Google Ads For Local Business: 7 Tips & 3 Mistakes

Google Ads For Local Businesses

Did you know that 76% of people who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a business within 24 hours, and 28% of those searches result in a purchase? As a local business, it’s a top priority for your ads to be seen and used. But to do that, they have to reach their target audience. They also have to be so appealing that they lead that audience straight to a purchase. So how can your business use Google Ads to benefit your customer and sales growth? Here are 7 of the best practices and 3 mistakes to avoid for local businesses using Google Ads.

Local Google Ads Tip - Increase Your Local Reach Radius

1) Increase Your Local Reach Radius

When you’re trying to get a bigger reach for your Google ads, but still want to reach your local customers, make sure your Google location target setting is on “People in, or who show interest in, your targeted locations.” This setting is recommended by Google and will help your business reach an audience that might not be permanently residing in your location. It also can help your ads reach nearby cities. 

While Google Ads can help increase online sales, increasing your local reach radius also can increase off-line sales. Start “Geo-fencing” or learning how far your customers are traveling to visit your physical business. This way, you know how far to set your Google Ads map radius. Consider setting up surveys in your newsletters or receipt emails that ask the area code of your customers. You can also create a system of asking for area codes with physical purchases.

Google Ads For Local Businesses Article Graphics

2) Take Advantage of All Google’s Location Campaigns Types

While making a campaign is simple, there are several ways you can use campaigns to reach different audiences. For example, if you have a candy shop, you might make a campaign that looks like “candy shop near me.” This campaign will attract anyone within a your set radius.

Consider using both of the campaigns below:

[business type] near me

[business type] in [state, city]

Keyword phrases such as “near me” and “on sale” have increased 250% from 2016-2019. On the other hand, specifically mentioning a city or state is key for getting your business’ ads to pop up for non-locals. This group of people may be tourists, travelers, other businesses, and general visitors. Using both of these types of campaigns can greatly impact the response you get from your ad.

Tip: When preparing a Google Ad campaign, be sure to take advantage of Google’s geo-targeted ads, which allows you to pinpoint a target audience that’s as large or small as you want.

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3) Include Location Extensions 

If you’re targeting a local audience, be sure that your ad can take viewers to a map of your business. After all, your ad may reach thousands of people, but if people don’t go to your store or website, the ad is pointless. By including a Location Extension, you allow the ad to connect viewers straight to Google Maps. This practice is especially useful for the many people who are using their cell phones to search for local businesses, as it will help them navigate easily to you.

To add a Location Extension to your Google Ads, simply go to your Google Ads Dashboard and click on the Extensions tab. You’ll then see the option to add Location Extension.

You can also add an Affiliate Location Extension (located directly below Location Extension in the same place). Affiliate Location Extensions showcase affiliates that carry your products. If your products are located in businesses such as Amazon and Target, be sure to add that information here.

Utilizing the Affiliate Location Extension greatly benefits businesses that don’t have their own storefront. By channeling purchases through affiliates, you can increase your audience and sales.

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4) Optimize Bids For Target Location

You’ll want to ensure the bulk of your bid is focused on the areas closest to your business. There are already several aspects of your ad that is set-up to reach a larger radius. Spending your money on the local area ensures that the people who have the most potential to get to your business see your ad. It also ensures that the closest people have the most consistent exposure to your business.

To customize your bid, go to the Location Extension to your Google Ads, on your Google Ads Dashboard. From there you can click your target audience and increase the percent your keywords are optimized for viewers. Select multiple ranges of targets (5 miles, 10 miles, 15 miles), and steadily decrease your bid for each level.

Google Ads For Local Businesses

5) Create Deep Links for Your Ad’s Site Link

While it’s important to make an eye-catching phrase for your ad’s site link, it’s also important to link deep into your site. For those who haven’t deep linked before, it makes sure your audience isn’t led to the homepage, but another page on your site. By deep linking, you drive customers straight into what they’re looking for. Try deep linking to contact pages, sales or events pages, or service pages. If your business sells products, also add an Amazon-style buy button to your deep linked page that will increase your conversation rates by 14%. This way, customers will be led straight to an easy way to buy your product. You could even use this for your business’ services by styling the page’s button after the Amazon button.

