A study by Bambrick Media

VER. 1 A study by Bambrick Media

What s In The Report? 1) About The Author 2) How To Double Your Leads 3) Keyword Optimisation 4) Landing Page Optimisation 5) A/B Split Testing 6) Quality Score Optimisation 7) Bid Optimisation 8) Audience Optimisation 9) Using Buyer Personas 10) Special Offer

About The Author Jason McMahon is the head of digital strategy for Bambrick Media. He currently oversees millions of dollars in digital marketing spend and consults on digital strategies for brands such as the Coles group, CBRE, Museum Of Brisbane & Brisbane Powerhouse. - Jason Mcmahon, Marketing Director

How To Double Your Leads Google AdWords is either a money earning machine or a money burning machine depending on how it's set up. If you're like most businesses, you've tried AdWords, you've got some traffic, you've got some enquiries, but for what you're paying, shouldn't you be getting a lot more? The answer is YES! Sometimes the smallest changes can turn an AdWords campaign from a money pit into a cash cow. This report shows you what those changes are and what to do about it.

Keyword Optimisation

Keyword Optimisation Poor keyword management is the number one reason why businesses spend more money on AdWords than they need to. While managing your campaign keywords effectively won t fix all that s wrong with your PPC efforts, it is a major aspect of an AdWords campaign and needs to be given the time and attention it deserves. Broad Match Keywords Won t Broaden Your Marketing Horizons Relying exclusively on broad match keywords is a sure-fire way to see your AdWords budget drain away without seeing any real returns on your investment. Unless you specify another match type, for example, phrase match, this is the match type your keywords will be assigned. So, what s wrong with broad match keywords and why should you limit your use of them?

While using broad match keywords does offer some benefits, such as reducing the time you spend building keyword lists, as these keywords generally have a higher acquisition cost, they can lower your overall ROI. What s more, if your broad match keywords appear to be relevant for a high number of search terms, they can also hurt your Quality Score. That s why other match types are often a better choice. For example, exact match shows your ads to users searching for those exact search terms, along with some close variations, which contributes to a higher click-through rate. Using the broad match modifier is another way you can increase the relevance of your ads, as it shows on searches containing the search term in any order, enabling you to target searches which include at least one of your keywords. Increase Ad Relevance With SKAGs Another way to increase the relevance of your ads is to use single keyword ad groups(skags). SKAGs are highly advantageous to use, for not only does their greater relevance lead to a higher conversion rate and Quality Score, but as they deliver a lower cost per click and, therefore, lower costs per conversion they ultimately lead to increased sales and profits. Turning Negative Keywords Into Positive Actions Leveraging negative keywords streamlines your AdWords campaigns by helping you to filter out people who your ads would be shown to. This reduces poor-quality clicks, increases the quality of leads, boosts your click-through rate and ROI, and maximises your budget. Additionally, using negative keywords in your campaigns helps to reduce the bounce rates of your landing page. Essentially, the keywords you select for your AdWords campaign should be aligned with your business goals and have the highest search volume. While some low volume keywords may be relevant, if they re not driving traffic to your website, there s little point in keeping them. This also has the effect of helping you to focus on the keywords that are most important to your business.

Landing Page Optimisation

Landing Page Optimisation The impact of the website or landing page that you send users to is a crucially important aspect of your AdWords campaign. Many businesses work hard at optimising their AdWords ads, but if they succeed in getting users to click through to an unappealing webpage which they promptly leave, is that success? Of course not. Don t forget that getting people to your landing page is essentially what AdWords ads are all about. If your landing page doesn t convert users into high-quality leads, then there s no points for guessing where your entire AdWords campaign is heading.

