Are Google Ads Good For Startups?
____
When you work for a start-up you have to be able to take on a LOT. There’s a reason why everyone says that start-up employees wear a lot of different hats. There’s a lot to do and a lot of decisions to make.
One of those decisions is whether your start-up should invest in Google Ads or Pay-Per-Click advertising.
The short answer is yes.
Google Ads are a great way to increase your brand awareness, generate sales, and get new leads.
The longer answer is also yes, but let us tell you why.
Let’s start with the basics.
Are You Ready to Get Loved by Google?
What are Google Ads?
Even if you’re not sure what Google Ads are, we can almost guarantee that you’ve encountered them. Ever run a Google Search and found that the first couple of results were ads?
Those are Google ads or Pay-Per-Click advertising.
Companies of all sizes use Google Ads.
When companies use Google Ads, they pick a few keywords to target. When a user searches those keywords, the company's ad will appear in the SERP (search engine result page).
This can be a great way to find customers who are in need of a product or service that you offer! Especially if you pick the right keywords to target.
Of course, ideally, you’d want to end up on the organic search results page. But getting there is incredibly challenging.
You need to not only have a lot of great content but also a lot of backlinking, and a history of consistent reliable content, which is hard if you’re just starting.
So now you have a base level knowledge of what they are, let’s talk through some of the features and benefits of using Google Ads.
Google Ads are great for businesses of any size. Macquarie Research estimates that Google has roughly 4 million advertisers, beating out Facebook and Twitter alike.
Here are 7 reasons why you should use Google Ads.
Brand Awareness
Especially if you’re just getting started, you may not have great brand awareness or brand name recognition. And it can be really hard to get it. With Google Ads, you can jump the line a bit. Even if a user doesn’t click on your ad, just by having your ads at the top of the Google search results page, you may experience an increase in your brand awareness. Online ads can increase brand awareness by up to 80%. That’s no small feat.
Google is Specific
With Google, you can get incredibly granular about the audience you want to reach. You can specify things like what time of day you’d like your ad to appear, the types of devices the ad should appear on, audience demographics, the list goes on… This is great if you have a fairly specific product or service that applies to a distinct subset of the population.
Track Your Progress
Google has incredible metrics that let you see where you’re excelling and where your ads need work. You can track impressions, clicks, conversions, and costs. Impressions tell you how many times your ad has been seen. If you’re not seeing very high impression rates you can adjust your copy to make it higher-quality or you can adjust your budget so that Google will share your ad more often. You can track conversion and click-through rates which lets you know if your ad is effective at getting you new customers or if people click on your ad and then navigate away before taking any action.
Control
The Google ads system allows advertisers to bid on keywords. You agree to a cost per click at the outset and you can always adjust your bid if you find that your ad is not getting you the revenue you expected. You can set daily limits for your ads so you’ll only spend up to a certain amount each day. The best part of it all is that you only pay if someone actually clicks on your ad— it is called pay per click for a reason.
Fast Turnaround
If you need results fast, Google Ads are the way to go. Sure, you can appear in the search results organically, but that takes a lot of time. You have to build up your authority, work on SEO, get backlinks, and continuously churn out great content.
Buyers with High Intent
Depending on how you use Google Ads, you can reach buyers who are very likely to buy your product. Long-tail keywords will let you reach shoppers with a high intent to buy your product.
Tip: Understanding the types of consumer behavior can help you greatly improve conversions.
Don’t Miss Out
You may be on the fence about using Google Ads if you have a small business or start-up just getting off the ground. But if you’re not showing up in SERPS that’s business you’re missing out on. Your competitors will capitalize on your absence. You need to make sure you’re in the mix with them or you may be in trouble before you even really get started.
So we’ve just talked about a lot of upsides to using Google Ads, are there any downsides?
Sure, anything you might want to try will certainly have its downsides. The good news?
Most of the downsides with Google Ads are due to user error.
Not knowing how to use Google Ads to effectively target your audience could cause you to spend money and not get you any tangible positive results. Making sure you have the resources to put into your Google Ads campaign is crucial.
We don’t just mean monetary resources. You should spend time making sure you know your key audience. Who is searching for your product/service, what are their pain points, what brings them joy, etc. Having a precise and thorough audience profile will not only help you to target these individuals but will also help you decide on the right keywords to use for your campaign.
Putting time and resources into the planning of your campaign is important, but it is not the end all be all. Google Ads is NOT a set it and forget it type of solution.
You’ll need to review your analytics to ensure your strategies are working, and if they’re not working you’ll need to take action. You'll need to spend time analyzing and interpreting the data so you can come away with actionable insights.
So now that you know the pros and cons, what should you do/know before starting your campaign?
Make sure everyone on your team is clear about the goal that you’re trying to accomplish. Your goal will dictate the parameters you set for your ad campaign.
Do you want increased brand awareness? Conversions? Qualified leads? Sales of a specific product? Your answer to that question will change the way you set your campaign up to run.
If you want to increase your lead to paying customer conversion, then you’ll want to use very specific long-tail keywords. If you’re looking to increase overall brand awareness you may choose to use less specific keywords.
We'd recommend spending some time learning about Google Ads before you dive in. There are hundreds of articles and courses dedicated to teaching laymen how to be experts on Google Ads.
The bottom line is Google Ads are good for your business. If you know your company and your customers well enough, using Google Ads could be the key to getting more eyes on your product or service, reaching more qualified customers without breaking the bank.