If driving in local customers is your goal, be sure to include keywords that would indicate your business is local. Create a landing page that includes positive and local testimonials. Viewers will automatically be able to see the impact you’ve made on the community and become potential customers.

Tip: Google’s artificial intelligence can automatically generate phrases for your ad’s link, but consider writing your own to match your deep link landing page. Just make sure they are interesting and engaging.

Google Ads For Local Businesses

6) Utilize Local Search Ads

Including browsing, researching, and buying, 98% of global consumers shop online. But you also want your potential customers to find your physical business quickly. Instead of taking viewers to your website, Local Search ads lead your audience straight to Google Maps. This feature is especially useful if you need a large influx of local customers quickly. Be sure to enable Location Extensions first (see #3) and optimize bids (see #4). After these two steps are complete, you’ll want to make sure your Google My Business page is updated and correct. If you’re looking for a simpler way, there is also the option to automate your bidding by setting up specific rules.

Another way to increase your business’ presence in the community is by partnering with local organizations and events. When people search for these events and places, they will also be exposed to your business. By making sure your Location Extension and Business Locations are correct, you ensure that potential customers are able to see your location on Google Maps or visit your website.

Google Ads For Local Businesses

7) Keep Track of How Ads Perform and Adjust Accordingly

If you see that one of your ads is doing poorly, don’t be afraid to remove it. While it’s been said that any exposure is good exposure, your money should be reserved for the best performing ads. Use Google Ads to keep track of the number of clicks your ad gets, the revenue generated, how many qualified leads your ad attracts, and more. You can also utilize Google Ads’ Keyword Tracker to see which keywords are attracting the most traffic. Then you can delete the keywords that aren’t generating clicks. At the end of the day, you want to keep what works best for your business and get rid of the rest.

If you are not getting the results you want for the money you’re investing, it may be time to re-evaluate the type of paid ad you’re using. 

Google Ads For Local Businesses

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Which of these tips will you put into practice?

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6 Ways To Improve Your Web Site This Summer

Taylor Reaume Blog Headers24

It’s summer in California and who wants to spend time worrying about websites when there is so much else to do? You’ve got Father’s Day, graduations, weddings, and backyard barbeques. But your web marketing strategy can’t wait until September unless you don’t mind letting your competitors steal all your customers! As a web marketing agency, Search Engine Pros develops websites that work hard all year long. Here are six things you can do this summer to improve your website performance and attract more customers:

  1. Know Your Keywords: This is a crucial factor in search marketing Research your top ten keywords and provide title tags that include these words. This one step alone will capture the attention of the search engine “robots,” and could propel your site up the search engine rankings.
  2. Update Your Content: Nothing kills rankings faster than stale, outdated content. Your SEO marketing strategy must include a constant stream of educational, topical, relevant information.
  3. Use Great Photos: The old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is especially applicable with online marketing. Website visitors decide in seconds whether a site is worth perusing. Grab their attention and tell your story with dynamic photos, and they won’t be inclined to leave.
  4. Build Inbound Links: Word-of-mouth and referrals are still two powerful means of attracting prospects. One sure way to build “authority” is to have other sites link to yours. Part of your marketing plan should include promoting non-competitive businesses on your site, and reaching out to them to reciprocate. It builds awareness for both companies, and helps each reach a new audience.
  5. Offer Something: You never want to have someone visit your site and leave without making some type of connection. Your website should include a way to engage prospects and build that relationship. This could include an informational newsletter, a download of a “Top 10” regarding something that is pertinent to your business, a white paper, or some type of free sample or demonstration.
  6. Make it Mobile: More and more consumers are using smartphones and mobile devices to search online. Top web design practices demand websites that are functional across all digital devices.

Your website is a strategic part of your online marketing plan. Spend some time this summer making sure yours is working hard, or contact Search Engine Pros and ask about our web marketing services.

How to Get the Most Out of the Internet Marketing Maze

Inside The Maze

The way companies market their products and services has changed over the last decade. To keep up with competitors in your industry, you need to figure out how to use cost-effective online marketing methods.

