3 Ways to Turbocharge your lead gen with Google Ads
June 17, 2022
Google ads have proven to be one of the most effective strategies for our clients’ lead gen campaigns. Shortly after launching Google Ads, we see consistent surges in phone calls, contact form submissions and website chats.
One of the biggest reasons for this is because Google Ads are centered around intentional search.
When prospects “raise their hand” and let us know that they’re searching for exactly what our clients offer, we use that intent to convert them to a sales-ready lead.
Google Ads position our ads at the very top of the search engine results page (SERP), before any local results or organic placements, and we can customize the copy around the keywords searched for to drive more traffic.
It’s no wonder that people are four times more likely to click ads on Google (63%) than any other advertisement network. (Clutch.co)
As more and more companies flock to Google Ads to compete for these high-value clicks, understanding how to get the most out of the platform is critical to your success.
Here’s some of the best tips we’ve picked up from managing our client campaigns that span across a variety of industries and verticals. These will help you get the most out of your ad spend, beat your competition, and drive more high-quality leads.
Tip 1: Google Ads aren’t “Set it and forget it”
“Cutthroat” would be a good adjective to describe how competitive Google Ads have become. Everyone’s vying for that coveted position at the top of the SERP page, and if you’re not on top of your campaigns on a daily basis, you could be wasting your budget and losing out on leads.
It’s easy to plateau after seeing some initial success, and this is the biggest missed opportunity we see companies face.
Here’s an example from one of our service client’s campaigns. We saw strong performance to start out the year (almost 100 phone calls per month), and they had reported that the calls were viable leads.
We could have stayed the course and played it safe, but instead we doubled-down on some new campaign elements and the risk paid off with a 32% increase in calls after the next three months.
By adding negative keywords, sharpening our bid strategy, and updating ad copy and landing page designs, we blew through the performance plateau and saw incredible gains.
Because we’re diligent about monitoring our campaigns multiple times a day, we gain so much data and insight that can be used to refine and improve performance. The elements listed above can all be refined to improve your campaigns and drive more leads.
Bonus Tip: Want to see your ROI skyrocket? Stay on top of your campaign with live, web-based dashboards so you can track results in real time.
Tip 2: Bring your leads in for a smooth landing (page)
Landing pages offer you customization options so you can give prospects a seamless search experience that increases their chances of converting.
When people click your ad and are dropped onto your homepage, or a generic product or service page, here’s what happens:
- Confusion: Why am I on a page that doesn’t feature what I searched for?
- Frustration: I just want to learn more about what I searched for!
- Dissatisfaction: I’m out of here, time to check out the competition.
Well-crafted landing pages prevent all of these negative emotions.
When the keywords your prospects search match the ad copy they see, and the landing page matches the value propositions in the ad copy, and the conversion actions (phone call, contact form, live chat) are easy to complete, that’s when the magic happens.
Here’s a landing page we designed for Thigpen Heating and Cooling:
The system is built on our LeadSite platform and features a video message from the owner, has headline copy that speaks directly to the prospects main problem, offers a clear, easy-to-use solution in the form of a clickable phone number (that tracks the keywords the user entered into Google), and matches the navigation structure of the main website so people can learn more about the company if they’d like.
This page converts at 16%, more than triple the industry standard of 2-5%.
Bottom Line: Landing pages flat out work, and should be launched for every product or service that’s part of your Google Ads campaign.
Tip 3: Make sure you’re passing all the tests
The key to unlocking peak performance from your Google Ads campaign comes in the form of A/B testing. You can test different versions of ad copy, landing page copy, landing page images, layouts, form fields, just about any key elements that your prospects interact with.
As marketers, we tend to get set in our ways with regard to creative elements and assume that what we think will work best in theory, will actually work best in practice.
This mindset won’t allow you to understand the unique ways your prospects search for solutions to their problems and disregards the human element of marketing.
If you don’t run tests and experiment with your campaign to make sure you’re nailing your audience’s pain-points, you ignore the idea of data-driven marketing and this can cost you leads.
One example of our testing process yielding huge returns is with our client Maida Custom Vision. We implemented a pop-out slider on their website that has a call-to-action (CTA) to download their LASIK guide. Here’s how it looks:
Before settling on the current copy, we test several iterations until we saw the click-through-rate (CTR) shoot through the roof.
It turns out, the number one question people have about LASIK surgery is “how much does it cost?”
By addressing this in the CTA, we saw a major leap in conversions, which led to a 24% increase in procedures year-over-year.
Key Strategy Point: Test only one element at a time to get accurate results. If you try to test multiple elements, you won’t be able to pinpoint exactly which piece moved the needle performance-wise.
Conclusion
The Google Ads platform is constantly being updated and we continue to find new ways to innovate and build on our clients’ success. We’re able to integrate more tools with our Google Ads to gain invaluable data and insight that’s used to improve performance and stay ahead of the competition.
If you’re new to Google Ads, or have existing campaigns that could use a kick in the pants, get in touch with our team today and see the full potential of what Google Ads can do.
