Shownotes
Are you feeling stuck with your current marketing strategy and unable to connect with your desired audience? It might be time to explore Google Ads as a solution. But how can you be sure that your business is prepared to take this leap? Listen to this episode.
Regina Bellows, Executive Director of StarterPPC, shares the crucial factors to assess before venturing into Google Ads and helps you determine if it's the ideal choice for your business.
From determining your budget and setting goals to optimizing your website and analyzing competition, we've got you covered. With thoughtful planning and thorough research, you'll be able to avoid the common hazards of launching a Google Ads campaign prematurely, ensuring a smooth and successful transition.
💰 Have an ad budget that's less than $5,000/month? If so, check out our sister agency, StarterPPC, where you can get Google Ads management for a fraction of the cost!
Visit https://www.starterppc.com for more information. 🚀
Looking for expert tips on managing Google Ads with a small budget? Learn how to maximize your ad spend and achieve better results in no time! Check out the StarterPPC YouTube channel today:
Mentioned links:
What Budget Do You Recommend I Start With? https://help.sol8.com/faqs/budget-to-...
What Should My MER Goal Be & Why? https://help.sol8.com/faqs/what-shoul...
0:00 How To Know If Your Business Is Ready For Google Ads
0:37 First thing to check before running Google Ads campaigns
2:21 Sales Funnel
3:52 Cost & budget
6:10 Clearly defined goals
7:26 Need help starting with Google Ads? Let StarterPPC help you!
9:09 Website speed
9:55 Inventory & Bandwidth
Need help with Google Ads? Get your FREE action plan here: https://sol8.com/ap/
💣 The Ultimate Guide to Google Ads for 2023:
• The Ultimate Guide to Google Ads for ...
🔥 Get your copy of You vs. Google: The (Very) Unauthorized Guide to Google Ads
on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BWSNLNRN
This ULTIMATE GUIDE gives you EVERYTHING you need to know about how to set up, build and optimize your Google Ads Performance Max campaigns: https://sol8.com/performance-max/
We have dozens of free resources, courses, downloads, calculators, and other goodies. You can access all of them on our Free Stuff page!
Visit: https://sol8.com/free-stuff/
💯The Ultimate Guide to Google Ads for Lead Generation:
https://sol8.com/google-ads-lead-gene...
🛒 Everything you need to know about Google Ads for eCommerce:
https://sol8.com/google-ads-for-ecomm...
🧲 The only guide you’ll ever need for Google Ads for YouTube:
https://sol8.com/google-ads-for-youtube/
👉 Do you want to be featured on Daily Google News? Do you have epic value you can offer our audience? You can pitch your idea here: https://sol8.com/pitch/
--------------------------------------------------
👉 Get our latest content every Monday, straight to your inbox. Sign up for our news “Traffic Ahead”: https://sol8.com/newsletter/
--------------------------------------------------
Get the latest updates, expert tips, best practices, and PROVEN Google Ads strategies every single day. Subscribe here:
--------------------------------------------------
👉 Want to become a Google Ads expert?
We’ve demystified how Google works, and laid out everything you need to know in Google Ads–from scratch!
Learn how to build, launch and manage high-performing Google Ads campaigns in this Google Ads Course: http://sol8.com/paid-traffic-mastery
--------------------------------------------------
Solutions 8 is a global authority in the Google Ads space and one of the world's leading PPC agencies.
Our YouTube channel is dedicated to sharing our most effective marketing strategies to help you achieve your business goals.
--------------------------------------------------
👉 WOULD LIKE TO SCALE AND GROW YOUR BUSINESS WITH PPC?
Sign up for a FREE Action Plan today: https://bit.ly/sol8-home
Connect with Kasim here: https://smartlink.metricool.com/publi...
⬇️️ You can find us here ⬇️️:
Website: https://sol8.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/solutions_8
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solutions_8/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/solutions8llc
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/organization...
Transcripts
Hey everyone's Regina at starter PPC.
2
:We often work with new businesses,
businesses that are just starting
3
:out, or maybe they've been around
for a few years, but they haven't
4
:really pushed for growth yet.
5
:They haven't really done the Google
ads thing or done any ads really.
6
:we often get asked the question, is
my business now ready for Google ads?
7
:What do I need to do?
8
:To make sure that I'm not
doing Google ads too soon.
9
:So I wanted to run through a couple
of the main items that I run through.
10
:When I'm trying to answer that question
for them to decide like, is Google
11
:ads right for you at this time?
12
:So the first thing that I
look at is their website.
13
:Of course, if your
website doesn't convert.
14
:No amount of Google ads expertise is
going to be able to get it to work, right?
15
:So it has to be an up
to date design, right?
