Setting up a Google Ads campaign works relatively intuitively, even for mortgage professionals. Still, it is important to keep these essential steps in mind.
- Sign up for Google Ads
Use the Gmail address linked to your business website.
- List the Keywords
You decide who sees your Google Ads by assigning them keywords. Make a list of the best keywords relating to your mortgage services and then decide how you can craft different advertisements around these keywords.
- Decide on Budgeting
The payment system in Google Ads is not conventional. It works with a bidding system whereby you bid for specific keywords or keyword phrases.
So, before you start building a campaign, decide on how much you are willing to pay for each keyword. You should know that the pricing is not static, the bidding value for keywords tends to change over the year.
Pick out the most important keywords, the keywords that provide the best lead generation. These are the keywords you should be bidding the highest on but you can bid lower amounts for the less lucrative keywords.
- Pick the Google Campaign Type
Decide which type of format is best for your budget, your message, and your target audience. Then present this campaign type to your graphic designer/advertising team.
The Google campaign types are:
- Search Ad – Appears as a text on the Google Results page
- Display Ad – Appears as a banner or image on a Google Partner website
- Video Ad – Appears as a video on YouTube
- Local Ad – Links advertising on Google Maps, Google Search Results, YouTube, and partner websites to your physical location (requires a Google My Business account)
- Discovery Ad – Appears as an image on Google channels i.e. YouTube, Gmail, Watch Next, and Discover
- Shopping – Product listing on Google Results page
- App Ad- Advertises your mobile app on Google channels, including Google Play
- Smart Ads – Automated Google advertising campaign
- Create Goals for Ads
During the setup, you will be asked what your goal is for the digital advertising campaign. You do not have to select one but choosing a goal helps improve the Google algorithm that goes along with your campaign.
The goal options are:
- Sales
- Brand awareness & reach
- Leads
- Product & brand consideration
- Website traffic
- Set Up Landing Pages
Landing pages are the webpages the visitor goes to whenever they click on your advertisement. Make sure the landing page is highly effective in driving conversions.
The best approach is to set up specific landing pages for each advertisement. Give the visitors exactly what they are expecting from the ad.
- Launch and Monitor
While the campaigns run, monitor their performance with Google Analytics. There you find information such as the cost per click, the return value of each click, and the activity on each ad.
All Google Ads campaigns can be edited and ended at any time so make use of this feature. Check which ad campaigns offer the best ROI and adjust your strategy accordingly.
