Before I jump into our Step-By-Step Guide for Getting Started with Google Ads, I want to ask you, did you read, “Before You Place a Google Ad: The Foundation Needed Prior to Advertising Yourself”? If so, great! You’re ready to move on to Google Ads. If not, stop here. I urge you to take some time to make sure you have a strong business messaging and online foundation before setting up your Google Ads. I promise that if you spend a little time getting ready, you’ll see the fruits of your labor.

Now, the first step is to create your account on Google Ads, (previously known as Google Adwords). You will need a Gmail account, so make sure you have that in place if you don’t already have one. Then, go to https://ads.google.com/ and click the “Start Now” button in the upper right-hand corner. From there, Google Ads will ask you a series of questions to get you started with a Smart Campaign. Unless you’re an expert, I suggest you follow their prompts and process. Smart Campaigns allow Google to do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. Plus, a good thing to know is that Google learns how to optimize your ad the longer you have it online. This is great if you only have a little bit of time per month to work on your ads!

The first question asked is “What is your main advertising goal?” You can choose from “Get more calls”, “Get more website sales or sign-ups”, or “Get more visits to your physical location”. Hopefully, you spent some time thinking about your messaging and your business goals prior to getting to this step, so select the goal that matches your business’ need.

Once you’ve made your selection Google will ask you, “Where are your customers?” This may seem like a simple question but how you answer will greatly affect your ROI, (Return on Investment). The key here is to setup a radius that makes sense for you and your business. Are you a local coffee shop or a boutique salon serving a specific customer demographic? Think about who will be searching for your services. Do you reach customers everywhere in the US, or should you narrow your paid reach down to a 5-mile radius? Make a good judgement call to start with and know that you can change this at any time in the future.

When you reach the next point, Google will ask you for keyword themes. These are the words and phrases your clientele will use in their search to find you. Make sure to select commonly used words that you know match your business’ messaging. Don’t go too broad, make sure the keywords you use are specific to your business’, messaging, and services offered.

Pro Tip: To see what words may be more popular than others, go to https://trends.google.com to look up search terms, view their popularity by region, and compare these terms to others that may be more widely used.

The next step is to write your ad. Do everything you can to fill out each headline and description, and make it engaging with a clear call to action. Then, plan on creating between 3–5 different ads. Google will mix and match when needed to try to encourage engagement, so don’t just write one and be done. At the minimum, make sure you have 3 ads highlighting your business and its services.

One of the final steps is to pick your budget. Google will provide you with suggestions based on the information about your business that you’ve provided. Take into account the information they share and don’t be worried about starting small! Remember that using Google Ads is an investment, and as time goes on Google continues to learn how to optimize your ad. Now is not the time for you to go over budget on your marketing!

Once you’ve entered your billing details, you’re all set! Let Google start working its magic and allow yourself to be excited when you get the first sale from your paid marketing efforts! No, the work does not end there. You should make a commitment to review your Ads at minimum once a month. Things you’ll look at are your keywords and search phrases. Maybe you’ll need to change the location reach of your ad or update your ad copy. Either way, make time to maximize Google’s efforts so you can reach the customers who need you most.

It’s true, you could sign up for Google Ads, enter descriptive words, set a budget, and hit “Start” on a campaign that may, or may not, reach users searching for businesses like yours on Google. Google Ads is a smart program that can offer recommendations over time, and regardless, your ad will reach some of the people you’re looking for. Right?

Well, yes, Google Ads has a lot of features to make your paid advertising work hard for you. But if you’re interested in maximizing your marketing budget to reach exactly who you want, quickly and easily, having a strong foundation in place before you even sign up for Google Ads is essential.

What is that foundation, you may ask? Two, simple, things: Your business’s messaging and your website.

You’ve heard us talk about your businesses’ messaging before. You can’t effectively sell your products or services to potential customers if you cannot clearly explain what you are offering. Sometimes it is as clear as, “Frozen Yogurt in Carmichael, California.” Other times, it’s more involved.

For example, let’s say you’re a small business accountant and tax preparer. Your company serves the Sacramento Region and you specifically focus on retail businesses. Your mission can be as straightforward as “Trustworthy accounting and tax preparation for retail businesses in Sacramento, California.” This may seem really simple, but if you haven’t taken the time to create a one-liner that sums up your business, you’re going to have a difficult time reaching potential clients. In this world of overstimulation, on average we only have three seconds to capture someone’s attention. So, you have to make sure your message is clear, easy to understand, and engaging for those looking for your services..

Once you have that messaging in place, you have to make sure your website shares that message in an easy to navigate setting, that is both welcoming and complimented by genuine content. This is important because Google Ads use Indexing, (their own search or crawl of your website), to pull content and information it believes is relevant to the user’s search. Yes, you input a title and description for Google to share with users searching for businesses like yours, but Google takes it a step further by directing these users to parts of your website it thinks most relevant. And, the more relevant information you have, the more times you’ll show up in searches.

Take some time to review your website and update what you can. Make sure all of your information is correct, and think about your content through the eyes of potential clients. Is your wording easy to understand? Can your viewers identify your services within three seconds? Are there any broken links or sections of the website not working correctly? Fix these problems before moving onto creating your first Google Ad.

Next up, I’ll help you make the jump into Google Ads. How to get setup, develop your strategy, and start seeing results — even if you don’t have a lot of time!

Ready to get started? Jump over this article here: https://medium.com/@celiacoughlinsurridge/our-step-by-step-guide-for-getting-started-with-google-ads-1545c31aa39f

We’ve all heard the term, “pain points,” but do we really understand what it means? Mirriam-Webster’s definition is: A persistent or recurring problem (as with a product or service) that frequently inconveniences or annoys customers. So, when you’re looking at this from a marketing standpoint, what are your customer’s annoyances, inconveniences, or needs that your business solves?

Really? That’s it? Well, yes and no.

Yes, you may know off the top of your head what services you provide, and the benefits for your customers. However, do you know which of your services will help you market your business more effectively? Furthermore, do you know what language your customers are using to solve their pain points?

Before you can really dive into marketing how your business solves problems, you need to clearly identify your customer’s pain points. Here are 3 key questions to ask yourself about your customer’s needs:

1. What is the greatest challenge that your customer is facing right now? If more than one come to mind, then make a list and prioritize.
2. What will happen if the challenges on your list are not addressed? Will it cost additional time or money, for example.
3. What is keeping your customer from tackling these challenges on their own? Time, money, both?

Once you have the answers to these questions written down, let’s take a moment to go even deeper. Can you frame these answers as if you were your customer? For example, you’re an auto-repair company and you provide maintenance and service on most vehicles. Your customer will most likely be searching terms such as, “Why won’t my car run?” or, “Affordable car repair near me”, instead of industry-specific terms. So, take time to step into your customer’s shoes and rework the answers to the above questions from their point of view.

Now that you have this information you can move onto marketing your business more effectively! Go through your website and make sure you’ve addressed these pain points, using your customer’s language. Going back to our original example, you may want to put on your home page that you’re affordable, or even point-blank say, “Asking yourself, ‘Why won’t my car run?’” By doing this you’ll be marketing directly to the customers you’re looking for and increasing your visibility within Google and other search engines. The more your website, social media, and other online marketing channels can speak your customer’s language, the more you’ll reach them.