16
:It has to look like someone cares
about it and someone has been
17
:keeping the design up to date.
18
:More importantly, it has to have,
a call to action above the fold.
19
:It has to have some clearly laid
out sections that show what you
20
:do and why they should care.
21
:And why you're better than the competitor.
22
:That's a good rule of thumb.
23
:Sometimes if I'm not sure about the site,
I'll just do a Google search as though
24
:I'm looking for that product or service.
25
:And I'll look at the other
competitors websites.
26
:And if your website doesn't look as
good or better than the competitors that
27
:are also running ads, You're not ready.
28
:Okay.
29
:So do a couple of Google searches.
30
:And you'll know.
31
:The other thing to think about too
is if your website is converting good
32
:enough it's going to convert less
good with cold leads from Google ads.
33
:When you run ads, these
people who are seeing your ad.
34
:They want to buy now, right?
35
:Because they have search intent
that proves that they are ready.
36
:They have wallet in hand.
37
:And not only that, but they just
came from a search results page where
38
:there are plenty of other competitors
willing to sell them the same thing.
39
:your website has to hold
up to the competition.
40
:It has to have a high conversion rate.
41
:People that come direct to your site,
people that come from referrals,
42
:even people that come organically
are going to convert at a much
43
:higher rate than a cold lead will.
44
:So just keep that in mind.
45
:Your website has to be extra good.
46
:Along those same lines, make sure
that your sales funnel is good too.
47
:Right?
48
:Like I said, cold leads,
they're going to be ready to buy.
49
:Now, if you're lead generation business
and you have a phone number on your
50
:site and you're not answering the phones
they're going to leave and call the next
51
:guy on the list who answers his phones.
52
:just make sure that, if you thought
it was okay to call people back
53
:after 24 hours with the referral
leads, unfortunately, that's not
54
:going to hold up with cold leads.
55
:You also want to make sure you have the
email follow up sequences in place, right?
56
:If you're lead gen, you might
need to make sure that you know,
57
:your sales funnel is buttoned up.
58
:If you're e commerce, you want to make
sure that you have a system going for
59
:people who have bought from you to
buy again people that you guys know
60
:the basic sales funnel stuff, right?
61
:You need to make sure to kind
of pull out all the stops.
62
:Get your ducks in a row
with your sales funnel.
63
:Because if you don't, your competitors
will, and what happens is you end
64
:up having to pay the same for a lead
or or a sale as your competitors do.
65
:So if they're making more on repeat
sales, if they're making a higher average
66
:order value than you are, if their
conversion rate is higher than you, you're
67
:still paying that same cost per click.
68
:you kind of have to pull out all
the stops before you run Google ads.
69
:lots to think about.
70
:The other thing is cost.
71
:Unfortunately, there is a little bit of a
barrier to entry with Google ads, right?
72
:You can't just kind of dip your
toes in with 500 and see what you're
73
:going to be paying for a click or
see what your return is going to be.
74
:Unfortunately, it doesn't
work like that because in our
75
:experience, it takes about 90 days.
76
:And a minimum of at least 1, 000 a month.
77
:Although, if you have Certain industries,
I would say it's higher than a thousand.
78
:So a thousand is a minimum, right?
79
:So if you have like a B2C product, maybe
a thousand is enough to start out with.
80
:If you go to our help center, actually
go to the help center at Solutions8.
81
:It's help.
82
:sol8, S O L 8.
83
:com and search for budget.
84
:You'll see an article that
talks about, what is the minimum
85
:budget that you guys recommend.
86
:you don't want to set aside like
a minimum of 3, 000 cause you want
87
:to also run it for about 90 days.
88
:Don't give up after 30 days.
89
:If you don't have the budget to run it
for 90 days, you're not ready to start.
90
:Save up until you have
90 days worth of budget.
91
:The reason why is because the
first month or month and a half,
92
:it's just data collection, right?
93
:The algorithm has no idea when to show
what, to who, where, how, why, right?
94
:We don't either.
95
:So we're collecting all that data.
96
:Then the next 45 days is
where we start to optimize.
97
:The algorithm optimizes, right?
98
:Cause it, catches some
patterns of conversions.
99
:We start to optimize.
100
:We might change some
settings here or there.
101
:Try a different campaign,
one that's not working.
102
:Try a new one.
103
:And so that all takes time.
104
:So you can't just dip
your toes in for 30 days.
105
:At the end of 90 days, I would look back
at the most recent 30 days and try to
106
:see whether things are still getting
better or whether they've plateaued.
107
:If they're still getting better,
hopefully you have the budget to
108
:continue for a fourth month, right?
109
:If they have plateaued.
110
:Then you have to decide whether
to continue, which brings
111
:me to my next point goals.
