Google content advertising allow you to show your keyword ads throughout the web on targeted websites. Although the click through rate may be considerably lower than in standard search campaigns, you only pay for clicks – so there are some great branding benefits if you create and manage your campaigns carefully. Here are some tips to getting started:
- Use Conversion Tools. Although every company has different key performance indicators, setting up conversion tools will help you optimize your ads based on what’s really important: your site’s success.
- Segment Content Advertising. Set up content ads as unique campaigns with their own AdGroups. Your keywords, advertising copy, calls to action, and even landing pages are likely to be different for the different types of campaigns.
- Choose Associated – not exact – Keywords. Unlike standard search-based campaigns, content ads are shown when the keywords you select (or similar keywords) are shown in the copy on the target website. Therefore, choose words and phrases that are appropriate to your ad, not necessarily what someone would type in to find your product. Example: Selling baby pacifiers? Although you would likely bid on words like “pacifier” or “binky” in search, you can target much broader terms like “baby clothes”, “car seats”, “infant psychology”, “infant development.”
- Network Optimization. Once you have been running your content campaigns for a while (several days to several weeks, depending on size), you can use the AdWords interface to review the networks where your ads are showing. Review performance by venue, and block those that don’t work.
- Use Conversion Optimizer. Google offers a great tool – the conversion optimizer – that can run your campaign in a way to meet your own objectives.
- Ad Copy Has To Pop. People are used to seeing “Ads Sponsored by Google” on different websites. To differentiate your ads, you need to have great copy. Remember, this is a push method, unlike search that is a pull method of advertising. To cut through the clutter of the readers’ initial intent on the site, your copy needs to state clearly what your offer is and a strong call to action to draw click through.
- Landing Page Supports the Promise. If you have special offers or specific calls to action in your content advertising, you need to assure the landing page fulfills on the promise that the ad made. Bounce rates on content ads is much higher – remember that you have interrupted them in what they were doing on the other website.
Although running successful campaigns takes a while to do well, they can be a great way to reach a new and valuable audience for your website and achieve your business objectives.
