Using Google Adwords to bring extra traffic to your site

Now you have a shiny new onCourse website, how do your customers find your college and enrol in your classes?

Your customers are trying to find you… unless they know you by name there is a good chance they could pass your website by and end up enrolling with a competitor. Not because they have better, cheaper or closer courses, but just because they were easier to find.

The time of print media as the predominant way to find a business is over. Why look up a clunky phone directory when you can google? (yes, to google is a verb). And to assist this process you can pay to promote your business.

Adwords are the list of links that usually appear in the right hand side of your web browser when you conduct a search. The ads that appear are dependant on what you search for – the companies that choose to advertise here bid for a position, and are charged by Google each time you click on one of their ads. The upside of this sort of advertising is that is it not aggressive or intrusive to the user, like the old-school pop up or flashing ads, and it is a useful way for people to find a product or service that is related to their search term. This great article explains how Adwords works, if you are new to the concept.

Navigating the swarm of information on the web can be a daunting process, and the complexity of Adwords might seem overwhelming at first. Some useful tips to consider when creating a campaign:

Pretend you’re a customer and try to find a business like yours What search terms do you use? These might become some of your keywords. What search terms show your competitors ads? Copy them!

Create more ads with fewer keywords Try to place your keyword in your ad if possible – it will help your quality rating. It costs no more to make ten ads than to make one, and your advertising will be better targeted.

Don’t be stingy Raise your CPC (Cost Per Click) as high as you dare for the important keywords. It doesn’t mean you will always be charged this amount – it’s your maximum.

Use your daily budget to ration your expenses If you have high CPCs, but not many clicks, you will at least get lots of impressions (add listings).

Make sure your landing page (the page you directed the ad too) has information that relates to your keywords. Good content means good quality ratings from the google-bots that crawl your site.

Use the keyword tool I don’t know how they do it, but damn it’s clever! Plus it will give you a good idea what keywords your competitors might be using ;)

Keep an eye on your campaign When you set up your campaign, your ads may be appearing within searches almost immediately, and then they might disappear. Your CPC might be to low, your landing page low quality or your ad not relevant enough. Either way, check out the report for each keyword to diagnose the problem and make appropriate changes.

Now you have plenty of traffic being driven to your site, make sure you use the onCourse tools, such as newsletter subscription, and waiting lists to capture the contact details and areas of interest of your potential students.