Google Ads for Small Business drives growth for brands.
Does Google Ads Work for Small Business & How Much Should You Spend?
If you’re a small business owner who thinks they don’t know anything about Google Ads, think again.
If you’ve searched using Google before, (and who hasn’t,) chances are you’ve probably clicked on a Google ad, previously known as Google AdWords, for a small business like yours. You might have even been converted by their ad copy and landing page!
With these tips for Google Ads for small business, any small business can compete for and attain that coveted top position at the top of Google’s page one. This article will help define the benefits and results of working with Google Ads for small business and explore a typical Google Ads budget for small business.
How Does Google Ads Work?
Google Ads for small business, (formerly known as Google AdWords) is basically an advertising platform that places your ads in their search return pages, as well as on their associated sites, based on keywords searched by users.
Google Ads is a great platform to enable small businesses to rank highly on Google. It’s called a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising platform because what you spend entirely comes from the amount of times customers click on your ads.
Ads are shown to users based on their searches containing the keywords that you bid on at a certain rate (often between $1-$2 per keyword, per click for Google Search).
With a strong keyword strategy, targeting an ideal audience not only by keyword, but by data-driven demographics like geography and gender, Google AdWords work for small businesses by driving conversions through meaningful traffic.
How Long Does it See Results from Google Ads?
Long story short, with a well-managed Google Ads account and conversion-generating creative, you can start seeing progress in just a few months.
Because of the immense data available on the Google Ads platform, it’s good to think of “results” of your ads in two ways. Once you start advertising, Google Ads gives you two things:
- Real, reliable conversions and ROI
- Data to inform and refine your targeted search campaigns
As soon as your ads go live, you can start seeing results that return your cost of acquisition and bring in revenue through conversions. Then, after two or three months, data gleaned from Google Ads helps refine and optimize ads and target gaps and new leads. At around 6 months, mature campaigns, backed by targeted conversion-driving landing pages, will see ROI results reliably.
What makes the difference, and what will make your small business Google Ads campaigns successful, is thorough competitor, keyword, and market research, consistent audits, and custom strategy. Entrusting this harder stuff to a team of PPC marketing experts is a popular way to see this return quicker and easier.
Google Ads for Small Businesses Worth It?
Whether your goal is selling products on your e-commerce site, customers signing up to your mailing list, expanding your brand awareness, or any other goal, PPC ads through Google Ads for small business is a great marketing tool that can increase your web traffic and take advantage of even the smallest advertising budgets.
Google Ads is designed in a way that benefits small businesses, because they rank ads based on the quality of the ad and landing page, not the size of the budget. This means that your ad can rank at the top of Google Search, Google Shopping, and YouTube, simply by having high-quality content and the right strategy.
Our clients of different sizes and sectors see their web traffic increase and customers’ shopping carts fill up as they rank higher and higher on Google’s search pages. Not only do the best keyword bids make the most of your PPC budget, but data-focused, geo-targeted campaigns and audience-focused strategies can minimize wasteful spending.
We had a client, The Cat’s Pajamas, come to us, as a small business with millions in annual revenue in the apparel industry, worried about organic traffic not being enough to drive sales. We implemented a step-by-step personalized plan, overhauling their Google Ad spend, budget, campaign targeting, and keyword bids. With our expertise, The Cat’s Pajamas saw a 40% increase in their conversion rate, a 165% increase in sales, and 5x their ROAS after their audit and partnership with FMDM.
Yes, with a larger budget, businesses have access to more data and can divide highly-targeted campaigns up even by zip code, income, and age, as well as straight up bid on more keywords, but small budgets can also work wonders for small businesses due to effective audience targeting and meaningful traffic.
Quantity doesn’t always beat quality in the world of Google Ads for small businesses. A smaller number of campaigns, refined for your ideal customer and target demographics, reliably drive new traffic to any webpage you choose. For instance, Google Ads could help a small business show online food delivery ads only to people with access to their local brick-and-mortar or delivery radius.
Due to the ubiquitousness of Google, small businesses that place ads within Google return increased brand awareness and reach that will make users who search similar products and keywords start to recognize your brand in competition with the big guys.
The data provided by Google Ads helps to simplify managing any PPC budget and calculating results by measuring spend, conversion rate, and more. Google Ads’ customizable model is invaluable to small businesses, using the power of Google to drive meaningful traffic to your site by selecting prospective customers.
How Much Should a Small Business Spend on AdWords?
Your Google Ads budget for small business will be determined by your desired outcomes. When drafting your Google AdWords budget for small business, consider the multiple factors that influence the delicate balance between how much to spend on Google Ads and how much revenue is created. These factors, like price and number of keywords, average cost per click (CPC), target audiences, and campaign structure, can vary just by the nature of your small business and its market competition.
The AdWords budget for your small business is dependent on some basic math questions: How much are you willing to spend to acquire a new customer, subscriber, or sale? How much revenue will one customer bring in after being engaged?
In our experience, SMB owners with successful PPC returns spend anywhere from $20k to $100k or more on their PPC budget, but even starting with $5k is a great start. Google Ads allows for truly specific spend management, so, with the right content, copy, and campaign targeting, Google ads for your small business can be scaled to any size budget and see high-quality traffic driving real conversions.
