commerce tracking – right down to the revenue per click you get from each product sale.
All good mystery novels have a key, and in this case, the key is in understanding the user patterns and barriers to conversion. Why are the majority of my site visitors NOT signing up or buying? This is where you should spend your time. Now get tracking!
Stephen Murphy is head of search at payperclick.net.au
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