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Google Adwords Express is a digital advertising platformed aimed at the smaller business that wants to advertise their website on Googles search results. The goal is for the business owner to create an advert including a link to their site and a sentence or two describing what they offer. This advert is then seen by potential customers in a specified geographical location on Googles search results using specific search words set by the business owner.
How It Works
After logging in and setting up your advert on Google Adwords Express, you can set a daily or monthly amount you are prepared to spend. You then compete, a bit like a blind auction with your competitors, for your advert to appear at the top or bottom of Googles search results for the terms you have chosen. If you have chosen a daily amount you want to spend, it might cost you a little more one day and then a little less another but over the course of the month the cost is usually the amount you had set.
The most important thing to remember is, you are not paying for the time your advert is being shown, but instead the Cost Per Click. In other words your advert could be at the top of Googles search results all day but if no-one clicks on your advert to be taken to your website, it doesn't cost you anything.
Google will give you a rough estimate as to how many clicks you will get depending on what you want to spend and the geographical location you have set. If no-one is clicking on your site, it will be shown more often to encourage more clicks. If it's getting clicked on too often and using up your allowance, your ad drops down the results pages or even disappears until the next day when it starts all over again.
Creating Your Advert
When you create your advert, you can set specific actions when the ad gets clicked. This can be a phone call to the business number or a visit to a specified page on the business website.
Next you need to think about keywords or phrases your potential customer will be type into Google search bar when looking for a business like yours. This will help Google to show your advert to the right person.
How Much Should I Spend Each Month?
This of course depends on your type of business, where it is located and the strength of your competition. If you own a hairdressers for example, in a small town or rural location with little or no competition, you will be able to spend less than if its in a large city centre with a hairdresser on every other street. Luckily Google does give you an indication to what the competition is spending, but I would recommend starting with a smaller amount and increase it every two weeks until you see a difference.
Showing More Than One Advert
You don't have to stop with just one advert either. Taking the hairdressers as an example, you might want to create 2 specific ads, one to attract men and one for women. Both adverts are controlled by the one monthly payment amount you want to spend, but are more specific to each type of customer you are trying to attract.
If you are overcome with new customers you can also deactivate your advert with one easy on/off button which stops the ad being seen and your money being spent immediately until you want to reactivate it at a later date.