Pay per click ads like Google AdWords help marketers save a lot of money. You only pay for every click that people make on your ad. On the other hand, this could be costly if not done right—you could end up paying for clicks that are irrelevant to your product.
To protect yourself from paying for unwanted clicks, focus your AdWords on a specific goal. Below are 4 tips to help you make better, targeted Google AdWords.
1. Research niche keywords
Your target market is the lifeline of any marketing campaign. The success of any marketing effort is determined by how well you communicate your brand and how well you establish a relationship with your target market.
Most Internet marketers make the mistake of optimizing for generic keywords “to get the attention of more people.” Remember that Google AdWords are pay per click ads. Every relevant click is a marketing investment, and every irrelevant click is considered an advertising wastage. If you optimize your Google AdWords for the general public, then be prepared to absorb the loss.
This is why it’s important to put effort into conducting regular qualitative market research. It keeps you updated on changes that happen to your niche—what’s important to them, how they talk, which words make more impact to them, and what they think of your competition. Use this information to make updated niche keyword lists and use them for optimizing your pay per click ads.
2. Geo-targeting
After narrowing down your keyword options, let’s put more focus into your PPC AdWords campaign by geo-targeting.
Geo-targeting allows you to specify in which specific areas or regions you’d like your ads to appear. If your online business is based in the Bay Area and there is no way for you to accommodate purchases from the East Coast, then you can limit the appearances of your Google AdWords to searches that originate from the West Coast. Doing this assures you that no one from the East Coast can click on your ad, and you won’t have to pay for any irrelevant clicks that come from areas that are irrelevant to your business.
3. Site targeting
Site targeting limits your PPC ads’ appearances to specific websites that are relevant to your business. Your PPC service could tap blogs, forums, and other related websites that talk about aspects of your brand.
The objective of site targeting is to get the attention of the people who are already aware of your category and those who already know what to look for. Knowing your audience, it is important to have good landing pages for your AdWords. Make sure that the landing page is relevant to what you talk about in your ad and the topics in the websites where you choose to display your ads.
4. Time-specific targeting
Time-specific targeting allows you to target a particular group of people—those who share the same schedule. If your product is something that helps insomniacs, then it would be a good idea to only have your Google AdWords appear during the night, most likely between 11 pm and 5 am.
The above strategies allow you to control the number of clicks you pay for and ensure that your spending generates ROI.