{"id":4495,"date":"2022-08-04T13:38:40","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T13:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dandymarketing.co.uk\/?p=4495"},"modified":"2022-08-04T13:38:40","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T13:38:40","slug":"google-ads-does-it-still-work-for-small-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dandymarketing.co.uk\/newdev\/blog\/ppc\/google-ads-does-it-still-work-for-small-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Google Ads Still Work for Small Businesses?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Google ads are one of the core digital marketing channels available to businesses small and large across the globe. We manage small business PPC accounts<\/a> across a wide range of industries and budgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years we always get asked \u201cDoes Google Ads work for small businesses<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The simple straightforward answer is, yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The slightly longer answer is, it depends. There are a lot of factors that come into play to actually get an account to a state where it is efficiently driving leads or transactions on a monthly basis. Pros and cons to consider.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google Ads can also not work for small businesses, or even large businesses if they are not set up and managed correctly<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So in this blog, we\u2019ll detail what factors you need to consider that will impact Google Ads performance, give context, provide specific examples and as always, to the point advice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Factors you need to keep in mind <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you’re weighing up launching your first Google Ads campaigns there are a few things you need to be aware of that will affect its performance and whether or not you deem it\u2019s \u201cworking\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your Industry, Your Budget & CPCs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Your Budget<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Google ads at its core are pay-to-play. You can potentially get instant traffic to your website by paying for every click your ads generate. The more you spend, the more traffic you will get. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, your budget will only take you so far. If you\u2019re spending \u00a3100 per month this may not be enough, or it could just be enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s take three examples, firstly a Chiropractor looking to drive local traffic and bookings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, a new clothing line that wants to drive traffic and transactions, and finally an accountant looking for new clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chiropractor will be targeting a local area which may not be that competitive which will influence the cost per click (CPCs). By the business’s very nature the targeting is reduced and its competition could be quite small. This gives Google Ads a higher chance of working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The eCommerce clothing line is competing with a huge market with established competitors with big budgets. A bad strategy here will be to bid on very broad terms such as \u201cmen’s t-shirts\u201d. This is a sure-fire way to burn through whatever budget you have due to the sheer search volume that keyword will have. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The accountant is somewhere in between with different options for targeting. Do they want local customers or do they target the whole of the UK? It\u2019s a pretty competitive industry with some big players, and the leads would be very valuable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your Industry<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Google search ads are an auction, each time a keyword is searched advertisers are bidding for that click. This is where your keywords and competition come into play. How valuable are the keywords you\u2019re bidding on, and how much are your competitors spending and bidding?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more commercially valuable a keyword is, the higher the CPCs will be, and the shorter your budget will stretch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you target the wrong keywords or trust Google to manage this for you, chances are it won\u2019t work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s look at some examples below from different industries, say we were sticking with the \u00a3100 budget. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"This<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For our chiropractor, that works out to about 105 clicks, so that could result in 1 or 2 bookings, which could be worth it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And our clothing line would theoretically be able to drive the most clicks based on those keywords alone. Our online accountant would be around 5 clicks, which definitely would not work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main thing your industry will affect? CPCs (cost per click)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

One of the reasons the industry plays such a big part in whether or not Google ads will work for your small business is the CPCs (cost per click) related to your industry. As we saw above, this can vary quite a bit and can get pretty expensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research from WordStream<\/a> shows the avg. CPC varies quite a bit across different industries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"This<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Customer Lifetime Value<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Now with the above factors one thing that could sway Google ads to the side of \u201cworking\u201d is customer lifetime value. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our Accountant’s example, if he was to get 2 new customers paying \u00a3250 per month for accounting services they will probably stick around for at least a year, maybe for life if they are happy with the service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s stick with a year, that’s 2 x \u00a3250, so \u00a3500 a month, for 12 months, which is \u00a36,000 additional revenue for the year. Pretty good ROI in the grand scheme of things!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For our chiropractor in this example, he could get around 105 clicks, let’s say he converts 2 or them. He could charge \u00a375 per visit, and let’s just say both clients had 3 visits. So that\u2019s 6 visits in total charging \u00a375 which equals \u00a3450 in the booking value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, this depends on your industry and what you are trying to sell. So for our Clothing brand, they could get one transaction (customer) but it’s most likely going to be a single transaction, and not likely to be repeated for a while. They may have some lifetime value but the efficiency of that single transaction could be key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your Website<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re paying to send people to your website you better make sure it\u2019s in a good place. Chances are Google Ads traffic and visitors will be meeting your brand for the first time straight from Google search results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are they going to trust you enough to buy from you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your website needs to show you are a credible business that can effectively solve whatever problem they have, and you can do it well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your website still looks like it was built in 2000, doesn\u2019t have reviews, and doesn\u2019t showcase expertise you\u2019ll probably end up saying \u201cGoogle Ads isn\u2019t working\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So before you even set up your first campaign have a review of your website and make sure you would buy from you. Ask family and friends to review your website, and get some honest feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a basic checklist make sure you have done the below<\/p>\n\n\n\n