Get noticed by Google, option one: pay Google!

Ever noticed those ‘sponsored link’ adverts on Google, at the top and right of the results pages? They are called ‘AdWords’, and this is how they work.

Imagine you have searched for ‘bike shop’. The sponsored link adverts on the results page are all sponsored by bike shops. If you click on an advert, the company behind the advert pays Google. The companies have chosen to bid for the search words ‘bike shop’. It’s an auction: the company that bids the most gets the highest position for their AdWords link. Companies that bid less get further down the list.

The company only pays if you click their ad: that’s why this is sometimes called ‘pay-per-click’ (PPC).

The bike shop decides what words to bid for and how much they want to bid. Some words are expensive. For example, in the financial sector, the word ‘mortgage’ could cost you $120 per click. Yes: $120 to get someone to look at a website. Other, more specialised search phrases will be much cheaper: for example, ‘mower repair’ may only cost the advertiser a few cents for each click through.

For any company looking to build up its share of the online market, AdWords are a great tool for getting traffic:

1. You choose the word or words
2. You set a daily budget
3. You pick days and times to run the adverts
4. You get going…

The secret for success with AdWords and other sponsored search campaigns is how your site converts traffic into paying customers. If you are bidding $120 per click then you need to make sure that enough visitors become customers. But even 50c is a lot if nobody is buying.

You need to track visitors from their first click on your advert right through your site to a target page on your site. This is often the ‘thank you’ page that a visitor sees when she has made a purchase.

You need to watch — and trust — those numbers. Some words will convert well: ‘bike shop’ will convert better than ‘bike’. The visitor is further down the sales funnel and is already planning a trip to a bike shop — just make sure it’s your bike shop! Other words will convert badly — or not at all — and need to be dropped.

If you do not sell directly from your website, you can still track your campaign success in other ways, depending on your sales process. Smart companies are already geared up to ‘multi-channel’ visitors: a customer who sees a product on the website, maybe talks about the product on the phone, then comes into a physical shop to buy. In the customers mind she is dealing with the same company in the best way for her at each stage.

Sites that convert better have an advantage over rival companies and can bid more for search words, getting a better position. The New Zealand market is a great place for sponsored search — a lot of companies are unaware of this channel — or are just starting out and making all kinds of beginner mistakes. Go to Google now and see if any of your competitors are already using AdWords. If they are already, then you need to join in and beat them. If not, it’s a great chance to get in front and take the first-mover advantage.

Tune in next week for more tips on getting noticed by Google from our in-house optimisation expert.