• Tweet
• Sumo

• Tweet

A great adwords campaigns can help grow your business quickly. Bad ones can cost you a lot of money. The hard part is getting all your marketing dominoes in place so they all tip into each other.

You must first understand how your keywords tip to your ad, your ad tips to your landing page and your landing page convinces people that your offer is exactly what they need.

If you’ve ever created a Google adwords campaign before, then you’ve probably had an “ok” response, especially in the beginning.

I started working with a client a few years ago. I wanted him – let’s call him Alex – to create a Google campaign, but he resisted. He had tried them in the past, but he didn’t have much success.

Alex resisted because he was afraid he would get the same results. Money spent with no new leads generated.

There are a lot of nuances to Google ads. You can’t just slap up an ad and expect people to swarm to send you their information. You have to be intriguing, persuasive and clickable to get people to go to your page.

And it doesn’t stop there.

That’s why I wrote this post. I wanted trustworthy local businesses to get maximum value out of their Google ads.

Top 3 Biggest Google Adwords Mistakes:

1. Weak Copywriting
2. No Landing Page
3. Not Having a Clear Benefit

Let’s break it down.

1. Weak Copywriting

There are certain words that trigger excitement, trust, and intrigue, and then there are words that are just blasé and don’t catch your attention.

Learning how to use the right combination of words is vital to getting people to click through to your website.

We’ll break down the Google Ad screen shot of the search term “replace my roof”. I picked this term because this ad showcases the good and bad of Google Adwords copywriting.

You can see the first ad has a good understanding of what they are trying to accomplish. They want you to visit their site so they can have your project bid on by experts. They build trust in their ad by saying “local” and “licensed expert roofers”.

The second ad is simple and uses the word “free” which is a very powerful word and draws people’s attention. This is another site that tries to aggregate roofers and send out multiple quotes. The problem is there isn’t a connection at all. “Get Up to 4 Quotes Today” is now a powerful call to action. Makes it seem like it’s like it’s not a very polished process.

The first one is much stronger and more clickable.

The third ad makes a huge mistake by choosing the wrong keywords. If I want to replace my roof and their ad comes up, then they aren’t getting targeted traffic. They might get a small percentage of people clicking through, but the ones that do probably aren’t going to be their ideal customer.

The key to a good ad is to draw their attention in, build trust and make sure they understand the benefit of clicking through. Their time is valuable and you need to make sure you are targeting people that you can help.

2. No Landing Page

This is one of my biggest pet peeves with some companies Google ads. If you don’t have a landing page when people click through to your site it kills your conversion rate.

When you send people to your site without a clear call to action, people don’t know what to do next. They may click around, but without any direction most likely they’ll click away and not come back.

My client’s landing page is far from perfect, but we are at a 7.14% conversion rate. A very good conversion rate. We aren’t resting though. We are split testing to bring our conversion rate up.

Here is a screenshot from a landing page I created for the client:

The page is simple, earns trust and they can really only do one thing once they land on it – fill out the form. That’s it. Because people are busy, keep things simple and make filling out the form worth their time.

The key to creating a domino effect on your landing page is using each element to support the next.

Step-by-Step Process

1. Create an attention grabbing headline.
2. Explain the benefits of what you do.
3. Show people why you should be trusted.
4. Develop a strong call to action that they can’t refuse.

Once you have all four elements in place you’ll have a landing page that creates a domino conversion effect.

3. Not Having a Clear Benefit

The key to conversion is developing an emotional connection as quickly as you can between the potential client’s wants or desires and what your products or services can offer them. That means you must focus on the benefits.

Many of my clients make the mistake of focusing on features.

The feature is how you describe the service or product you offer. For example if you sell blinds and shutters – they may have a 10 year warranty, are made of durable plastic that looks like wood and come in 18 different colors. These are great features, but what is the benefit of these features?

1. The benefit of a 10 year warranty is that you believe in your product and will replace it if the internal components stop working. (You guarantee they will be happy with their purchase.)
2. The benefit of “made of durable plastic that looks like wood” is long-lasting blinds that will save you from having to buy new blinds in 5 years, and having the look of real wood without the higher cost. (Your blinds save customers time and money)
3. The benefit of “18 different colors” is you are able to match the color of the blinds to any room in the house, keeping the decor congruent and beautiful. (Your blinds will match any home decor, making it easy for them to create the look they want.)

By talking about the benefits instead of the features will have a more direct emotional connection that makes it easier for them to say “yes” to filling out the response form on your landing page.

Explaining the benefits instead of just describing the features on your landing page will help you boost your conversion rate. Seems very simple, but many ads focus on the features instead of the benefits, which drive sales.

You have to create a domino effect that starts with generating interest, then builds trust and connects with one of your prospect’s emotional triggers.

* Do you need help with your Google Ads conversion rate? I can help. I enjoy helping people expand their ability to connect with prospects through marketing. Just fill out the contact form and let me know how I can help.