A pay-per-click online advertising platform allows most startups or SME advertisers to display their ads on Google's search engine results page. Businesses pay to get their advertisements ranked at the top of the search results page based on the keywords they want to target. It's a great marketing strategy for business owners to show a business ad at the very moment when people search for a type of business. Google ads show at the top and bottom of a search results page. The ads look almost identical to the regular search, with only the tiny word “Ad” in green. When searching a term or phrase on Google, the relevant ads are displayed based on keywords and a high page bid.
A hosting company wishing to advertise its business with Google AdWords has to go to the Google AdWords website (https://ads.google.com), find the “Get started now” button, and sign up with the Google AdWords account.
- Click the “Create your first campaign” button.
- Select your campaign type and name
- “Search Network only” option
- “Include search partners.”
- Choose the geographic location where the company likes ads to show, how large or small a geographic area they want to target, by choosing whole countries, regions of
- countries, states or provinces, cities—even U.S Congressional districts. Also, they can select custom-designated geographic areas, such as latitude-longitude coordinates or the radius of a set number of miles or kilometers around a specific address
- Choose your “bid strategy;' and set your daily budget.
- Change the default “Bid strategy” to “I'll manually set my bids for clicks.
- “Set up a budget, which is the maximum that Google is authorized to charge per day.
- Select Payment Options: “You can make payments before your ads show (manual payments) or make payments after your ads show, and have those payments made automatically (automatic payments). Some businesses are also eligible for a Google credit line (monthly invoicing).”
- Choose Network and Keywords.
- Click “Save and continue.”
- Create your first ad group, and write your first ad
- Include keywords in the headline, which is limited to 25 characters. Use abbreviations or shorter synonyms wherever needed. The second & third line allows 35 characters each. The 2nd line defines hosting plan benefits, followed by features or offers on the third line. Google provides a separate field to display a URL that shows up right below the headline must be the same as a domain name but doesn't necessarily be the specific landing page.
- Insert your keywords into the keyword field. Add plus signs (+), brackets ([ ]), and quotes (” “) to see precisely how many searches of each type a company gets. A hosting company can dump hundreds or thousands of keywords in, but it's suggested to start with a handful of important ones.
- Set your maximum cost-per-click: Set your maximum price-per-click now (called your “default bid”). It's recommended to start with low-cost keywords so that many people see the ad.
- Enter your billing information: The ads will start showing after payment confirmation.
The most enticing factor is that the company only pays if the advertisement link is clicked, which means if someone is searching and is interested enough, it clicks on the ad. The cost per click of an ad depends on how much a company bids on specific keywords. This cost ranges greatly depending on if you are in a market where many other businesses are willing to pay a high price to rank on a specific keyword. It is suggested that companies use keywords strategically, keep the copy concise and precise, and always include a call to action. The hosting companies advertise on Google to create brand awareness for a new product and drive sales of a product or service.
Ad Types
- Standard Text Ads – Now Called “Expanded Text Ads” (ETAs)
- Responsive Search Ads (RSAs)
- Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs)
- Image Ads
- App Promotion Ads
- Video Ads
Google says that responsive display ads get the most reach of all types.
A hosting company sets a marketing budget in its marketing strategy and planning. Most hosting providers set Google Ad marketing budget and then set maximum daily budget they are willing to pay on clicks on ads. The Adwords dashboard provides information on how many people see that ad, how many people clicked and how many took action. A competent marketing team keeps track of ad performance, how many people clicked, and how much sales are done. Adjustments in ads or landing pages are made quickly to run a successful campaign.
Google uses a combination of these three primary factors to determine when an ad shows on the results page:
- Bid: The price a company is willing to pay for a click on its ad against other bidders on keywords, and the people search for keywords or Phrases on Google.
- Quality and relevance of the ad: A landing page must have a lot of exact keywords that a company is bidding on the ad itself.
- Landing page experience: The page where visitors are redirected should have the same content and keywords as the ad itself.