The Marketer’s Guide to Google AdWords

Google AdWords is one of the most well-known marketing tools offered by google, and albeit a more complicated one than the likes of Google Analytics or Keyword Planner. Getting started with AdWords is a little trickier as not only it takes a considerably longer time to get accustomed to it with all its jargons and acronyms, but at the end of the day, it also requires a significant amount of money to be invested initially.
Therefore, before getting started to know AdWords, it is important to consider whether the business you are dealing with even requires AdWords in the first place.

Basically, AdWords is an online advertising platform powered by Google, where companies can create online ads to reach their potential customer base. These ads show up in Google search results as well as on websites that have enabled Google Display ads.

AdWords supports the mode of PPC advertising where the advertiser pays for each click on their ad. To display their ads through AdWords advertisers first need to choose when and where they want the ad to be placed and then bid a certain amount of money that they will be paying per click. The higher the bidding, the more frequently the ads appear.

Now, coming to the question of whether a business even needs this tool or not, it is important to realise that AdWords being a completely self-service platform, it is the user who will be fully controlling the budget and settings. These can be altered at any time. But based on the goals, business model and target audience, making these choices can prove to be an overwhelming affair. If you are wondering whether AdWords is the right tool needed by your business or not, consider these key aspects:
You should go for AdWords only when you have time enough to invest into learning how to operate on the platform, or else you will be getting negative ROI
AdWords should come into the scenario if the business goal is to acquire new customers
Having considered these two situation, if integrating AdWords into your marketing strategy seems like the right step to take, then the next thing to do would be to set a proper game plan, and here is a step by step guide on how to go about that:

Define your goals: The whole idea of AdWords is that it should pay for itself, i.e. the profit margin between the cost of the advertisement and the consequent sales should be big enough to be able to cover the former with some surplus left. Initially you might lose a little money while you are still figuring out the platform but it should return profits soon after. It is important to calculate your CPA (cost per acquisition) and decide accordingly how much you should spend on your ads in a way that it generates profit.

Create the landing page: When someone clicks on your ad, the website that they are redirected to is called the landing page. Create the landing page keeping in mind that its sole purpose is to sell the product. To create a high-converting landing page, you need to consider the following things:
a)The landing page should clearly display whatever you are willing to sell
b)There should be a ready call to action in your landing page, asking your visitor to buy the product.
c) Keep the forms short. When you ask for too much information it drives potential customers away.
d) Incorporate elements like customer reviews or testimonials of the product to ensure them that the product is genuine
e) The landing page should contain comprehensive data related to the purchase in the form of graphic and easy to understand content


Bid on keywords:Bidding on AdWords actually means that you are paying Google to show your ad any time someone searches up the certain keywords that you have included in your AdWords plan. Hence you would want to bid on keywords that are most relevant to your business website. A quick scan of your business page should give you the most used keywords throughout your website and then you can prioritise among them to decide which ones you want to include in the bidding.
These are only the ground rules for someone who is just starting to explore the world of Google AdWords. As a marketer, knowing your way around this platform is a very valuable skill. For a business, if implemented correctly, AdWords can bring in a very high rate of conversion. But before that, further research and a deeper understanding of the platform is absolutely necessary.