5 Tips to Minimize Your Cost Per Click When Using Google Adwords

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I’ve heard from a number of real estate investors that they would love to understand how to navigate AdWords and turn Pay Per Click (PPC) into a valuable marketing option, so this is the second article in a three-part series where I break it down for you and show you how to do that.

• Last week: A quick overview of what AdWords is and how it works 
• Today: 5 ad creation tips on how to maximize your cost per click (CPC)
• Next week: How to navigate the many targeting options Google provides to make sure the RIGHT people are the ONLY people seeing your ads

Let’s do this thing!

5 Ad Creation Tips for Minimizing Cost Per Click (CPC)

 By now you know what PPC is and how the system works, but the process of actually creating your ads can be confusing and stressful.

Plus, if you do it wrong, you could be wasting most of your budget. So here are some ad creation tips to make sure you are getting the most from your funds:

1. Make Your Ads Relevant to Keywords

Google uses something called “relevancy” to rank where ads appear on the page. So it’s not JUST your bid. Because, here’s the deal: Google only makes money if people click on ads, so they want the BEST ads at the top. Relevancy is comprised of a number of factors, but the big ones are the wording of your ad and how much people like what they find after clicking your ad. Google has a useful article on how to increase the relevancy of your ads, but here are the main points to know:

Related: How to Get Started with a Direct Mail Marketing Campaign for Your Real Estate Business

• Get Specific – If you have more than one product, create an ad group (group of keywords to target) for each product. To borrow Google’s example, a grocery store would be better off running separate ads for “cookies” and “cereal” and “milk” than one ad for “food.” So if you want to attract buyers and sellers through PPC, you should create separate ad groups for those prospects using the specific keywords they are searching for.

• Put Keywords in Ad Copy – People are more inclined to click on an ad with the exact wording they typed into Google. And more clicks equals better relevancy, which turns into better placement and eventually better ROI (return on investment).

• Review Your Performance! – Check in regularly to see which ads are working and which aren’t. Then you can stop the losers and improve the winners. Stopping losing campaigns improves your relevancy with Google. 

2. Add Large Phone Numbers to Banner Ads

We’ve established that you only pay for ads people click on. So what if you were able to get a lead without them ever even clicking on your ad? Double prizes!

You can do that by putting your phone number on the ad. If the prospect is ready to call, they might just give you a ring without even clicking!

3. Control Your Display Hours

In your AdWords settings, you can set the active hours for your campaigns.

In other words, you can set your ads to run only when you are available, which maximizes the opportunity for you to convert clicks into calls by cutting down on the number of people who go to your site and don’t call simply because you aren’t available! 

Related: 4 Steps for Using Google AdWords in Your Real Estate Marketing Plan

4. Use Ad Extensions

Text ads (like those in the search results) also have five “extensions” you can use to improve the effectiveness of your campaigns. They are:

• Location Extension – Opens up a map on mobile devices, so people can find your office (if you have one).

• Sitelink Extension – Displays different pages from your website so prospects can jump right to what they are interested in.

• Call Extension – Gives mobile browsers a click-to-call option that gets the phone ringing with appointments.
• Social Media Extension – Shows how many +1’s you have on Google+.

• Seller Rating Extension – Adds credibility by showing how well you are rated by previous clients. (BUT it won’t show your rating if it is less than 4 stars, so Google’s got your back there.) 

I think the Sitelink and Call Extensions are probably the best options for real estate investors. But if you’re selling a house via PPC, it would be useful to show a map of where it is located. And if you are rated highly on Google, you definitely want to use the Seller Rating extension to build trust! 

5. Maintain Consistent Design Flow

You need your prospects to be able to get their bearings on whatever page they land on within 7 seconds (a timeframe I made up, but which sounds pretty good), or they’ll be headed for the “back” button. You need to maintain a consistent design, message, and flow throughout the process.

Nothing flows or even matches, meaning people will be disoriented when they arrive at the landing page. And since you didn’t fulfill what you advertised, your credibility and trustworthiness will take a serious nosedive. (Along with your relevancy, according to Google.)

If you do these 5 things, you’ll be well on your way to increasing your relevancy score with Google, getting better placements for your ads, and maximizing the return on your PPC investment! If you have a question about any of the 5 tips above, shoot me a question in the comments and I’ll do my best to clarify it for you!

And don’t forget to look for the last post in this series next week, where I’ll help you even further improve your results with the targeting settings available in AdWords!

Be sure to leave your comments below!

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.