Google Ads Experts for Small Businesses in Kansas City

Before the internet boom, business competition meant competing with the other brick-and-mortar building a few blocks over that sold similar products. Now, competing in the marketplace means competing with businesses of all sizes from all over the world. Consumers are primarily buying goods online, and businesses now need to learn how to utilize online marketing tools to effectively promote their goods to a global audience. But how can you use tools like Google Ads to succeed against much larger companies with a much bigger budget? Here are a few helpful tips from our Kansas City-based team of Google Ads experts.

What Is Google Ads?

If you haven’t yet begun using Google Ads, you might be wondering what it even is. How is it different from other online marketing efforts you might have already tried, and how do the results compare? Google Ads is an online advertising platform that allows you to create and display ads on Google’s search engine results pages (also known as SERPs), as well as on partnered websites, YouTube, and many other platforms owned by Google.

Google Ads uses a pay-per-click, or PPC, model of marketing. This means that you only pay for your ads when a user actually clicks on them. Many businesses find this form of marketing to be very cost-effective, since you’re only paying for it when a user engages with your ad. (Think of it like a billboard that you only have to pay for when somebody calls the number on it.) Overall, PPC marketing through Google Ads is a good way to drive traffic to your website and generate leads, as well as increasing sales.

Google Ads also allows you to carefully tailor who sees your ads, increasing your odds of positive engagement. Through this platform, you can choose to target potential customers by keywords, location, demographics, interests, and even their past online behavior. This makes it a powerful tool for small businesses that are aiming to compete with larger companies in the digital space.

How to Use Google Ads

When you first start exploring the Google Ads platform, you might be overwhelmed by all of the options and tools available to customize your campaign. But when you take a structured approach, using Google Ads effectively can be fairly simple. Here are a few key steps to setting up and running a successful PPC campaign:

1. Setting a Clear Goal: Before launching any campaign, you need to define your objectives. Do you want to increase website traffic, generate leads, or boost sales? Google Ads can help you create different types of campaigns, including Search, Display, Video, Shopping, and App ads; which one you choose will depend on your business’s goals.
2. Keyword Research: Keywords are the foundation of Google Ads, and the platform offers a Keyword Planner to help you identify search terms that are relevant to your business. You’ll want to focus on a mix of high-intent and long-tail keywords to draw in the right audience.
3. Creating Compelling Ads: Make sure the ads that are displaying for your chosen keywords are engaging and relevant to the search terms. Write clear, persuasive copy that includes a strong headline, clear call-to-action, relevant keywords, and a compelling value proposition.
4. Optimizing Landing Pages: You should also ensure your ads direct users to a quality landing page that matches the message in your ad. It should load quickly, have a clear call-to-action, be functional on mobile devices, and have persuasive and engaging content.
5. Setting a Budget: Now, you need to set a daily and monthly budget for your campaign. Choose a bidding strategy based on your goals: cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM), or cost-per-acquisition (CPA).
6. Monitoring and Adjusting: Google Ads is not a “set it and forget it” campaign. You need to regularly analyze your performance using Google Ads analytics. Track key metrics like conversion rates and click-through rates, and adjust your strategy based on these insights.

Competing As a Small Business

Now, you might be thinking, “Okay, I understand how it works—but how am I supposed to bid on the same terms as million-dollar corporations when I’m a small business?” The simple fact of the matter is that you don’t have to. When you plan carefully, you can avoid directly competing with those big businesses with much larger advertising budgets.

One of the biggest keys to doing this is leveraging niche keywords. Instead of bidding on highly competitive, broad keywords, target more niche, long-tail keywords that have lower competition, but high intent. These often have a lower cost per click while also offering a higher conversion rate.

It’s also important to leverage geo-targeting. This means setting geographic parameters that ensure ads are shown to users with a specific region. (You don’t want to waste advertising money on a searcher in the UK if you’re a local business that doesn’t ship overseas, right?) Keeping your geographic search parameters local to your company can help maximize ad spend efficiency by targeting local users who are more likely to convert to paying customers.

You should also make sure to utilize remarketing. This is a tactic that allows you to re-engage users that have already visited your website, but didn’t convert to making a purchase yet. Putting your ads back in front of those people who have shown an interest in your business can remind potential customers about your company and encourage them to complete a purchase or to make contact with you.

Get Help from Google Ads Experts for Small Businesses

We get it—competing in the online marketing world can be difficult, especially when you feel like large companies are snatching up all the good keywords for more than you can afford. At Solutions Digital Consulting, we understand better than anyone how to help small, local businesses compete in the global marketplace by using tools like Google Ads effectively. We can help you to choose the right keywords—ones that target the right people for the right price—and build a Google Ads campaign for your small business that yields noticeable results.

Contact our PPC agency in Kansas City today to speak to one of our Google Ads experts, and see for yourself how we can help your small business succeed in a market that never seems to stop growing.