Do Google AdWords (PPC) Really Work?

Written by Adi Young @ Eight Zero

A question I regularly get asked is, ‘Do Google AdWords Really Work?’. 
The long and short answer is a resounding yes – and if done correctly - will attract new customers, encourage repeat business and increase your annual turnover.

Google AdWords Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising account for around 96% of Google’s annual revenue, which leaves no doubt in my mind, that they have a product which is benefiting their customers time and again.

Here are the top five reasons why your business should consider running Google AdWords campaigns.

• You only pay when someone clicks on your advert – therefore you are only paying for results.
• Target customers depending on their device (desktop, tablet, laptop or mobile)
• Advertise by physical distance from your shop or business – this can be by area (distance to post code) or by country if you are a global business.
• Set realistic daily budgets and monitor campaign effectiveness as and when you please.
• You can pause, cancel and adjust bidding spend once campaigns are running, giving you total flexibility throughout.

Manage Adwords campaigns - pause, cancel and adjust bidding spend.

With Google AdWords, you have total control of your keywords and daily spend, making this kind of advertising a great way to market any product or service.  

To get the best results, there are a few essential things that need to happen before you begin your Google AdWords campaign:

Keyword Lists
Begin going through each service or product page on your website and start to make a list of all the possible keywords a customer may type into Google which could find your business. This will give you an initial list of keywords for your Google AdWords campaign.

Keyword Research
The next step is to use Google’s Keyword Planner (or another research tool) to determine more detailed information about your keyword list. These tools will help you decide which keywords are worth keeping and which to ditch – based on relevance and competition (higher competition increases costs per click). These tools will help you estimate costs and number of clicks.

Optimised Landing Pages
You must make sure that your website has relevant landing pages which relate to each of your keyword queries. Each keyword must have a corresponding, optimised landing page on your website, to entice the user to ‘take action’ (whatever that may be - Requesting a call-back or buy now).
Without landing page optimisation, your conversion rate will suffer, leading to increases in costs to get the results you are looking for.
Keyword research and optimised landing pages are the groundwork for any successful Google AdWords Campaign.

What are you waiting for?
Google regularly offer free £50-100 vouchers to get you up and running with your AdWords campaigns – which is a great way trial the platform. 

Done correctly, there is are no reasons why Google AdWords can’t work in your favour.

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