PPC advertising has many benefits for small businesses – especially Google Ads.
Google Ads, formerly known as AdWords, has long been an effective way to generate more traffic to your site. But many small businesses fail to make the most of the power of Google Ads, which can be used as a quick way to generate profit and grow your business.
What is PPC advertising?
PPC stands for Pay Per Click, which essentially means you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.
There are many PPC platforms out there, but the most widespread is Google Ads.
Bing Ads, Facebook Ads, and other search engines and social media platforms also
The Benefits of Google Ads for small businesses
Reach customers at precisely the right moment
Focusing on Google Search Ads, you can reach customers at the exact moment they are searching for what you have to offer.
Rather than traditional marketing or advertising, whereby you are pushing a product, service or brand on an unwilling audience, you are showing your ad to people who want what you have to offer.
Traditional methods may fall on deaf ears. But with Google Ads, your ad is being greeted by keen eyes.
The intent is very different. Anyone searching on Google using terms you choose is likely looking for information, deals, products or services at the precise moment your ad is displayed. This means they are more likely to come to your site, convert or purchase.
Get results fast
Optimising your site for search engines can take a while to show results. While SEO is critical for any business to thrive online, Google Ads will get you results faster.
As soon as your ads are live, your business will be displayed at the top of the search results for the terms you want to bid on.
Separate from organic SEO
With SEO, there’s no guarantee you will make the first page for certain terms if they are competitive, and even then, it may take some time to show up if you have done everything right. But again, this is all dependent on the term. With PPC, if you have the budget for a particular term, you can be at the top.
And for many small businesses, it’s impossible to topple the big names in the industry for particular terms. With Google Ads, it’s a level playing field which allows you to get the number 1 spot. You can get your ads straight to the top, even if you can’t topple competitors for SEO.
If your budget isn’t bottomless, which obviously it isn’t, you can find the right key terms to bid on to ensure you get the most for your money.
Target only those you want to
With Search Ads, you simply target the terms that your audience will be most likely to be searching for. Rather than targeting incredibly vague or broad keywords, you can target the exact words of phrases people looking for your product or service will be using.
You can also show ads at certain times, in certain locations, for certain devices, and much more.
If you opt for Display ads, you can display these where your audience hangs out online.
Measurable and optimisable
Everything you do with PPC advertising is measurable, which means you can easily monitor and optimise your campaigns.
With Google Ads, you can easily see your conversions, costs, clicks, visits and much, much more.
It is simple to see which campaigns are working well, and where to allocate your budget. The real skill comes in when it comes to optimising campaigns to ensure top-tier performance.
Data-driven marketing is a must for any business that wants to take digital marketing campaigns seriously, and Google Ads are a very data-driven marketing channel.
Suitable for any budget
As touched upon, PPC advertising is suitable for businesses with any budget.
Whether you are looking to spend hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands, you can spend as much as you like, or don’t like.
You can limit your spend for your overall account and individual campaigns to ensure you don’t go over your budget.
And as it is all measurable, you can optimise your campaigns so they generate a good ROI. And this means you can spend more in the future where you are getting the best ROI.
Beat the competition
Google Ads allow you to directly compete with your competitors – if they are advertising for the same terms and in the same places.
If they are indeed advertising, you can learn from your competitors, and spot any gaps in their marketing.
With competitor analysis and particular tools, you can find keywords that generate them business, and use them for your own profits.
You can look at the copy your competitors use, and see how you can improve upon them.
If you achieve a superior click-through rate than your competitors, then you can improve your quality score and pay less for your clicks – which helps improve the ROI of your campaigns.
Brand awareness
Target terms related to your industry, products or services in order to get your brand name out there.
If you choose not to target incredibly specific terms, targeting broad terms can ensure your brand name gets in front of anyone searching for terms related to your industry. This will help establish your brand as an authority, which they may later choose to do business with.
Retargeting
One powerful feature of Google Ads is retargeting.
Once someone has been on your site, you can retarget your ads to only those people.
Why would you do this? Well, they have been on your site and are clearly somewhat interested in what you have to offer. But maybe they didn’t convert or make a purchase there and then. Why should that end there?
You can follow them around the web with your ads. It’s not intrusive, but it does help cement your brand, and helps remind them to come back to your site and finish what they were doing earlier. You can do this on the Google Display Network or via Google Search.
This is very powerful as they were clearly once interested – and if you can get your ad seen by them again and again, then there is a much higher chance they will come back. You need to act while their needs are still fresh, and your product or service is still something they are thinking about.
Google Ads have many benefits for businesses of all sizes, and play an important role in digital marketing.
Whatever you are looking to achieve, both in your digital marketing and overall business growth, there is no doubt that Google Ads and PPC advertising can play a pivotal role in helping you achieve your goals.