112
:You need to have clearly
defined your goals.
113
:If on day 90, you don't know whether or
not you're close to hitting your goal or
114
:you're hitting your goal to be profitable.
115
:you're not going to know whether
to continue or to hit pause.
116
:And if you hit pause, Everything, all
that data starts to get old, right?
117
:Everything kind of starts to die.
118
:So all the investment
that you've put in, right?
119
:So you need to be ready
with clearly defined goals.
120
:The biggest mistake I see people
making is they don't know their goals.
121
:And so they just choose
an exorbitant goal.
122
:Like we'll ask them, what
kind of a return do you need?
123
:And they're like, I would like a 10 X.
124
:No, you don't want a 10 X.
125
:And so I have to explain to
them why it's actually bad to
126
:have a goal that's too high.
127
:It's better to have a competitive goal,
one that's not too high and not too low.
128
:If you have a goal that's too high, it's
going to make you quit on day 90, or
129
:it's going to make you not increase your
budget and scale your business when that's
130
:really the best thing for your business.
131
:It basically holds your business
back from growth if you have a
132
:goal that's unrealistically high.
133
:I have an article all about this and
I will include it in the description.
134
:Of this video.
135
:it's another article on help.
136
:sole8.
137
:com.
138
:And if you want to go there and search for
it, just search for the word mer, M E R.
139
:And it's probably the
first one that shows up.
140
:It's what should my mer goal be and why?
141
:couple of other things, just things
to think about website speed.
142
:I can't tell you like 90, 95 percent
of the new clients that we work with,
143
:we find that their website speed is.
144
:Not ideal.
145
:And unfortunately, Google will favor
your competitors who have a fast website
146
:speed because Google is rating, grading
your landing page user experience.
147
:And so website speed
is a huge part of that.
148
:If your website speed is slower than
your competitors, you're going to
149
:ultimately have worse placements,
worse rank, or you're going to have to
150
:pay slightly more for a click just to
get as good of a rank as as good of a
151
:placement at the top of the page as them.
152
:These are the type of little
sneaky behind the scenes things
153
:that will destroy your campaign.
154
:So website speed is very important.
155
:Also inventory.
156
:If you sell well.
157
:Inventory and also bandwidth, right?
158
:So oftentimes we get, for
example, an e commerce client.
159
:And we say to them, well,
what are your best sellers?
160
:What are your high margin products?
161
:And they tell us their best sellers.
162
:They tell us their high margin products.
163
:We start running ads and their best
selling and high margin products
164
:go out of stock right away.
165
:Similarly, Well, let me pause there
and just say, this is bad because
166
:the algorithm is learning, right?
167
:It's learning about every SKU,
every product individually.
168
:So if it sells five of them and
then it goes out of stock, it's like
169
:you're starting at square one with
that budget that was being spent
170
:and learned about that product.
171
:Now the algorithm has to go, Oh
God, let me start from square one
172
:and see what to do with this SKU.
173
:So the products that you know are
going to sell well, or that you
174
:want to lean into and invest in.
175
:Get plenty of inventory on those
before you get started because those
176
:are going to start selling you.
177
:You don't want to pull the rug
out from the algorithm right away.
178
:The other thing to for lead generation
businesses is oftentimes we.
179
:Start sending them phone calls
and they can't answer the phones,
180
:or they say to us, Oh, you know,
our contractors are booked up.
181
:Okay, well just be prepared.
182
:If you're going to run Google ads,
you're going to start growing.
183
:So you want to also have the budget
to invest in having a little bit
184
:of buffer in your bandwidth, right?
185
:Make sure that those people are ready
to go to take those additional leads.
186
:Otherwise you're wasting money
wasting money, investing in the ads.
187
:You don't want that to be a waste.
188
:So I think those are the main things.
189
:So give it, give it a thought.
190
:If you have questions for us, you
can head on over to starter ppc.
191
:com and there's a little chat bubble.
192
:You can ask us questions
about all of this.
193
:We work with.
194
:Businesses that have budgets of
5, 000 or less, and we've designed
195
:a service that is affordable for
businesses that are just starting out.
196
:So check us out.
197
:The main way that we make it affordable
is we don't offer any meetings.
198
:seems to work out really well.
199
:We just have a support ticketing system.
200
:you do get a point of contact.
201
:One person who's with you consistently,
who works on your account.
202
:So you can ask them questions, send
them as many questions as you want.
203
:You can send them videos, you
can request videos from them.
204
:But we've made it extremely,
we've made the service extremely
205
:affordable by cutting out meetings.
206
:And that's how we've been able
to help small businesses get
207
:from 1, 000 to 5, 000 a month.
