Google Ads are one of the many ways to market your local business. Through Google Ads, you can create online campaigns to reach the right people exactly when they’re interested in your service. Before starting a campaign, you’ll want to have a strategy and plan in place as well as a basic understanding of how to effectively use Google Ads so that you aren’t going in blindly. This includes planning a budget, picking the type of ad, finding the right keywords, creating focused ad groups, developing ad copy and landing pages, and selecting a bidding model.
Truthfully, Google Ads come with a lot of trial and error. What works for one business doesn’t always work for another. Even though “all ads are not created equal”, there are some standard evaluation guidelines that are universal.
There are many types of Google ads that you can choose from to reach the right people:
- Display Ads
- Search Ads
- Gmail Ads
- YouTube Ads
- Remarketing Ads
Each ad accomplishes its own goal and deciding on which ad to run depends on your specific business goals. We understand that building and running a Google Ads campaign may already be a challenging hurdle to overcome. Once it’s up and running, how can you tell that it’s actually performing? One of the most important parts to understanding if your Google Ads campaign is successful is to consistently monitor and analyze its progress.
It may be easy to feel overwhelmed when it comes to analysis and the many tools that come with it, but there’s no need to be scared of it – let’s discuss the top 4 things to monitor and how you can easily evaluate your campaign.
4 Ways to Track Your Ads Progress
1. Clicks
Your clickthrough rate is an indicator of your ad’s health because it shows how often people click on your ad after seeing it. An underlying guideline is if your clickthrough rate is 1% or lower, you are most likely targeting an irrelevant audience. There are some adjustments you can make to improve your clicks. If you’re not seeing many clicks to your website, consider creating a new image and update the copy.
2. Conversions
After setting up your ad campaign, you’ll want to know how many leads you are generating through the ad(s). Depending on your specified type of conversion, you can track actions that a prospect takes. Conversions will help you understand if you are targeting or gaining traction with the right people.
How you set up your ads will influence the type of actions you want your prospects to take. Here’s how two popular ad types differ.
- Website: This ad is for anyone who wants to track an action that a prospect takes through your website. Actions can include signing up for a newsletter, clicking on an offer, clicking on a contact us button, etc.
- Phone: This ad is for anyone who wants to track calls. Actions can include calls from ads, from your website, or clicking on a phone number on your mobile site.
If you’re not seeing a high conversion rate, consider modifying your landing page or design. You can also consider changing your target audience as you may be reaching the wrong prospects.
3. Use Reports
Reporting will give you the visibility you need into your ad campaigns. Key performance metrics like your types of conversions, cost per click, cost per lead, and ad spend will all help you determine if your ad is profitable.
4. Measure your Return on Investment (ROI)
Knowing your ROI helps you evaluate whether the money you’re spending on Google Ads is profiting your business. Gaining visibility into the functionality of your ad campaign will help you understand its performance. Once you’ve measured your clicks and conversions, you can begin to evaluate your ROI. The value of each lead should be greater than the amount that you spent to get the lead.
These four tips are a great introduction to helping you understand if your ad is on fire or falling short. There’s a lot of data and information available to you, especially through our all-in-one platform.
Ask for Help and Let’s Work Together
At Surefire Local, you can choose to add a digital marketing strategist to your software package. This coach is available to take the lead on your marketing strategy and work with you to build a personalized plan. More importantly, they can help you completely optimize your Google Ads campaigns so that you don’t have to on your own. When you see that certain aspects of your ads aren’t performing the way you want, your digital marketing strategist can review your campaign with you and help make the actual modifications.
Remember when we said measuring the ROI of your campaign is one of the key ways to track your ads performance? Well, one of the greatest parts of the Surefire Local Marketing Platform is that you never have to worry about wasting money because you can see the results of all your activities and campaigns in one place. Instead of having to sign into a dozen different tools and learn how to operate them (like the Google Ads interface), you’re able to oversee and manage your marketing from one easy-to-use place that can be accessed everywhere.
Interested in seeing the Advertising Dashboard?
If you’re looking for a marketing platform that has complete visibility into analytics and campaigns, you’ve come to the right place. The Advertising dashboard is just one of the many aspects of the Surefire Local Marketing Platform and can show you the key metrics you need when evaluating your latest advertising campaigns.
Of course, our team of experts is always here to help guide you (or to take the ropes) if you need our assistance. Request a demo today to learn how we can help you enhance your marketing efforts!