To someone who is just looking at online marketing for the first time, it may appear to be an overwhelming and confusing maze. There are plenty of wrong turns you can make, many  of which lead to a scary place with your online marketing strategy. The good news is that the Internet marketing maze is something you can perfect over time.

Here are some simple ways to maximize your Internet marketing strategy. The Internet marketing campaign tips below will help build your online presence.

Consider the Bigger Picture

As you start to build your online marketing approach, it’s very important that you consider the bigger picture and your extended plans. This is vital because your entire online presence needs to be cohesive and symmetrical. If you lack cohesiveness between different parts of your online presence, you’ll have a very difficult time trying to maximize your efforts.

 

Keep in mind that to truly dominate the Internet marketing maze, you’ll want to gear your approach in a way that will accommodate Google search engine algorithms. In being search engine optimized, otherwise known as SEO, with Google, you’ll greatly increase the likelihood of your customers and prospective clients coming across your online networks.

So how does the bigger picture and SEO come together? It’s quite simple.

SEO is measured through a variety of factors. Some of the most important elements include:

» Keywords placed throughout the website

» The name of the website

» Name, address and phone number of the business

» Social media accounts

» How polished the website coding is

When you consider all of these factors, you can see why it’s very important that you avoid switching around the name of your business. The more that you consider the bigger picture and plan for the future, the easier of a time you’ll have when it comes to navigating through the Internet marketing maze.

See what others doing

See What Others Are Doing

Another great way to find out what you should do for your Internet marketing campaign is to look to others and see what they’re doing. This will work if you have competition in your niche market that is successfully implementing its own Internet marketing campaign.

Some of your competitors’ online marketing techniques to observe include:

» How their website looks and is presented

» Which online resources they use, ie. FacebookTwitter, blog, etc.

» How they interact with their clients online

By seeing what works for your competition, you can narrow down the efforts that you effectively put in place for your own marketing approach. There is no time to waste when it comes to being a small business, so learning from the mistakes of your competition will help increase the likelihood of success.

Tailor Your Approach to Your Market

Keep in mind that every company is different. Even though it’s a great idea for you to look at your competition to see what they’re doing, that doesn’t mean  this should be something that you settle on. In other words, you may need to tailor your online networking approach to more directly market your clientele.

A prime example of this can be seen between two shoe companies. While both companies may borrow ideas from one another for most of their marketing techniques, the approach may change for Company A if they sell flip-flops, whereas Company B sells winter snow boots.

Another reason that you’ll want to tailor your approach for your specific market is because it will keep you and your audience more interested. Although you might come across, and want to share, a picture of a cute cat that has been shared a million times online, that doesn’t mean it’s something that your target market will take interest in. That’s why the companies that are most effective with the Internet marketing maze know exactly what it is that their audience wants to see. If you can do this, too, then you’ll notice much better results.

Track your results

Track Your Results

One of the biggest mistakes that companies make with their online marketing includes the failure to observe and track results. Some businesses will just put their market approach in place and assume that things will work. Even some companies that find success will fail to realize that they can change other parts of their approach to try to maximize things in the best way possible. The truth is that you will need to observe your efforts and track your results throughout the lifetime of your online marketing approach.

Change as necessary

Change As Necessary

As you track your results, you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t for your online marketing campaign. For the things that work, consider keeping them in place to get the most results possible. However, you’ll want to change things that do not work in hopes of making them better. The more effective that you are with tweaking your system, the higher probability it is that you’ll have an inclusive Internet marketing approach that is successful.

If you’ve heard that marketing online is difficult, you aren’t totally off. But while it may be difficult to navigate your way through what seems like a hopeless maze, stay confident that there are certainly ways to be successful with enough hard work and effort. By following the tips mentioned here, you’ll be able to successfully start your approach at online marketing.

— Taylor Reaume is an e-Business coach and founder of Search Engine Pros. He can be contacted at taylor@thesearchenginepros.com, or 1.800.605.4988. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.

Do You Know The ABCs Of Web Strategy?

web strategy

In today’s tech-driven world, online marketing is a linchpin for success. The average consumer is changing how they go about finding products and services, with the Internet being one of the first places that they look. Therefore, no matter what sort of industry your business is in, its online web strategy is invaluable.

