One of the most important ways to get found today as a local business is to show up – front and center – when someone whips out their phone and searches Google for a product or service near them.<\/p>\n
It’s important because when someone does a search like that they are usually looking to hire a local plumber, get their hair cut, or find a bike repair shop – and, like, now.<\/p>\n
Showing up the local maps 3 pack (see my post on Google My Business<\/a>) is a great start, but Google AdWords, along with a focus on SEO, is how you can dominate your market for local search.<\/p>\n So, let\u2019s dive into how AdWords works, how you can use it, and why it\u2019s such a great choice for local businesses<\/a> looking to reach local customers.<\/p>\n Ever since the earliest days of online search, when Google competed with Yahoo, AltaVista, and Ask Jeeves\u2014and Bing was just a glimmer in Bill Gates\u2019 eye\u2014search engine optimization (SEO)<\/a> has been a keystone for marketers looking to reach their audience online. While a lot of conversation around this topic can take the tone of people looking to find loopholes or exploits in search engines via reverse engineering, at its core it\u2019s really just recognizing the fact that any piece of digital content that you put out needs to balance being useful and engaging to your audience and being easy to find.<\/p>\n The key to all of this is the keyword, a flag that helps Google understand that you just might be exactly what a user is looking for.<\/p>\n If you haven\u2019t already done your homework, and even if you have, the best place to start when you\u2019re launching an AdWords campaign is with keywords. The good news is that Google actually provides you with a free tool to do all the research you need to get started, via their AdWords Keyword Planner<\/span><\/a>. Regardless of whether or not you actually go forward with a paid campaign, you\u2019ll get actionable information for building and refining a highly targeted keyword list<\/a>.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve logged in and given the Planner the info it needs about your site, you\u2019ll be presented with a bunch of options for potential keywords you can bid on. Give special attention to the Locations setting: You can target specific ZIP codes to give your results a local focus for potential customers or clients near your business\u2019s address.<\/p>\n Starting a campaign can be as simple as setting a budget, combing through your options, and dropping in some ad copy, but there\u2019s more to the story. You\u2019re looking at a list of words that Google thinks are relevant to your website, so it\u2019s better to pull out the magnifying glass and make some observations.<\/p>\n Now you have this list of suggested terms, and you need to figure out what to do with it. The first thing is to get rid of anything irrelevant\u2014 stuff that maybe pops up because of how your products are named or something recurrent in your copy that actually isn\u2019t relevant to your business. On the flip side, you want to use the \u201cMore like this\u201d option to get more suggestions for keywords that look promising to dive even deeper into choices for your campaigns.<\/p>\n Then, it\u2019s time to put them into action and collect some data on them. We need to learn more about how these keywords will actually work, so we\u2019re basically going to hop on Google and make some observations. Because search gets customized based on your history, it might be a good idea at this point to bring up an Incognito window so you can get a clearer picture of what\u2019s going on for the average user.<\/p>\n Take the most promising words and phrases from your list and run an organic search. Pay attention to everything! What AdWords posts come up? What does the front page of organic results look like? Are they mainly proprietary or third party? What words or phrases show up consistently in the results? How are the organic results titled? These kinds of things can help you identify what your current site is doing (and not doing) and make improvements. The other thing to pay attention to is what is happening with the autocompletion of the phrase, as targeting these narrower phrases can help you carve out a niche with relatively less competition.<\/p>\n Hopefully, all of this research helps you narrow down your list of keywords to some prime candidates for what will actually accomplish your goals. The next step is to take a step back and really think about how these pieces of the puzzle fit together. What is the intent<\/i> behind a particular search term or phrase? Think about the person behind the keyboard or holding the phone. Is their query oriented towards just doing research, or is it what someone would search if they\u2019re actually looking to make a purchase? If someone Googles \u201cbest locksmith number,\u201d for example, they\u2019re probably going to make a phone call to the first legit-looking place that they can find in their area. Really put yourself in a buyer\u2019s shoes and you should be able to whittle down your terms to a useful selection for your business.