It seems a though every time I do a Google search, advertisements start popping up everywhere I go online. Sometimes it feels slightly creepy as if they are in my head reading my thoughts or something! Ads continue to pop up on things I am interested in, despite having no recollection of previous searches.
As a marketer, I was buying solo ads, using list builders, and traffic exchanges getting marginal results. I had to see if I could figure out how these advertisers were reaching me. There had to be a better way…
A while back, I purchased a video builder app on JVZoo that allows you to create cartoon-like videos with relative ease. I decided I would make a short video to get my message across to a selected target market. It was time to give it a whirl using Google Ads.
What once was Google Adwords, is now Google Ads, and this is where you can market with your video or ads on others’ videos, depending on your options.
Here are seven points of interest I discovered in my “Maiden Voyage” with Google Ads:
1.) Before you set up your Google Ads account, a chat option is conveniently available to help you get started. As soon as I put my credit card in, the chat box went away.
2.) Any work in the title or body that is in all caps is considered “excessive capitalization” and your ad will be rejected for at least 24 hours.
3.) URL forwarding without masking is not allowed. In other words, whatever URL in the ad has to be the same one on which the user lands. If not, the ad will be rejected.
4.) Your CPA (Cost per Action or Cost per Acquisition) cannot be greater than your daily minimum budget. At this point, I do not fully understand this, but your ad will sit there with no activity until this is corrected. Like I alluded to, this is my first time doing this and am proceeding with caution. At first, I had a daily budget of $3 and a CPA of $7, so the ad just sat there.
5.) According to the Google support representative, if you choose a preselected audience in the options, and choose your own keywords, the ad will sit there in limbo with no activity. I opted to delete the audience and go with my targeted keywords.
6.) Phone support is available Monday-Friday during normal business hours, i.e. do not start a campaign on a Friday night and expect to get help.
7.) Unless I missed something, there is no email communication letting you know if ads are approved or rejected. You have to manually check the status and check to see if they are enabled or paused.
Following is the video I submitted to Google Ads. The URL is masked and points to links of my team members. My intention is to use keywords that pinpoint the target market with precision in an effort to maximize the advertising budget.
Maybe I will report back with findings, but we are doing well with the company. Yesterday, they sent an email notifying me that I am now considered a “Founder Member.” Hope the company continues to grow!