Rather than keep you in suspense, I’m going to tell you upfront this post is about Google AdWords.
It’s not some new SEO secret I’ve discovered that will send your website soaring to the top of Google’s organic search results overnight.
Sorry, there’s no such secret. But I hope you’ll keep reading – even if the mention of AdWords makes your heart sink and you want to run a mile.
AdWords beats SEO, social media and pretty much everything else, hands down, when it comes to driving targeted traffic to your website quickly.
I see so many business owners focusing on “free” traffic and avoiding AdWords. But this “free” traffic really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, there’s really no such thing as free traffic on the Internet today. Those good old days are long gone.
In any competitive market, you’ve got to invest either time or money to get your website noticed. There’s no way around that. And the time you spend on social media trying to get a small trickle of traffic, is time you are not focusing on other more important aspects of your business.
4 Good Reasons Why You Should Use AdWords
1. Guaranteed Page 1 Rankings on Google
AdWords is hands down the fastest way to get your website at the top of Google. Sure, you can invest time and money in SEO and wait months to get to No.1 (if you don’t get hit with a penalty for inadvertently breaking one of Google’s rules).
With AdWords, you set up your campaign and your ads can be on page 1 within 20 minutes. And as long as you’re willing to bid enough for clicks, you can stay at the top for whatever keyword you want.
2. Reach People Who are Searching For What You’re Selling
When someone goes to Google to search for a product or service, they are usually in a frame of mind to buy. If your ad comes up at the top of the search results, and they click to your website, they’re a hot prospect for what you are selling.
These people realise they’ve clicked on an ad. And it doesn’t bother them. i.e. as long as you can offer them what they want when they land on your site, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t buy from you.
3. You Only Pay When Someone Clicks Your Ad
Unlike other forms of advertising, where it’s virtually impossible to track its effectiveness, with AdWords, everything is trackable and measurable.
If someone clicks on your ad, you pay. Otherwise, you don’t. So every click represents a visitor to your website, who is in a frame of mind to buy.
4. AdWords Forces You to Get Your Act Together!
When you start paying to drive targeted traffic to your website, something funny happens. You suddenly become very focused on how effective your website is at converting those visitors into paying customers.
As long as you are relying on “free” traffic, you can kid yourself that your website is OK – it just needs more traffic. But when you turn on the tap of traffic, it forces you to become accountable.
If your website doesn’t have a clear sales message, then you are going to find out fast. Your credit card will get hammered by Google as visitors leave the site without taking any action.
AdWords puts the acid on a poorly performing website like nothing else can. If you can’t face this, then by all means continue with Facebook and other social media, and settle for mediocrity with your online marketing.
Otherwise, bite the bullet and get started seriously with AdWords. I don’t know of any company that’s serious about marketing online that is not using AdWords to some extent. It’s the gold standard of online advertising, the fastest way to fine tune your marketing and get results. Hands down.