Impressions from the 4th imPRove Seminar – Make Google work for you!
You have created your Gmail account at least once and left at least a fake name. By automatism, you have thus created your own Internet birth book because Google is very curious and wants to know everything! :)
Varga is not fake!
Miroslav Varga is part of the Escape team from Osijeka. The oldest Google AdWords certified trainer in the Google Adriatic region. He came to Podgorica with one goal – to teach us how to make Google to work for us. With more than 2,000 hours of education and over 10,000 campaigns, he talked about a 24/7, who does not ask for sick leave, vacation or off days (?). He is very subjective and works in all countries of the world. He told us a story about the Internet today and the Google AdWords.
Nobody is perfect
He admits that nothing is perfect and that even today he wraps up the campaign with a simple conclusion: “Dear client, at least we know what does not work!” He adds, through a smile, that he was lucky for being wrong so many times, but at someone else’s spent. However, this story had a more important conclusion, that the biggest Google AdWords sacrament is actually testing. In the testing process, it’s easy to crystallize what is working and what does not. Varga told us why it’s not easy to create a good AdWords campaign. First of all, because it does not only depend on ad itself. Stay with us to learn more about cause-and-effect leads to a larger number of impressions on your ad.
Website as the foundation of virtual identity!
Estimates say you need 10,000 to 15,000 euros for making a good website. Where’s the problem? Laughing, he explained why he turned from website development to Google AdWords: you can not simply explain to people the importance of a good web site. For reminding sakes, 40% of visitors wait no more than 3 seconds for the website to load. Hence, may we allow ourselves the luxury of inadequate page loading?
A virtual personality, as Varga calls it, is getting more and more important. The first thing we do when eager to learn more about a company is to Google it, and then we go further through a Facebook search. Therefore, be sure to design your site primarily for the user, and not for yourself and under your own criteria.
So before you even think how your site is just great, take a few minutes to check. For all the irregularities on the site, Varga primarily recommends using Google tools, because at the end of the day, all sites are adapting to the Google algorithm.
Let’s get back for a moment to the question: what does Google know about me?
Although most of us are shocked when we realize that Google knows almost everything about us (primarily our personal information we entered during login), our search history (from the very first click in the search box!), locations we visited and devices and applications we use, somehow, we forget one thing, that we gave all the information to Google completely voluntarily. Yes, we did. Perhaps next time it would be a good idea to read those little letters and the terms of use before you click “I agree”, hm? If American films taught us anything, it is that the most important things are always written in small letters, and that, because of their ignorance, we may easily end up in fishy zone. But Google is very cautious, benevolent and dedicated to our privacy, which is why he stores all our data on 3 disks, 2 computers, on 2 tectonic plates! :) Use the link o the Personal info & privacy section and discover everything Google knows about you.
But let’s look at it a bit differently! Since Google knows everything about us, why don’t we make it work for us?! ;)
The first dilemma: Do we need Google AdWords when we have good SEO?
When we talk about the internet market, the first and the basic thing to start is the SEO optimization. Research shows that 75% of people click on the only top 5 search results on Google, so who would not like to be in the top 5?
The basic mistake people make is running for the Google algorithm! Of course, you have to follow it, but do not follow it blindly without questioning anything. Varga tells you: Don’t do this! Run for visitors, and then Google will run for you!
Keywords don’t have to be adapted and adjusted so that they are written correctly, by school language. Instead, aim for the street jargon. Why? Because you are not supposed to give people on the Internet too much space to “think”. You should adapt to what they are searching for, what they want to hear, and the result will not be miss out. If we expect from users to elaborate what they need and what we have to offer, sign it right away, they already gave up on us.
Now, let’s get back to our question: Do we need Google AdWords when we have good SEO? If you want to be the first in the list of searches relevant to your campaign and want to rise above the competition, the answer is “Yes“! But do not start an AdWords campaign until you optimize your site. Why? The answer could not be simpler: With better SEO optimization, the CPC (i.e., cost per click) is considerably lower!
Pay attention to the mobile!
Everything on the Internet needs to be optimized for mobile devices! 87% of users, have their mobile devices 24 hours a day. The number of searches on mobile phone is twice the size of the desktop use. The reason is the availability of the Internet on the go, i.e. access to Internet is available almost everywhere.
The basic guideline is to enable quick access to the mobile version of the site, as 53% of users will leave your site if it is loaded more than 3 seconds! So how can we not start the SEO optimization story again and all the parameters that affect it?! Remember: your site should work for you, and not in a way to refuse visitors!
What about Google AdWords?
The bravest and smartest decision you can make at the moment in Montenegro is to make a fierce online marketing effort, Varga said. In the Balkans, only 3 to 20% of the marketing budget is invested in online marketing. Regardless it is the devastating fact, it is also a window of opportunity for those who want to stand out and position themselves as market leaders.
We do not want to reveal exactly everything we learned, so we’ve outlined a few tips to keep in mind when deciding to activate your Google AdWords account:
- When you open a Google AdWords account, you receive a Customer ID – WRITE IT DOWN! Any problem that may occur, must be addressed to Google Support under that code. In other words, your case will not be processed unless you provide this ID!
- Pay attention to setting a currency, because once set currency can not be changed later
- Explore thoroughly, then create a keyword strategy
- Pay attention to Google Ad Writing Tips
- Pay attention to the time zone
- Test minimum 2 ads to find out what does not work well
- Track reports every day … but literally e v e r y day, because Google Analytics is an inexhaustible source of data and guidance on how and what to do next.
- Read the terms of use before agreeing to everything. :)
Little (read: complete) digression for the end: How did Varga buy me forever?
Although we learned how powerful Google can be when we want to stand out and be more visible, this was not not the highlight of the seminar for me.
As he mentioned his children during the lecture, I asked Varga on a coffee break whether anyone of them followed his path. He told me that they actually turned to arts. To my comment that art is beautiful and exalted, he told me: Well, actually, marketing is an art, too! All of us who work in marketing are in our own, special way, artists. He explained that all of us are creating and”performing” for the audience on the market. And, what is that if not the art itself?
Like every child, I dreamed of becoming an artist, but that day, more than ever before, I was especially happy for being the marketer!
So, dear fellow marketers, be imaginative, creative, create only the best, because who knows, maybe one day we will wake up as representatives of the tenth art. ;)