<\/p>\n Another important reality to consider for small businesses is that you have competition, and they probably have very similar goals to yours. While it\u2019s natural to feel like you\u2019re the smartest player at the poker table, the truth is that what you don\u2019t know can <\/i>hurt you, and you don\u2019t want to be surprised by pocket aces. You need to look into what your competitors are doing so you can copy the good ideas and leverage their bad ones.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re going through possible keywords to invest in, make special note of any time your competition pops up. Pay attention to the ad copy and titling they\u2019re using, and compare it to both what the search term was and how it looks next to the organic results. If you put yourself in that buyer mindset, does it actually appeal to you? It\u2019s easier to see things objectively when you\u2019re looking at something that you haven\u2019t made yourself, but make sure to take careful note of your observations and then ask yourself if your AdWords copy really is better, or if you\u2019re falling for the same traps.<\/p>\n Beyond some simple observations, you need to know if your competitors are doing something you haven\u2019t thought of yet. If they\u2019re staking out keywords that are perfect for your local business, then you should make sure that you\u2019re able to throw your hat in the ring, too. Luckily, there are tools to help you get a complete picture of what your opponents are doing.<\/p>\n SpyFu<\/span><\/a> is the classic option for competitor keyword research. It\u2019s the second generation of GoogSpy<\/a>, and it\u2019s an excellent way to get the information you need to see everything that\u2019s going on with other businesses. All you need to do is enter a domain and you\u2019ll get a report showing your competitors\u2019 top organics, AdWords buys, and your competition\u2019s<\/i> competition for these terms, plus a whole slew of other useful information.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re looking at a SpyFu report, there\u2019s so much data available to you that it can make your head spin. Side-by-side across the page you\u2019re looking at you get to see their organic search performance and estimated value vs. their AdWords performance and estimated monthly budget. The key here is that it gives you an idea of what their AdWords spending and performance is like, relative to their content marketing efforts, <\/i>which helps you understand what their strategy may be. What you need to be thinking about is why they\u2019ve chosen to commit to the keywords that they\u2019re paying for, and how that might fit in with how their organics perform.<\/p>\n As you keep digging into the report, you can look at where they share keywords with competitors and where they occupy exclusive real estate (again, for both paid and organic). This can give you an idea of how they\u2019re focusing their efforts in terms of a broad versus a narrow strategy in a particular area.<\/p>\n SpyFu will also analyze a company\u2019s buys and those of its competitors, and let you know where there might be space for you to invest, and which other competitors have bought AdWords space for those terms as well.<\/p>\n Put it all together, and you\u2019ll have a complete picture of what the AdWords terrain looks like, which will help you make some informed decisions about how you want to approach your own strategy.<\/p>\n Before we go forward, we need to take a moment to make sure the simple math checks out. With digital advertising, it can often be easy to lose track of what your ROI actually is while you focus on \u201cwinning\u201d the digital scoreboard. The fact of the matter is that there are some keywords where there\u2019s just no chance of being profitable, and you want to make sure you know what the situation is before you invest your time and money in something fruitless.