Does Google Adwords Work?

by Laura Wootton on 11-Nov-2013 07:56:00

Find out if you can use Google Adwords to increase your income today!

Many business directors who are keen to develop their business and take it in new directions, come across Google Adwords as an online marketing option. There is a lot of information out there about Adwords’ features and how to use them, but it can be hard to pinpoint EXACTLY what it will do for your business.

How can you measure it? How long does it take to see results? Is it worth it? And does it even work?

In answer to the last question, it has proven to be hugely successful with businesses of all types. This article will explain how, as well as answer all of those other important questions.
Firstly, let’s be clear about the purpose of Google Adwords: it is free software provided by Google to manage online ad campaigns, using the PPC system (pay per click). PPC is where you only pay for the Adwords service when someone clicks on your ads, which are created by you and displayed on Google Ads search results.

So what does this system mean for you?

Because you’re paying per click, Google only makes money if they show the most closely matched ads to searchers’ queries. If you create ads that reflect a good landing page offer, and have closely matched keywords, you will be rewarded by getting shown more often at a higher position in Google Ads results. This is a very clever win-win system created by Google; they make more money with well-placed advertising, while you get more valuable leads that are more likely to convert to sales.

Now for more details on why you should use Google Adwords to enhance your other marketing activities and increase your income. The following points will explain why the time is NOW to set up PPC marketing campaigns:

1. You can easily measure progress

Adwords. PPC beats most other forms of marketing in terms of measurability, including TV, magazines, SEO and Social Media. The reason for this; you can follow the implications of all ad interactions. Including how often the ads were shown, how many were clicked, when, where, what actions they took, the list goes on! This is done by setting timescales and graphs to make comparisons. It is far more transparent, with metrics and ad improvement features at your fingertips, all allowing easily measurable progress down to the smallest detail.

2. Ultimate flexibility

One of Adwords PPC’s greatest strengths is flexibility. Using hundreds of feature variations, you can customise your campaigns, ad groups, ads and keywords to optimise the relevance of your offers and get more people to purchase. Examples are:

Keyword match types (exact, phrase and broad) – to control who sees your ads when they type in a related query
Ad scheduling – to choose what day and time your ads are shown. Lowering bids at low traffic times and raising them when traffic grows
Display Network targeting – for even greater exposure on related websites showing AdSense ads.
Geo-targeting – creating campaigns, ads and keywords for specific locations and radiuses, to filter out low-value visitors.

Fact: Display Network ads reach a massive 90% of all Internet users.

All these features and more allow a flexible approach to precise targeting, to increase conversions, ROI and waste less of your budget.

3. Fast results

Do you want to increase your income and ROI quickly? Another excellent feature of Adwords PPC management is that you will instantly see the results of even the smallest changes made to the campaign. If these changes are judged well, your CTR (click through rate) and impressions will increase instantly and more valuable visitors will convert to sales.

Because changes impact on real time ads straight away, it means you can test the effectiveness of keywords and split test ads on a regular basis. If they improve your campaign success – great! If they don’t, you can quickly and easily amend the changes.

4. Adwords engages potential customers

Google’s priority is to show the highest quality ads with the closest relevance to their keyword searches. So they must constantly improve how PPC ads work to keep customers happy and clicking. Ad extensions are one way of encouraging this, as they attract searchers’ attention and invite them to interact with your business.
Site links extensions: show other useful links on your website under the ad for viewers to click through to.

Location extensions: particularly helpful for local searches, they show an address and link to Google Maps under the ad.
Call extensions: show your chosen telephone number under the ad. Clicks to call using mobile devices can be recorded by Adwords Conversion Tracker.

Other types of ads like product listings and video ads can also encourage high CTR and conversions when selling products, due to their interactivity. This all leads to greater income and further development of your business.

Fact: For keyword searches with the intent to buy commercially, 64% of clicks go to PPC ads.

5. Use with other marketing channels

Adwords PPC can be used to increase your income alongside other online marketing channels, such as Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube), your blog, or marketing emails. If Internet visitors have clicked through to your website from any of the links above, your PPC ads “follow” those people around the Internet to reinforce your business message in their heads. This is a process called remarketing, that gives you superb ROI and higher profit.

Fact: just 2% of people convert on their first visit to a website. Those who see remarketing ads are 70% more likely to complete a purchase.

The results of your money-making efforts on Google Adwords can be measured quickly and easily using timescale comparison graphs, dimensions, split testing and more. Whether you’re a new website or large and established, any Adwords changes will show instantly in the performance of your PPC ads. As for effectiveness, the proven increases in CTR, conversions and ROI demonstrate that this marketing method WORKS. So what are you waiting for? Create an Adwords account now and maximise your income.