As important as a web strategy is, it’s also important to remember that it’s just one piece of the puzzle that makes up a business. And with so much else to take care of, it can seem nearly impossible to keep up with the ever-changing atmosphere of online marketing. But while it may be worthwhile to hire an online marketer or social media specialist to handle the day-to-day tasks, it’s still important that managers and owners have a basic understanding of web strategy and online marketing.

The “50,000-foot view” is common business-talk that refers to a general understanding of how part of a company works. For example, a business owner may not know every step of the process that a dedicated marketing team makes, but it’s still important for the team to know the general highlights and direction of the company. When it comes to online marketing, here is a general outline that highlights the ABCs of web strategy.

Know Your Audience

As with any approach, the first key is that you know where your target is. Therefore, your web strategy should have a firm understanding of your audience and how you plan to attract it. If you believe that you already know your audience, you may want to think again.

Most companies will begin by setting up an online marketing strategy that approaches their audience the same way that it would with offline efforts. However, it’s important to know that the Internet is changing the way that you reach customers.

For example, you may have a stand-alone retail store that nobody outside of your neighborhood knows about, but that doesn’t matter once you go online. Your target audience expands to people around the world when it comes to online marketing and approaching new customers.

By understanding who your audience is and whether it is local, regional, national or global, you can develop an online marketing strategy that directly approaches it. This is also the chance that a business can rebrand its image and find new ways to expand in ways like never before.

Determine What the Audience Wants …

The next step in the web strategy for 2014 should be determining what it is that the audience wants and how easily it will stay interested in what you provide. For example, some online strategies may be to post viral videos to social media accounts. Other businesses might rely on blogging or posting new information for their audience to see. Others may even rely on an email list that is used for a monthly newsletter.

There are a variety of different approaches that may work best for your audience, so determining what it wants will help you focus your approach.

Before you jump to the conclusion that more content is better, keep in mind that this may not be true for your specific market. While there are plenty of videos or memes out there that attract a lot of interest, your target market may not be interested in such “viral content.” Instead, your audience may want more relevant information to your industry and what it is that you provide.

Looking to get 1 million views on a video might be a viable online web strategy for some, but it’s most certainly not the only option. Therefore, know what will interest your audience the most and be sure that this is the type of media you use for your approach.

… And Where They Want To Get It From

It is estimated that Facebook has more than 1.2 billion users who have registered accounts. Twitter has roughly 200 million, and Instagram comes in at around 100 million. These are staggering numbers, but it also shows that there are great disparities between each social media site.

As nice as 200 million users is for Twitter, it has a long way to go before it passes the 1 billion mark like Facebook.

Keeping some of the numbers in mind, it’s important that your web strategy is available to your target market via resources that it uses most often. Facebook is obviously a good resource because of the sheer amount of people who are on it, but it’s not the only outlet for your web strategy. Instead, your business may be better suited with an online blog, YouTube video channel, or a simple monthly email.

If you are aiming your online marketing approach at places where your target audience won’t see it, then you are wasting your time. However, providing information to users where they already are looking will help to increase the online presence of a business.

Optimize for SEO

Anywhere you look for tips on how to make your web strategy better, you are going to hear that SEO should be one of your most important considerations. SEO, or search engine optimization, refers to the ranking that a website has on a Google search query. In order to get higher rankings through SEO, a business needs:

» Keyword-rich content that triggers search engine results

» A website that runs smoothly and functions properly

» Correct contact information for a business (called “NAP” for: Name, Address, Phone number)

» No filler content to take up space

Plan Ahead

Whatever your approach is for online marketing, be sure that you plan ahead. This will help you save time and be much more effective with your online approach.

By planning ahead and having a routine schedule for improving your website, you won’t have to worry about missing posts or running short of content. Instead, you’ll always have new material to help with SEO, while also keeping the interest of your audience.

Unless you are ingrained in the web strategy approach of your business, it can be hard to keep up with everything. But with this 50,000-foot view of the best practices of web strategy in 2014, it’s much easier to see how valuable each part of the process is.

— Taylor Reaume is an e-Business coach and founder of Search Engine Pros. He can be contacted at taylor@thesearchenginepros.com, or 1.800.605.4988. Click here to read additional columns. The opinions expressed are his own.