<\/p>\n Since AdWords comes down to how much you pay per click, you need to understand what your maximum cost per click (CPC) is so you know whether or not it\u2019s worth it to pay Google\u2019s CPC. This ultimately comes down to your website\u2019s conversion rate, your average profit per customer, and what kind of advertising profit margin you\u2019re shooting for. While this seems like it\u2019s getting a little complicated, Kissmetrics<\/a> explains<\/span> that it really comes down to fourth-grade math:<\/p>\n Max CPC = (profit per customer) x (1 – profit margin) x (website conversion rate)<\/p>\n Basically, we\u2019re calculating how much you can pay per click and still hit your profit margin goal, considering your website\u2019s conversion rate. So, if you make $100 per customer and you want to have a 40% profit margin with a 5% website conversion rate, you\u2019re looking at a Max CPC of $100 x (1 – 0.40) x (0.05), or $4 per click.<\/p>\n Keep in mind that for something like conversion rate you\u2019re going to have to hedge your bets based on how good your data is. The more data you have the more confident you can be in that number, and on the other hand, if there\u2019s more uncertainty you\u2019ll probably want to play it safe with a more pessimistic projection. You\u2019re paying per click, so you want to ensure those clicks ultimately translate into growth. If you do your targeting right, you\u2019ll be able to bump that conversion rate, which will allow you to have a higher Max CPC and put even more valuable keywords in play.<\/p>\n A brief aside here to talk about how important it is to track conversions on your website<\/a>. Knowing traffic numbers and how people get to you is all well and good, but at the end of the day, what keeps the lights on and the doors open is actually making the sale. There\u2019s a way to track conversions via AdWords by getting buyers to a checkout or receipt page with embedded code, but the simpler way is to use Google Analytics<\/span> and then plug that data into AdWords. This lets you keep track of not only what\u2019s going on with AdWords, but also other sources of traffic and conversions.<\/p>\n On the subject of conversions, one key for local businesses is that someone can still be converted without necessarily clicking through. For many places, an inbound phone call has a very high chance of becoming a sale, because it usually means a customer has finished their online research and is now trying to get something done.<\/p>\n So, how do we factor this into our tracking?<\/p>\n One option is a third-party tracking platform, which will help you keep track of more than just the inbound calls generated via AdWords, and gets this data into analytics. If you\u2019ve done any amount of work on boosting your local search SEO<\/span> (and if you haven\u2019t, you should), you\u2019ll know that a vital component of that work is making sure that there\u2019s consistency across all of your listings, particularly for your name, address, and phone number (NAP consistency).<\/p>\n Because of this, you want to make sure the platform you choose is able to work with your actual phone number and not a special number just for tracking (although that still happens on the backend). Some good ones include CallRail<\/span><\/a>, KeyMetric<\/span>, and Infinity<\/span>, but you can also browse through the full list of Google Analytics partners<\/span> to find something that suits your business\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n If a third-party system just isn\u2019t in your budget, there\u2019s baked-in call forwarding and tracking as part of AdWords<\/a>, but you\u2019ll have to miss out on other valuable data you can get from tracking all sources. This makes it harder to understand how big a role AdWords is playing in getting people to pick up the phone, but small business marketing budgets are a reality we all need to live with. In this case, install their snippet on your website and get what information you can.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t get a lot of space to make your pitch on AdWords, so you need to make sure that you do what you can to really reach out and grab your audience. In many ways, this is Marketing 101. What is your unique value proposition? How do you make someone an offer they can\u2019t refuse? How do you make yourself seem like a safe bet?<\/p>\n The challenge with AdWords is that you only have two 30-character headlines, one 80-character description line, and a link to do all your marketing jujitsu. The good news is that you already know one thing, which is what your user is looking for<\/i>. Going back to our locksmith example, you know that if someone is looking for a locksmith they probably have these kinds of questions in mind:<\/p>\n So, how do you address all that with only two brief title lines, a short sentence, and a link? The key is to pack as much information into all four<\/i> of those lines as you possibly can to address your customer\u2019s most urgent questions. Here\u2019s some copy that tries to address all those questions:<\/p>\n Boise\u2019s Trusted 24\/7 Locksmith – There ASAP, Top Rated on Yelp<\/p>\n 30 Minutes Or Less, No Hidden fees, Flat $50 Rate, Satisfaction Guaranteed<\/p>\n www.boiselocksmiths.com\/here_to_help<\/p>\n Contrast that with this listing, which I pulled from Google (with the location and URL modified to not call them out directly):<\/p>\n Need A Locksmith In Boise – We Can Help Call Us Now 24\/7\u200e<\/p>\n Fast And Local Response \u00b7 Quality Locksmith Service \u00b7 Only $19 Service Call<\/p>\n www.locksmithsolutions.com\/Locksmith\/Dispatch\u200e<\/p>\n This example has a couple of red flags, especially the words \u201c $19 service call.