Online business advertising is an effective way to promote your products and services and reach new potential customers.
Choose an Ad Platform That Suits You.
There are several different ways to advertise online and each has its own pros and cons. If you're just starting out, we recommend using Google Ads because you’ll show up when people search for your product. Once you get the ball rolling with Google, plan to set aside some of your budget to expand your efforts for a more holistic approach. To keep up and grow your business, you should focus on top of funnel goals such as awareness and consideration. To do that, look at social platforms such as Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads, LinkedIn Ads.
Focusing here will help develop awareness of your product and familiarity with your company. This familiarity will make it easier for people to recognize you and make your Search Ads more effective.
Make sure you send ad traffic to a specific landing page.
If you are spending money on Google Search Ads, you’re getting clicks from people who are searching for a specific product. Sending them to a general purpose page, like your homepage, is going to make their sales journey confusing, and confused people don’t buy. So, what should you do? Build a specific landing page for your ad. If you’re a gym that offers a class on strength, conditioning and flexibility, build a landing page for each of those three characteristics. The goal is to make it incredibly clear that you are the solution your client is looking for. If I search for flexibility classes near me, I see your ad, click on the landing page, and the headline and text all say "Flexibility Class". Strength and conditioning should still be on the page, but in a less prominent position. If I’m searching for a strength class, then the landing page is going to reflect that instead.
Create a Great Headline.
When you advertise on Google, your headlines do a lot of the heavy lifting. They need to grab your attention and communicate what you’re offering in a short amount of time and space.
Currently, Google Ads has a 3 headline minimum per ad, and headline order changes based on what Google thinks will work best. This means that your headlines have to make sense in any order and combination, adding a layer of complexity to making good headlines.
One trick we use when writing headlines is to put “now you can” in front to see if it still makes sense.
If it does, we’re headed in the right direction, if not, we adjust it so it does.
Here’s an example for an ad featuring electric mountain bikes:
Version 1: Electric Mountain Bikes In Stock | Starting at $1200 | Anytown, USA
Version 2: Get An Electric Mountain Bike | Go Farther, See More | Explore Anytown, USA
When we put “Now you can..” in front of Version 1, it breaks the meaning of the headline, whereas ``Now you can…” works great in front of Version 2.
(You can read more about this kind of copywriting in Donald Miller’s Storybrand.)
Finally, make sure to include your keywords in your headline so that searchers know that your ads are relevant to their search. If your keyword is electric mountain bikes, don’t leave “electric” out of the headline.
Write a Compelling Description.
Your ad description should give a summary of your service. For example, a gymnastics center advertising preschool classes might use the following description:
Learn strength, balance, and social skills the fun way! Classes starting now!
This description describes the benefits the user will get from the class, as well as when you can get those benefits.
Your description should achieve the same goal: Describe the user benefits and how to get them.
