Share this...

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Linkedin

What Bloggers Need to Know About Google PPC Advertising

It’s entirely possible to not only make a living blogging but to truly thrive. Of course, achieving such a goal requires attracting readers to your blog. It’s not easy to monetize your blog when no one knows about it.

One of the most effective ways to attract a readership when first starting a blog involves launching pay-per-click advertising campaigns through Google AdWords. Consider the following essential tips when doing so. 

Although it’s possible to write an entire book on this subject, these key recommendations will help you take advantage of this powerful means of attracting blog readers.

4 Key Google PPC Advertising Tips for Bloggers

Review the basics

Google PPC campaigns may be useful when your new blog doesn’t have many readers yet, but it’s important to understand that running PPC ads costs money. You don’t want to waste any of your funds on ads that don’t yield results.

That’s why, before launching a campaign, you should learn the basics of keyword research. Knowing which keywords to include in your ads (and your blog entries, for that matter) will help you reach Google users who may have a genuine interest in your blog.

A/B test

Don’t make the common mistake of launching your ads and hoping for the best! Bloggers who benefit most from PPC campaigns are those who monitor their campaigns to learn which strategies are most effective, making changes accordingly.

One way to get a better sense of which types of ads generate interest in users is to A/B test. This simply involves creating two versions of the same ad, launching each simultaneously, and checking their performance over the course of several weeks or months to learn which one is attracting more clicks. You can then study the differences between both ads to determine why one is performing better than the other. This will help you develop more effective ads in the future.

Know your goals

This may seem like a basic tip. In fact, it is. But it’s also something that many bloggers overlook when launching PPC campaigns.

Your goal should not be vague. You don’t simply want to attract “more” readers. You should have a specific number of readers you want to attract. By setting a specific (but realistic) goal, you’ll be better able to determine if your campaigns are delivering the intended results.

Define your audience

Naturally, not every single Google user will be interested in reading your blog. You want to make sure the people who see your ads are the types of people who may become loyal readers.

Luckily, Google lets you target users when launching campaigns. You can target users based on such factors as age range, location, gender, and more.

Leverage Google AdWords’ audience targeting features to their full potential by defining your audience before launching a campaign. Depending on the nature of your blog, it might also be smart to segment your audience into multiple groups.

For example, maybe your blog covers various fashion trends. Some of your readers might only be interested in blog entries on men’s fashion. Others might be exclusively interested in women’s fashion. Others may live in parts of the world where only certain types of entries will be relevant. For instance, someone who lives in a warm climate might not find much value in blog entries covering winter clothes. As such, you might segment your audience to design individual ads catering to the unique traits of each group.

What’s perhaps most important is that you continue to experiment. Again, launching a PPC campaign can help you grow your blog’s readership, but your campaign will be most effective if you make improvements and modifications when needed.