Don’t forget: Keywords that cost more don’t necessarily return more value- sometimes, mid- to long-tail keywords and less-competitive bids can connect to your specific customer at the exact time they’re ready to act.
9 Tips When Using Google Ads for Small Business
From the team of SEO experts here at Full Moon, here’s some tips that we have found to be invaluable to any small business venture into Google Ads.
1. Do Your Research, Always
Google Ads become more effective when decisions are made based on research and market data. Blogs, message boards, and forums, like the Google Support forums, are great places to gain knowledge beyond competitor and keyword research.
2. Start Small
Exact keyword matches, low spend settings, exact phrase matching, there are many ways to ensure that you don’t overspend while starting out with your Google AdWords budget for small business. This way, better attention is paid to see what strategies work and don’t, and why, leading to greater lead generation and conversion in the future.
3. Target Local/GEO-Target
Perfect that balance between relevance and reach by filtering out eyes other than those of your actual prospective customers. Connect with your ideal customer and save your spend for meaningful clicks and conversion.
4. Keyword Selection
What does your customer search for? When and where are they searching for it? The best keywords strike the equilibrium between specific and general, with a high search volume but lower competition.
Don’t forget: One great way to refine your keyword bids is with negative keyword phrases. Optimize your spend while whittling away to only the most relevant prospective customer searches by removing any similar-but-irrelevant searches that are polluting your results.
5. Evaluate, Reassess, and Monitor
Any PPC or Google Ad expert will tell you how quickly the data comes in on Google Ads. Over time, spot underperforming campaigns or keyword bids to reassess keywords, ad quality, landing page quality, audience geolocation, or numerous other factors. Maximize your ROI with access to information like clickthrough and conversion rates.
As your Google Ad campaigns mature, don’t forget to stay on top of your spend. Because how much to spend on Google Ads is directly affected by the number of clicks, it’s wholly possible to accidentally overspend on your Google AdWords budget for small business when your ad does well and gets tons of clicks. While having a successful ad campaign is a great sign, a common pitfall of SMB owners exploring PPC is a “set it and forget it” mindset. If you can’t provide the quick reaction necessary to continually monitor the performance of your Google AdWords for small business, outsourcing this to an expert agency is a good idea to reduce wasted spend.
6. Be Patient
It’s true that Google AdWords PPC ads are a great way to get your brand’s name immediately on search pages and Google Shopping. But, because Google Ads can be manipulated by data-driven PPC experts, diving in to start receiving data and results is also great for the long haul, the bigger picture for your small business.
7. Don’t Forget Mobile Users
Pay attention to your ad campaigns and the habits of your audience. Do they use mobile browsers or desktop? Don’t forget to consider this when bidding on your keywords and target by device.
8. Pay Attention To Landing Pages
The right landing page can put your ideal customer right where you want them on your site. The main function of any PPC ad is to provide a direct link to any page, for any stage of the conversion journey. This landing page is the final stop of your prospective customer before they act on your CTA. Expert PPC analysts can flag landing pages that result in underperforming conversion rates, pinpointing any site or copy issues there might be.
9. When In Doubt, A/B Test
When it comes to refining your copy, keyword bids, even creative assets like landing pages, Google Ads makes it easy for small businesses to learn and intuit the best marketing strategies based on simple test results: Have two versions of your ad run, and let the data roll right in for a relatively low price per click. Then, have your Google Ads wizards like us take you to the next leg of your journey and use what you know works.
How Fullmoon Digital Can Help Manage your Google Ads for Small Business
In today’s world of big brands and huge conglomerates, one of the easiest ways for small businesses to even the playing ground is to invest in Google Ads. If you want to drive meaningful traffic to your SMB website, PPC ads are a quick and effective way to send already-interested parties directly to your products and services through targeting search term keywords and displaying your ads to specific users.
Effective Google Ads campaigns, however, need consistent and educated monitoring and assessment, which is a time commitment few SMB owners can provide.
Paid search management can be the key that opens a new chapter for your small business. If your small business has ever explored Google AdWords, but the prospect seems too complicated or risky, get the confidence you need to take advantage of the benefits of Google Ads for small business with a reliable, data-driven agency that has proven ROI for businesses of all sizes, industries ,and sectors.
With effective spend management, targeted campaign strategy, and data analysis, boosting brand awareness and revenue can make Google Ads effective for small businesses without the extra time spent in your lean operation learning the ropes.
At Full Moon Digital, we rule the ropes. Here, we do all the auditing, research, strategizing, building, ninja-ing, anything necessary to hit the ground running, wherever your SMB is in its marketing journey.
Full Moon Digital is a team of digital marketing superstars, backed by data, and driven by results. Our clients value our expertise across every Google Ad product, from Discovery, Display, and Shopping, to YouTube.
We can help you:
- Decide on your best budget
- Monitor to avoid/rectify any possible overspend
- Implement targeted campaigns for any number of audience groups
- Notice underperforming ads and continuously optimize
Ensure that your Google Ads for small business is driving conversions with quality, meaningful traffic by trusting FMDM. 80% of our clients increased their revenue in their first year with FMDM, and we report a 96% retention rate on Paid Search Performance. Learn more about how any size business can glean the expertise of the FMDM’s SEO and PPC ninjas here.
