Tag: Google Ads

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COVID-19 Guide for Google Ads: When to Restart Your Google Ads Program

McCord Web Services is a Google Partner and a Certified Google Ads Professional

Our new series COVID-19 Guide for Google Ads starts today.  In this article we will discuss when is it time to restart Google Ads.

We recommend assuring that you are following your county and state guidelines first. If your state has not opened up businesses in your sector, it is not time to restart your Google Ads program yet.

That being said, if you feel that you may be losing traction against competitors that are opening, we have done for some clients “warm up” ad text. By adding “we will be open on such and such a date and are taking virtual consultations or pre-bookings”, you can start to drive your website traffic and meet demand.

We have found for many plastic surgery practices that there is so much pent-up demand that conversions are blowing through the roof when a Google Ads restart is done.

For other businesses, demand is not the issue, but rather cash flow to restart Google Ads really is the issue. In this case, we recommend chatting with your account manager to see if you can start with a smaller footprint and lower negotiated management fee.

For those that have not stopped Google Ads programs during the virus – like ecommerce and service-based businesses, activity on Google Ads is good. For some very good. Even pest control firms are reporting excellent lead generation these past months.

If you have worried about what to do with Google Ads and COVID-19, now’s the time to review what strategies your Google Ads Manager may suggest.

For our own clients who have paused programs during the virus, we encourage you to get with us for a custom plan on how to get back going with Google Ads. We know that we will be able to find a business-friendly way to assist you in driving traffic again and getting the leads you need to move forward from Google Ads exposure.

 

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Paid Search Engine Exposure is No Longer Optional

Man touching a computer screen

Unfortunately, it is true that paid search engine exposure using Google Ads on Google.com and Microsoft Advertising ads on Bing.com is no longer optional for business growth.

The ever shrinking landscape and increased competition for space online and particularly on small screen devices has made positioning your brand or service in paid search engine ads nearly mandatory for growth. Of interesting note is that even social networks are starting to become paid vehicles for business too.

The days of posting great content and being discovered and placed organically with that content are nearly a thing of the past.

With a typical business spending 10% of it’s sales budget on marketing, it is time to review how much you are spending in paid search and even paid social placements and platforms.

Here’s what we see as of March 2020 as important trends and client use:

• Clients are increasing budgets in Google Ads and using more Display and audience features to provide value and targeted results. The typical client is spending over $3,000 for clicks per month and many significantly more as they receive a strong return on their investment.

• We have clients in the social marketing space, but have not seen high numbers move into paid marketing hereyet, but competitors in some industries are investing in sponsored content in social in increasing numbers. This will be a high growth area for spending in the upcoming years for some business sectors. Specifically we expect this growth to happen on Facebook and Instagram.

• More clients are moving into Microsoft Advertising as remarketing can still be done for healthcare and legal professionals – whereas these markets are banned from using this type of advertising through Google Ads.

• We are seeing strong interest in Microsoft Advertising for LinkedIn targeted audiences on Bing.com. For most accounts we are not seeing this as an option in account settings yet, but it is coming, and will be an excellent reason to advertise on Bing.com. For business to business selling clients – this new targeting option will be reason enough to move into the Microsoft Advertising platform.

• Google is making big changes to the Google Partners program and many agencies will be dropping or not be able to re certify with the  new program. Our value to you is that we will continue to work to comply with all requirements to keep our Google Partner status. We will soon be certified in all areas and fully expect our certification to be renewed in June. Watch your account management firm’s credentials to assure that they do not let slip this important qualification that sets professional account managers, like ourselves, apart from managers that are not serious or skilled in account management.

As a Google Partner and Microsoft Advertising Partner, McCord Web Services takes strategic account management seriously. Find out more about our services and qualifications today. We would be glad to chat with you to see if our services and capabilities are a good match for your search engine marketing management needs.