Getting Started with Digital Marketing

Creating and managing a successful business isn’t easy. We know. And this blog won’t have a secret black-magic formula for doing so. Sorry to disappoint you. But hang on, it gets better.

This blog will touch upon digital marketing and our favourite online advertising method: Paid Search!

Brief Intro to Digital Marketing

Bob Dylan said it best: The Times They Are A-Changin’.

Billboards and newspapers aren’t as popular as they once were. The reason being: digital marketing has taken over. So what is it?

Digital marketing covers advertising and promotion of your business online. If you run a business today and aren’t marketing online, you’re missing out on the demographic of people who use the internet, which is a lot.

Here’s a break-down:

Many of these are self-explanatory. Others aren’t. In particular, Search Ads.

Search Ads (aka Google AdWords / Bing)

Still here? OK, good. Now about those search ads. What are they?

When you Google something (yes, Google is now a verb), you type in some keywords, then Google’s algorithm tries to figure out what you want. Google then shows you some search results. We call these “organic results.”

Are you having a tough time getting your website to appear on the first page of Google?

Luckily there’s a better way! *Jaw-drops in disbelief*

This better way is called Google AdWords. It’s paid online advertisements that appear above or beside the organic search engine results. They look something like this:

With AdWords, you purchase some keywords, and when people type in those keywords, your webpage appears as the top result on Google. You might also hear some folks refer to these as “paid results.”

So what happens when you invest in AdWords and are shown as the top result on Google? Well, you get brand impressions, traffic to your site, and phone calls from interested customers. And you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. *Cue office dance party*

Sound like something you might be interested in? Keep reading to get some help on starting your campaign.

How to Create a Google AdWords Campaign

You can skip this part and call us :). Or you can follow these steps and give it a try on your own. That’s fine too!

1) Do Keyword Research
This is one of the most important steps! It would be best if you did keyword research. Your ads will only show when someone types specific keywords, so find out what you want those keywords to be. We covered this topic in more detail on our keyword research blog post.

2) Create an AdWords Account
You have to sign up, create a password, that kind of stuff. You can do so here: adwords.google.com.

3) Target a Geographic Location
Will people all over the galaxy be interested in your product or service? If not, you should probably target only people on specific planets and cities within those planets.

4) Set your daily budget
How much are you willing to spend? Set your daily budget so you won’t spend more than you can afford. Google is cool like that.

5) Set your cost per click
This is similar to your budget, but more specific. Your daily budget might be $100, but you might only be willing to spend $2 per click. Google or Bing need to know both.

6) Create your ads
Create compelling, eye-catching advertisements that target the type of customer you want. Do whatever you can to get your ideal customers to convert!

7) Enter your billing information
You’re ready to go! Now in return for getting you a lot of leads, Google wants some money. I guess that’s fair.

Gain Insights from your Campaign

After you’ve created your campaign and share it with the world, you can start to gain insights. AdWords campaigns collect copious amounts of data. Some highlights include:

And much, much more. Within a few days, you’ll know if your AdWords campaigns are working, and if so, how well they’re working.

You can customize your ads, locations, and budgets as much or as little as you’d like. The more you gain insights and optimize your campaign, the more successful your campaign will be. Try it out!

Thanks so much for reading, and we hope you learned a thing or two about digital marketing and Google AdWords. PS: everything works pretty much the same way for Bing, so check that out too.

Best of luck with your campaign!

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