Is using AdWords a business no-brainer or a waste of money? As we are AdWords specialists, you might expect us to say it is a business no-brainer. The fact is, however, that we have seen many examples of AdWords campaigns that are a complete waste of money.
Rather than thinking about whether AdWords is a waste of money or an essential business tool, you should, instead, consider the differences between a successful AdWords campaign and one that isn’t.
The Fact is, AdWords Works
In 2017, Google’s revenues were 111 billion US dollars. The vast bulk of that – 94 billion US dollars – came from advertising, i.e. AdWords. So, when we say AdWords works, it certainly works for Google. That said, most of the companies and other organisations around the world who spent 94 billion US dollars on AdWords campaigns did so because it works for them too.
You’re probably reading this, though, because you have seen and heard horror stories about AdWords campaigns that don’t work. It is true – some people do waste money on AdWords. The trick is to avoid the mistakes these people make.
When you do this, your AdWords campaigns will be successful. In other words, you will generate new leads and sales as a direct result of ads running on Google’s network.
Of course, if you’re generating new leads and sales in a profitable way, AdWords is the very definition of a business no-brainer.
Avoiding the AdWords Money Wasting Pitfalls
Below are the top pitfalls to avoid so you can ensure your AdWords campaigns are successful:
Running Campaigns When You Don’t Know How AdWords Works
When you run an AdWords campaign, your ads are in competition with other ads targeting the same keywords. Unless you know how this auction works, you are likely to get beaten by those that do.
What does this mean? Firstly, you will pay more per click plus you will get fewer clicks than the competition.
Not Understanding Keywords and Negative Keywords
When you run an AdWords campaign, you shouldn’t simply select keywords that are related to your industry. Instead, you must identify keywords that will generate results for your business. This is normally keywords that have a buying intent.
In addition, you should use negative keywords to prevent clicks that won’t result in sales. Remember, your focus should be on ROI, not volume of clicks.
Failing to Research Your Competition
It is important you look at what the competition is doing too. Focus primarily on the four ads that appear at the top of search results pages for your chosen keywords. Can you identify anything with those campaigns that helps them win the top positions? How can you do better?
Not Having an Objective for the Campaign
You should also understand why you are running an AdWords campaign. For many people, this is to generate sales or leads, but these are not the only objectives you can have. Clearly defining your objective is important.
Being Unable to Measure Return on Investment
It is also important you have a way of measuring success. This means more than looking at how many clicks you got and how much those clicks cost you. You must also know the amount of revenue and profit those clicks generate so you can calculate ROI and properly determine the success of the campaign.
Failing to Optimise Every Element of an AdWords Campaign
Your AdWords campaign can cost you more than it should for several reasons. This includes poor keyword selection, poor negative keyword selection, incorrect bidding strategy, a badly written ad, an ineffective landing page, and more. To be successful, you need to optimise all these elements.
Not Getting Professional Help
As you can see, running a successful campaign is complicated. You can get results, though, when you have professional help. In fact, even when you add in the fees of a professional AdWords campaign manager, you will still get a better return on investment.
So, AdWords can be a no-brainer for your business, so long as you approach it correctly.
