Over here at Vision Advertising, we’ve run our fair share of Google AdWords campaigns. On campaigns that I’ve worked on personally, we’ve had ones that worked fantastically, ones that have worked satisfactorily, and ones that we paused and moved clients over to other forms of online advertising. The simple fact is that AdWords isn’t going to work for everyone, at least unless you’re willing to put down some serious cash to compete with big brands. Today I’m going to share with you my experiences on running campaigns for clients, and some common themes I’ve found concerning ideal industries for AdWords.

Financially Speaking

A word on exactly what I consider ideal: the bottom line for every AdWords campaign is the return on investment (ROI). In this case, this means how many sales leads, product purchase, or people in the door vs. how much running the ad cost them. Some important metrics to understand:

• A Keyword is a word (or more usually a short phrase). In terms of AdWords, whenever someone types in the keyword, your ad can show. In AdWords, keywords have a cost depending on how much people will bid for them.
• A Conversion is a tripwire set up between your ad and a website page you control. It’s a piece of code that triggers when a user who clicked on your ad reaches your page. Ever wonder why a purchase order or a form takes you to a “Thank You” page? It probably has conversion code on it.
• Page Ranking is where your ad is shown. For this blog, we’re going to focus only on Google Search ads – that is ads that show up in search results when someone types in your keyword. While ads have multiple ranks on each page, we’ll be focusing on the “top three,” that is the three ads that show at the top of the page results.

Niche Services & Products Over Generic

Popularity is double-edged when it comes to AdWords: the more a keyword gets used, the higher the cost and the less likely they are looking to buy. A keyword like “blender” could mean they are looking for the kitchen appliance, 3D software, or even a definition. With more long-tailed keywords like “want to buy a blender” you’re in a better place to get a sale, but also have competition from national brands in your area, as well as the online marketplace. So, if your product or service is in a niche, you’ll have fewer people searching, but also much less competition and higher click-through rates.

Local Focus Over Global Domination

As mentioned above, whenever you have to compete with global brands or the online marketplace, your keyword costs skyrocket. Companies that sell services or products that are  local – anything that either requires boots on the ground, customers going to a location, or a product with a very limited shelf life (such as hot food) are all ideal. A few examples:

• Private events at restaurants or event halls
• Contractor services such as physical projects or maintenance
• Products that are best seen in person

You’ll Never Know Unless You Try

Now with all that said, the best way to see if AdWords will or will not work for you is to try it out. After making an AdWords account, you’ll have access to some great tools to see your keyword costs, such as the Keyword Planner. With this, a modest budget, and a conversion setup on your website, you can see for yourself for a month or two if you can get traction with Google AdWords. Check out my blog, Two Terrific Types of Google AdWords to Try for some more starter tips. Want some assistance or advice on the feasibility of Google AdWords? Contact Vision Advertising, and we’ll take a look.