How Much Will a Google Ads Campaign Cost?
Google Ads is one of the top digital marketing options, and it’s no mystery why. Google is the most popular search engine in the world, with around 90% of the search engine market share. It also includes a variety of high-quality analytics and SEO tools to supercharge your ads. Aside from the benefits of Google Ads, however, business owners have one big concern: How much will it cost? Frustratingly, the answer is, “It depends.” The picture becomes clearer once you assess a few factors regarding your unique business, goals, and market.
Key Budget Factors
Don’t spitball a number and decide to spend that much. First, you need to understand the cost structure of Google Ads and what drives the prices. This marketing platform is pay-per-click (PPC), meaning that you pay each time your ad gets a click and don’t pay when it doesn’t. That sounds fantastic, but not all clicks are equal. Some cost more than others. Here are the main factors that contribute to pricing:
- Industry: The most competitive industries cost more per click.
- Keywords: Some keywords are in high demand, and those cost more. Long-tail keywords (narrow, specific phrases) typically cost less. They also often work better since large corporations dominate high-demand keywords.
- Region: If your ad is aimed at citizens of an expensive metro area, the price will be higher than if it’s seeking customers in a small town.
- Goals: Your overall cost depends on what you want to get out of your ads. For example, if you mainly want visits, your goal is being met every single time someone clicks. If you want conversions, you might have to pay for 50 clicks or more to get just one.
Setting a Small Business Marketing Budget
Start small. That will give you a chance to gather and analyze data before making well-informed adjustments. Many small businesses start with small investments of $20 or less per day, which gets some clicks and teaches some lessons without risking a lot. Once you have that information, you can estimate a projected budget. Look at how much you paid per click and how many clickers became buyers. After that, it’s easy to estimate how much you’ll have to spend to reach your conversion goals. You can even put a monthly spending cap on your campaign to avoid nasty surprise bills.
Track Results to Avoid Overspending
Setting a paid advertising budget is vital, but using that budget well is equally important. Business owners who ignore the data wind up throwing a lot of money in the garbage bin. What works today might not work tomorrow. Some ads that business owners love are nonetheless poor performers, and ads that owners found unexciting sometimes knock it out of the park. You won’t know any of these things unless you regularly log into Google Ads to look at key metrics such as cost-per-click, click-through rate, and conversions. When you notice that an ad isn’t performing or that a particular keyword is no good, hit pause on it and direct that money toward ads and keywords that earn the privilege. Not everyone has time to regularly sign in and comb through the data, though. That’s why so many leading business experts rely on trusted web marketers to handle it for them.