\u201d What about paying the locksmith? How much will this actually cost? \u201cLocal response\u201d also implies that this company isn\u2019t<\/i> local, which is confirmed by their generic URL. If you click through to the landing page it\u2019s also generic, confirming our suspicions that it\u2019s not actually a local company.<\/p>\n Segmenting is all the rage in marketing because it lets you create more individualized campaigns that will appeal to specific groups <\/i>of customers that you\u2019re trying to reach. If you do household repairs, a pitch that\u2019s going to appeal to first-time homeowners will look very different than one that\u2019s tailored to someone trying to get their house in order so they can sell. We talk a lot about segmentation in mailing lists, but the idea also applies to AdWords campaigns via the concept of ad groups<\/a>.<\/p>\n Basically, you want to break up your keywords into ad groups that make sense together. You don\u2019t have a lot of space with AdWords, and you need to make sure that your message really grabs your audience\u2019s attention. Again, it\u2019s about putting yourself in the mentality of what the intent is behind a keyword search and creating a message that appeals to that intent. A good rule of thumb is to limit yourself to no more than 20 keywords per group.<\/p>\n We talked briefly about landing pages in the locksmith example, where a dubious listing led us to a super generic landing page that tipped us off to the fact that the company in question wasn\u2019t actually local. Another takeaway from that example is that customized landing pages for each ad group can make a huge difference in your conversion rates. This principle is well known to email marketers, and it also applies to AdWords as well.<\/p>\n Landing pages are simply a must<\/span> for online marketing. You establish trust, answer any questions a visitor might have, and drive them to a strong (and precisely placed) call to action. There is so much to be said about making (and tweaking) landing pages that drive conversion but for the purposes of this guide, it\u2019s enough to say that you should customize them based on what each ad group\u2019s mentality is going into the search.<\/p>\n As we learned, there\u2019s a lot you can do with the limited space you\u2019re afforded for AdWords copy, but you also have some options for giving even more information via AdWords Extensions<\/span><\/a>. If you\u2019ve set up this feature, your ad is ranked high enough, and Google thinks it will improve your performance, extensions will add things like a call button, location information, links to specific parts of your website, and more. These features mean your ad takes up more space on the page, which is especially important on mobile. Extensions are free to add, so make sure you take the time to configure everything\u2014when the cost is free, you already know it\u2019ll pay off.<\/p>\n But the best reason of all to use Extensions is because they make your add look bigger and more prominent and that alone can lead to better performance.<\/p>\n One of our favorite resources for information on PPC is the digital marketing agency tuff. Check out\u00a0The 5 Most Common Questions Our PPC Manager Answers<\/a><\/p>\n At the end of the day, the important thing with building an AdWords campaign is that you are able to put yourself in the mindset of someone trying to get help with a problem\u2014a problem that your business is ready to solve.<\/p>\n If you are able to focus on all the different mentalities that might lead a customer to consider giving you a call, you have everything you need to make a great AdWords campaign for your local business.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s All About the Keywords<\/h2>\n
Sifting Through the Keyword Options<\/h2>\n
Do Recon on the Competition<\/h2>\n
Tools to Research Your Competition<\/h2>\n
Making Sure an AdWords Buy Makes Sense<\/h2>\n
Tracking Conversions<\/h2>\n
Why Call Tracking is Key for Local Businesses<\/h2>\n
Writing Great AdWords Copy<\/h2>\n
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Using Small Ad Groups<\/h2>\n
Customized Landing Pages<\/h2>\n
Taking Advantage of AdWords Extensions<\/h2>\n
Focus on Your Customer\u2019s Mentality<\/h2>\n