Does Google Adwords Work?

Does Google Adwords work is one of the many questions we get asked frequently. We have read a number of reviews of whether Google Adwords works, and there have been mixed emotions around the topic. Despite the mixed reactions, it is important to note that most businesses who have used google adwords have benefited in some way. We have from experience of running campaigns for customers seen small to medium businesses benefiting from Google adwords. The answer to this question is therefore ‘it depends’. According to our own experience, it depends on a whole lot of factors.

A lot of people who have approached us to help them with Google Ad words have been told by someone else that Google Adwords works. However, they have failed to ask in detail how Google Adwords worked for them and what their set goals were. Due to this, potential advertisers develop unrealistic expectations of what Google Adwords can do for them without consideration of a number of factors that will help make their Google adwords campaigns a success. Without proper set goals, any campaign is likely to fail, which then raises the question ”does google adwords work”? So to get started, let’s look at how we view google adwords and the factors that can make or break your campaigns.

Google adwords is a ‘foot in the door’

Before we dwell on the factors that make or break your google adwords campaigns, we need you to understand that google adwords is a ‘foot in the door’ for your business. Google adwords is simply giving you a platform or a world stage to be visible to your customers through search, display or videos. What you do with this platform is entirely up to you. The system does provide a good ROI to most businesses. So before we jump into conclusions, its important to take a step back and understand the different factors that make google adwords work or fail. Surprising you will find that some factors are on Google Adwords side but mostly on the advertiser’s side which makes engaging professionals like Cyberplex Africa to handle your campaigns very crucial.

So what are these factors which make google ad words a success or failure you might be asking? Below are a number of factors:

Setting clear goals

In anything you do, lacking a clear goal in mind of what you are trying to achieve, means you cannot develop key performance indicators to measure the success of your campaigns. Lack of clear goals and objectives result in google adwords campaigns being labelled unsuccessful. You therefore need to clearly define your set goals for running the google adwords campaigns. Goals include increase in revenue, leads generations, sign ups, traffic generation or brand awareness in the case of display marketing.

Setting Realistic Conversion Types

We have also come across advertisers who expect specific types of conversions from their google adwords campaigns, which however cannot be properly measured because of the way their campaigns or websites are setup. For example, you find advertisers who expect their google adwords campaigns to increase their revenue but the advertiser’s website is purely an information site which is not geared to convert customers. The set goal becomes difficult to measure because there is no direct way of telling if the campaigns are increasing sales especially when you are using additional channels of marketing besides google adwords. Sales conversions can easily be measured if your website sells product or if its an e-commerce website.

For brochure websites, it therefore makes more logical sense to measure the success of your campaigns through the leads you will get from the campaigns. The advertiser however has to ensure that their website has a contact form which customers can use for enquiries. It is therefore important for advertisers to put into consideration the type of website they have so as to setup realistic goals for the campaign.

Landing Pages

Does Google adwords work? Yes or no? Yes, if your landing pages are geared for conversions and not if your website makes the customer’s journey to conversion difficult. For your Google adwords to work, the journey extends to the landing page as this is were customers convert. It is therefore imperative for advertisers to ensure that the landing pages of the adwords campaigns are relevant to the search and are easy to convert. Taking customers through a lot of hoops or pages to get to the call to action usually result in customers abandoning searches. Internet users are generally not patient, so landing pages that have all the relevant data and a clear call to action are likely going to get customers more conversions.

Budget

The budget plays a crucial role for your campaigns. The most frequently asked question on budget is how much budget is enough. You are probably tired of hearing this answer- again, it depends. To get a top spot, Google considers your quality score and maximum cost per click bid. This therefore means that the higher budget you have, the higher the cost per click per bid you can set. A higher budget, if utilized correctly usually results in higher traffic generation and higher conversions if the landing page is set right. Understandably, some advertisers have shoe string budgets to work with. In cases like this, we advise that its important to be realistic. Expecting a budget of $30 or less to generate you massive amounts of traffic and conversions might result in disappointment. Our advise is, if you are starting off, start with a minimum budget of $100 and let the results guide you on how much you should spend per month. In some instances, Google might provide credit for free for new accounts which will top up to your original budget. The amount varies per country.

Creating Targeted Campaigns

The next point is more relevant to the person setting up the Google ad words campaign. The success of your Google adwords campaign also depends on how the campaigns have been setup and the continuous optimization of the campaigns. There are different aspects to a campaign that need to be set correctly and these are:

Create a good Google adwords account structure – It’s easy to assume that the structure of your google adwords account does not matter, but we assure you it does. Structuring your account right, ensures that you can have the right settings for your campaign and this also ensures that each ad group gets associated with the right keywords that can trigger your adverts. For example, setting a campaign aimed at targeting two different countries which use different languages means you cannot target different languages.

Targeted ads- ensure you create targeted ads and also keep your target market in mind. Your adverts need to include keywords you are targeting, don’t make customers guess.

Keywords – keywords used in a specific ad group need to be more targeted.

Bidding Strategies – the bidding strategies you choose can also have an impact on the performance of your campaigns so ensure you choose the correct bidding strategies.

Does Google Adwords Work – Try for yourself

So does Google Adwords work? Well, from our experience, Google Adwords works. We want to prove it to you so why not engage us in managing your google adwords campaigns and see results for yourself. Contact us today and we will set up your google adwords campaigns for you. We will tailor the campaigns to suit your budget. Contact us at sales@cyberplexafrica.com today!

We also provide website maintenance services and can also assist you in fixing your landing pages to ensure that your pages convert better. Contact us today