Dedicated Landing Pages Deliver Greater Impact So, where should you send users who click your ads? Having your homepage as a landing page may seem logical, but as there s little chance of them finding what they re looking for instantly, that s only going to increase your bounce rate. And that can have a negative effect on your search engine rankings. A dedicated landing page is essential if you re to get the most from your AdWords campaign and marketing budget. Having said that, the landing page you send users to needs to deliver the right impact, so you ll need to create a landing page that effectively explains your business s value proposition. So, how can you go about achieving this? That s something that you re going to have to work at because there s no one-size-fits-all approach to landing page creation that you can implement. After all, landing pages are in many ways just as diverse as the people businesses are looking to influence with their AdWords ads. As you can well imagine, an online fashion store promoting their latest t-shirts will have a completely different offer and call to action to a digital agency promoting their website design services. Or a real estate business offering property management. And so on. Landing Pages That Convert Clicks Into Leads High-converting landing pages do, however, share common characteristics. These include a strong headline, informative ad text that speaks the user s language, a relevant image, a logical flow that encourages them to keep reading, a testimonial that builds trust, a means of contact and, of course, a great call to action that really inspires the user to take the action you desire. And in an era in which more than 60% of users search via mobile devices, it must be optimised for mobile. While your landing page may contain all these essential elements, how will you know whether it s converting as strongly as it could? The answer to that is testing.

A/B Split Testing

A/B Split Testing Failing to test ads and landing pages is a prominent reason why many businesses spend more on AdWords than they need to. Using A/B tests (also known as split tests and bucket tests) essentially takes the guesswork out of ad and landing page optimisation by enabling you to compare two versions of an ad or landing page to determine which performs better. By showing two versions of the same ad or landing page to users at random, you can use statistical analysis to determine which version performs better for a particular conversion goal. This conversion goal may be a phone call, a download, an RSS subscribe, or the ultimate conversion goal a purchase.

Gain Powerful Insights With A/B Testing A/B testing takes time, but it is an all-important aspect of optimisation which enables you to gain powerful, data-informed insights into every element of your ads and landing pages, from the headline, subheading, ad text and image to the offer and call to action. So, how does it work? With an A/B test, you create a second version of an ad or landing page with one element the headline, ad text, image, etc. altered. 50% of users are shown the original and the other 50% the altered version, with the user engagement data collected and analysed using Google Analytics and Google AdWords. When the test has run its course, you can then determine which user experience was the more positive of the two, or if both versions delivered the same degree of user engagement. Test For Success To get the most from your A/B tests, only one element should be tested at a time. This allows you to pinpoint which version of the ad text or call to action, etc. delivers the most positive user experience, the most clicks and, therefore, the higher conversion rate. By continually testing your ads and landing pages, you can gain insights into user experiences and optimise your ads and landing page for success.

Quality Score Optimisation

Quality Score Optimisation which is higher than the cost per click you re also going to get more conversions for less money. Therefore, by optimising your ads and improving your quality score, you re going to get higher returns on your Google considers three factors when PPC marketing investment. determining how to rank your AdWords ads your keyword bid, your quality score (the To reduce AdWords expenditure, get more relevance of your website and ads to the qualified clicks, more conversions and, keywords targeted and the expected impact ultimately, improve your overall ROI, you from your ad extensions and other ad need to improve your quality score. formats. Overlooking quality score is a Therefore, the big question is, How can I common reason for overspending on improve my Quality Score? Starting by AdWords, so give this important metric the understanding that relevance is the primary time and attention it warrants. factor in determining a quality score, there are several key areas to work at improving. A good way to see your quality score is to compare it to your personal credit rating. 1) Keywords: Research and organise Just as your credit score determines the keywords into groups that can be tied to interest rate applied and, ultimately, how individual AdWords campaigns and add much you repay, so too does your quality negative keywords to exclude irrelevant score determine how much you ll pay for search terms. your ads and how they perform. Essentially, your quality score has a direct impact on 2) AdWords Text: Use A/B testing to increase your AdWords/PPC marketing success. the relevance of your ad text to your target audience, enhance the click-through rate and The higher the score, the lower the click cost improve the overall effectiveness of ads. 3) Landing Page: Optimise your landing As a general rule, the higher the quality pages to ensure they directly connect and score the lower the cost per click, but as this are relevant to your ads, which provides a trend also applies to the cost per conversion cohesive and positive experience for visitors.

