Digital Opinion South Africa

Best tips - and biggest mistakes - in online advertising

Much has been said about the benefits of online search advertising, especially during the economic downturn. While a lot of it is common sense, there are always additional ways to improve your campaign.

This article provides a simple yet effective list of the best tips for starting your online campaign, or improving your current one.

  • Know your audience: Precision is the key to search advertising with programs such as Google AdWords. You want to reach the right users at the right time. Take a good look at the products and services you're selling and the customers who are buying.

  • Identify your goals: Once you have a clear sense of your business, stay focused on how to reach your customers. You'll need to know your ultimate goal - be it increased traffic, conversions, brand awareness, etc - so you can measure success. Structure each campaign based on a simple, overarching goal such as a category, product line (coffee, tea, or machines), or theme (seasonal or promotional).

  • When creating your keyword list, think like a customer: Pretend you're a user searching for the product or service you offer. What would you type in as a search query? What terms would your customers use to describe your products or services? To avoid generic and overly general keywords that might result in untargeted traffic to your website, we suggest using two-to-three-word phrases. For optimal ad visibility, also include relevant keyword variations such as colloquial terms, plurals, alternate spellings and synonyms. And remember you only pay for clicks, so the better you prequalify clicks by picking specific keywords, the more effective your campaign will be.

    • Get rid of broad terms that could relate to a wide spectrum of products or services. For example, if you're selling luggage goods, don't just run on the generic keyword bags because your ad might show on irrelevant search queries for tea bags and vacuum bags. If you're selling greeting cards, run on specific keywords such as greeting cards and birthday cards so you don't generate traffic from user looking for playing cards, card tables or credit cards.

  • Hit the right users with the right ads: Once you know your potential customer, you can target individual campaigns to reach your audience. Write and target ads in a variety of languages if you have a global business. You can also target a particular geographic area, such as a region that your business serves.

  • Write must-click ads: Intrigue your readers and get straight to the point because good copy yields clicks, and clicks yield sales. Use keywords in the title and ad text so they appear in bold font and so users know your ad is relevant to their search. Highlight any key product benefits and special offers such as free shipping, low prices and discounts. Encourage the user to take action through active verbs and phrases like "Learn More,” "Order Now" or "Download Free Whitepaper.”

    To get your ad copy right, try these tips:

    • Include your keywords in your title and description
    • Convey key product benefits
    • Get to the point quickly
    • Write copy that includes a strong call to action such as “buy now” or “sign up today”
    • Direct users to the landing page that most relates to your ad

  • Use negative keywords: Negative keywords are a core component of a successful keyword list, and a great way to help ensure that only your targeted audience will see your ad. A negative keyword prevents your ads from showing on any search queries containing that term. By filtering our irrelevant traffic, negative keywords can help you reach the most appropriate prospects, reduce your cost-per-click (CPC), and increase your ROI.

    • For example, if you're selling purses, luggage and travel bags, you may want to add the negative keywords tea and vacuum to ensure only targeted users see your ad.

  • Use free web analytics: Web analytics tools helps you analyse precisely what people are doing on your site. It tracks visitors, referrals, search engine performance, email promotions and more. This detailed information about user navigation and behavior on your website can help you create more targeted and effective website pages and improve your ROI.

  • Check out online resources: Most online advertising programs have a resource center of helpful demos, articles and videos. Also, many other advertisers have likely had the same experiences and questions as you, so find answers to common questions in online help centers.

  • Track down to the last customer: After your campaign goes live, measure its results regularly. Keep a close watch on your account statistics, review your own web logs, and use conversion tracking software (available for free through some advertising programs).

There are many businesses which may have tried online advertising and given up. Perhaps they didn't get as many clicks as they wanted, or people clicked through to their site but didn't buy anything. Not to worry! There are many common mistakes that beginners in online advertising make but they're really easy to fix.

Biggest mistakes


  • Don't create just one campaign with a single ad and a huge pile of keywords: Organise campaigns by topic, theme, product line or geography. Don't be afraid to categorise like keywords together so you can write ads targeted to each group. This will improve both your ad targeting and relevance. Or use the same structure for campaigns as you do on your website. If your website is already grouped into categories, your job is almost done.

    • For example, to group by topic, make separate campaigns for tea, coffee, and accessories (mugs, cups). Or to group by product line, place ad text and keywords about whole-bean coffee in one campaign, and ad text and keywords about ground coffee in another campaign.
    • For example, if your business sells pet products, have four specific campaigns for cats, dogs, birds and fish. Or if you sell spa products, create different groups for lotions, candles, perfumes and hair products.

  • Don't put your business name in the headline: Many small businesses insist on putting their company name in the headline, but this is actually a waste of ad space. If a user is searching online, they likely don't know who you are, so use your limited ad text to focus on key benefits of the product/service you offer, special promotions, low prices, and other good value propositions.

  • Don't make false promises: The number one source of dissatisfaction comes from expectations that are not met once a user gets to your website. Stick to the price or promise you make in your ad. Also, to increase the likelihood of a sale or conversion, make sure ad's URL directs people to the specific page within your website that clearly displays the information or product you offered in your ad. Typical Internet users decide quickly whether to stay on a website or move on to another, so don't leave them guessing.

    • For example, if your ad promotes birthday balloons, don't send them to the page in your website with all balloons or anniversary balloons.

  • Don't stop reviewing your data or refining your campaign: Keep a close eye on account statistics, review your report data and web logs, and measure results frequently. Use conversion-tracking software (available for free through some advertising programs) to determine which keywords are leading to clicks and which clicks are leading to sales. Then experiment with new ideas, change your ad text or add new keywords. If something doesn't work, retool it and try it again. Don't be discouraged.

  • Don't bid more than you can afford: The beauty of cost-per-click advertising is that you can set your keyword bids as low or high as your want. Get more bang for your buck by figuring out which ads and keywords bring you results, and delete the others.

Most important is to continually review what you've set up, keeping in mind that there is always room for improvement. The online advertising environment is dynamic, so don't be afraid to make changes and try new things.

About Mohammad Gawdat

Mohammad Gawdat is MD for emerging markets at Google, managing Google's sales and business operations in the countries of emerging Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. His biggest passion is emerging markets, considering the vast degree of cultural diversity and challenges it faces. He is fascinated by the role that technology plays in empowering people in those communities and has dedicated his career towards that passion. For more, email press@google.com.
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