Google AdWords takes time to work
For some lucky advertisers, AdWords starts delivering great results from the start. For most of us though, it takes much longer: Potentially several months.
If after 2 months you’re questioning whether or not to continue using AdWords, you’re probably suffering from a case of misplaced expectations.
It depends on your industry of course, but to start enjoying very profitable returns you need to plan on giving it 3-6 months AT LEAST before you can reasonably say AdWords will or will not work in the long term.
Remember: AdWords in the early months is an investment, build good foundations and it will reward you with profitable returns in the long term. Consider your first few months spend as the cost of doing business: You’re investing in your own future. DO NOT expect to make profitable returns straight away – It will not happen.
Google AdWords gets better over time.
Every month you’re going to be doing the following at the very least:
- Adding negative keywords (to stop keywords that don’t convert showing your ads)
- Adding biddable keywords (to find new opportunities)
- Testing New Adverts to increase Click Through Rate (CTR)
- Improving your targeting by trying different match types
- Adjusting bids based on time of day, day of week, device and geography
As this process continues, you’re constantly making small incremental improvements to your campaign performance. By that very nature, the longer you stick with it, the better things generally become.
You MUST track ALL conversions
By conversions I mean: Every sale, email, form submit and telephone enquiry. To do this you will need to have your web developer insert the Google AdWords conversion tracking code into your website. Any competent web developer will be familiar with this already and the cost of implementation is minuscule compared to the added performance it will certainly bring..
In order to optimise your AdWords campaign to generate more conversions, we first need to know exactly when and from where these conversions originate. AdWords can track every email , online form submission and even telephone call you receive and attribute it to the keyword that resulted in that conversions. This means you can then optimise these keywords to generate more conversions.
Get your website in shape – be objective.
Be objective: Is your website up to scratch? How does it compare to your biggest competitor?
Do not get emotionally involved with your website: It’s a tool to make you money and you need to view it with objectivity. If you are going to pay for people to arrive at your website using Google AdWords you need to ensure you give them the experience they expect.
It doesn’t matter how well your AdWords campaigns are managed, if your competitors websites are doing a better job , then you’re going to lose out.
AdWords will not compensate for a poor product and/or service.
If you’re getting the basics wrong, AdWords will just amplify your problems. If your product is not up to standard or your service is terrible then AdWords will not fix it.
Get your business in order before you invest in AdWords advertising.