Bid Optimisation

Bid Optimisation If you re not adjusting your bids to take into account factors such as time, device and location, then it s safe to say that you re not getting as much from your Google AdWords campaign as you could be. In fact, it s highly likely that your PPC marketing budget is hemorrhaging money. Targeted Ads For Better Leads and Greater ROI Monitoring the performance of ads on different devices enables you to identify which devices your ads are performing well on and which aren t. This allows you to allocate more of your budget to high-performing devices and less to those which aren t delivering optimal results. The outcome? More targeted ads, more qualified leads and better ROI on your AdWords campaign. The same technique can also be applied to time and location. By consulting your data, you can determine the time of day your target audience is likely to be online and adjust your ad bids accordingly. You can also use data to see which search locations are delivering the highest conversions and bid higher in those locations and lower in others, if you choose to bid for them at all don t forget that you can exclude geographical areas to use your budget more wisely. Not All Customers Behave Alike While mobile devices typically provide better click-through rates, that doesn t mean you should only bid for mobile devices. Naturally, you should consult your data to determine where you re getting the most conversions from and adjust your bids accordingly, but you should also factor in what you know about the behaviour of your customers. A good example of this is the many online shoppers who do their research on a mobile device perhaps on the commute home from work or during their lunch break and then return to a site on their desktop to make the purchase. To maximise conversions and show your ads to as

many people as possible, you might increase mobile bids to capitalise on the high number of mobile searches and then create another ad group for desktop searches. As desktop searches typically show stronger intent to buy, it s advantageous to use high intent keywords which indicate strong intent by the searcher to conduct a transaction. This could be intent to enquire, get a quote or make a purchase. When you have a good understanding of searcher intent, you can adjust your bids to target customers at this stage of the sales funnel.

Audience Optimisation

Audience Optimisation people within your local or service area, you won t be paying to show your ads needlessly and that delivers greater ROI. But don t stop there if you re to maximise the results of your AdWords campaigns, as Using Google AdWords targeting tools you can exclude all non-relevant traffic from correctly is essential to maximising your seeing your ads by targeting specific devices overall ROI and delivering highly qualified and times of day. This helps you to further leads for your campaign. To give an example, refine your ad audience and reach the right showing your ads at the right time of day is customers for your business. essential if you re to bring your ads to the attention of your target audience. Once you ve determined the times that your target audience is likely to be online, use the Ad Schedule feature in your campaign s Settings tab to show your ads only during these times. If your ads show at all times of the day, you ll exhaust your budget quickly and that could prevent you from reaching your target audience. While this is a common mistake, one which can prove expensive if it isn t rectified, it isn t the only mistake that businesses make with their AdWords campaigns. Limit Ad Reach For Greater ROI Another way to use targeting tools to your advantage involves limiting your ads reach to people in your target geographical location. By limiting the reach of your ads to

Using Buyer Personas

Using Buyer Personas Not fully understanding buyer personas and target audiences has prevented many businesses from realising the full potential of AdWords and the many benefits it offers. Basically, if you don t have the complete picture of your ideal customer, how can you create AdWords ads that appeal to prospective customers? As all of us can imagine, it s difficult to relate to people you don t know, so developing a solid understanding of your buyer persona(s), i.e. the customers you re trying to attract, is critical. This understanding is crucially important when creating any marketing materials and strategies relating to customer acquisition and retention. And, naturally, this includes AdWords ads which vie for the attention of customers in what is essentially an increasingly crowded marketplace. Tailor Your Ads To Target Your Audience But it isn t enough to understand your ideal customer s needs, desires, concerns and behaviour, as you need to tailor your ads so they ll appeal to your target audience and encourage them to click on your ads. The more detailed your buyer personas, the easier tailoring ad copy, images, offer and call to action to appeal to these people will be. Along with lacking an adequate understanding of buyer personas, many businesses waste their AdWords budgets because they don t understand prospective customers intent or position on the marketing funnel. When you know at which stage of the funnel a customer is awareness, interest/consideration, and intent/evaluation/purchase you can then tailor every element of your ads and corresponding landing pages to target customers at that particular stage.

Match Offer To Customer Intent For example, by tailoring your ads offer and call to action to match the customer s intent, you can continue to tempt them if they need more tempting or take them right to the buying stage if they re ready to buy. When you understand your buyer personas and can identify a prospective customer s position on the marketing funnel, you re empowered to create AdWords ads that deliver real results.

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