Business owners are often intimidated by the concept of Google Ads, but when approached correctly it can be a great way to increase leads and clients. If you're new to the Google Ads game, here are some mistakes that might be holding you back.
1. Not targeting the right locations for your campaign.
With location settings, you can target the geographic areas where your ads will appear. You can target by city, zip code, and radius. For local businesses, this means you can target the specific area your customers live in. It's tempting to widen the net to try and capture more customers, but often this just dilutes the effectiveness of your campaign. Make sure that the cities or neighborhoods that you’re targeting are actually local to your business. Setting the target area too wide just wastes your money.
For example, if you're a Philadelphia plumber, targeting Connecticut alongside more local areas is unlikely to get you any more customers but will cost you $$.
2. Squeezing too much into your ad copy
It's tempting to try and get all of the information you can into your ad, especially if your business offers complex services. However, cramming too much into your ad is likely to put people off. The ad doesn't need to explain your services in detail, it just needs to be compelling enough for searchers to click on. Focus on one USP or pain point, include a clear call to action, and be concise.
Don’t stuff your ad copy with keywords, because it's likely that it won't appeal to the searcher. Your ad copy should be natural language and complete sentences.
3. Using the wrong keywords
Keywords are crucial to any Google Ads campaign. One of the biggest mistakes local businesses make is assuming they know the keywords to target without doing any research. This often leads to expensive and ineffective campaigns. Keyword research helps you find exactly what searchers are looking for, and most importantly helps you understand which keywords are lower competition but high search volume. It's that sweet spot of low competition and high volume that where your ads start to generate an impressive ROI.
5. Not targeting demographics like gender, age, and interests
Google Ads is a great way to reach potential customers in your desired demographic. You can target people who are likely within the age range, gender, or parental status/household income level of your ideal client - which means you can get your ad in front of more of the people who need your service, and fewer of those who don't.
6. Having an unappealing landing page design with no call-to-action button
Landing pages have a lot of power. There's not much point in customers clicking your ad, only to be directed to a landing page that is difficult to navigate and has no clear call to action. Your landing page needs to be eye-catching, clean, and easy to navigate so that searchers can follow through and purchase your services.
Conclusion paragraph: Many business owners give up on Google Ads when they don't see results. This is a very powerful marketing channel, but it's easy to make simple mistakes that cost you budget and conversions. Mistakes like overloading your ad copy, using the wrong keywords, and not targeting locations and demographics can all add up to ineffective campaigns. Contact our experts today for help getting started with an effective strategy.