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Insanely Improve Your Google Ads: The HAMMER Method [Case Study]

23/1/2020

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You've been running Google Ads (Adwords) for months, but the performance has been... underwhelming. You've tried variations of ad copy and you're getting clicks, but none of these seem to be turning into conversions... 

  • What's next?
  • How do you improve the performance and turn clicks into conversions?
  • How can you optimise and not just 'spend more money' or 'add more keywords'?

This article sets out a planned approach to answer all of the above and help you do your own Adwords audit.

So, pick up your hammer and keep reading.

** This guide is intermediate level so some basic concepts are not covered
Picture
​Skip ahead to section:​
  • What is the Adwords HAMMER Method?
  • The Problem
  • ​Applying the HAMMER Method
  • ​Our Results​
  • What's Next?
  • Final Thoughts and Tips

What is the HAMMER Method?

The HAMMER method is a sustainable long term Adwords strategy that focuses on improving the overall health and quality of Google Adwords account structure and campaign(s) performance to lower costs and increase conversions.

This is achieved by targeting better quality leads (and audiences) with ads and driving these down the path to conversion.

​The HAMMER Method:
  1. High-level account housekeeping
  2. Analytics - connect and ensure conversion tracking is working
  3. Macro account factors
  4. Micro account factors
  5. Evaluate after 14 days
  6. Repeat steps 3 - 5 (also Report)
'MC Hammer' Image
The incorrect HAMMER method

The Problem

A client approached us with a common problem; their Adwords campaigns were getting a lot of ad clicks but not many of these clicks were converting into leads on their website.

Going under the hood, we found a mix of campaign types, mismatched targeting, lack of negative keywords, an inconsistent landing page experience and many more areas that could be improved for better Adwords performance.

Applying the HAMMER Method

1. High-level account housekeeping
Some of this might seem like common sense, but:
​
  • Clean up / remove any old campaigns, ads or ad groups. Delete duplicates, if any.
  • Organise your account based on common themes and a logical structure
    ​Usually the easiest way is to follow the structure of your website and structure the account Campaign > Ad Group > Ads (*see below image, or this video from Google)
  • Check your account access and make sure any old access is removed
  • Confirm billing and business information is up to date
  • Pause any bad campaigns for now if you are worried about bleeding budget
  • If you are managing multiple accounts, ideally do this through a Manager or 'MCC' account
Example Adwords account structure
Example of Adwords Account structure (from: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2015/03/06/adwords-account-structure)
2. Analytics - connect and ensure conversion tracking is working
Link your Adwords account with your Google Analytics account to gain additional visibility both ways. Most importantly, get access to your conversion goals from Google Analytics to track them in Adwords, enable target CPA bidding and other useful features.

If you haven't set up conversion goals in Google Analytics yet, this is an important first step!

Tip: Google Tag Assistant is a simple Chrome extension that can help you see what code is/isn't working.
3. Macro account factors
Start by looking for LARGE problems that have the greatest bearing on your campaigns overall.
Or, think 'things that can destroy an entire Adwords campaign performance if they are not right'.

Some examples of Adwords 'macro factors':

  • Bid type: Decide between manual or automated bid types and understand the difference

  • Budget: Check in on this and ensure you're spending within your means

  • Ad scheduling: Are you serving ads at 2am on Tuesdays? Tighten your ad scheduling to the days that matter to your business. Ideally, look for clues in the ad schedule report data to see which times are most effective and double down on those with a bid adjustment.

    Likewise, do the opposite for days and times that convert poorly and either use a negative bid adjustment or turn ads off during those times.

  • ​Location targeting: Are you targeting too wide an area? If so, tighten your targeting.

    Also, try segmenting your target area to give you more data about how different audiences perform and give you more options to change later (E.g. If you're targeting the entire country, try segmenting by state to see which performs better)

  • Devices: Look for clues here and set bid adjustments accordingly. Also try to think in your customers' shoes - what are they likely to be doing when searching for your product? Sitting on the couch at home (mobile/tablet), at their desk at work (desktop) or on their way to work (mobile)?
Picture
  • Landing pages: Nothing is worse than getting that all-important click only to send that person to a broken, poorly-designed or mismatched landing page that doesn't meet the expectations of the ad that they've just clicked on... "I thought I was getting free tickets... why am I at some weird home page?"

    Ensure the experience is consistent (which should also help your Adwords quality score), keep the page simple and optimised - make it easy for the user to complete the intended conversion action when they get there, not difficult. And don't forget mobile!
Key elements of a good landing page
From: https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33927/11-simple-but-critical-tips-for-creating-better-landing-pages.aspx
4. Micro account factors
Once the big stuff is taken care of, then it's time to dig deeper into the detail and check on the SMALL things and bring it home.

Some examples of Adwords 'micro factors':
​

  • Keywords: Of course keywords are important. There are many great guides written on keyword research so we won't go into detail, but in general - choose a smaller number of keywords that are specific and relevant to your business rather than going for too much of a scattershot approach. Avoid single word phrases.

    Pay attention to branded Vs non-branded keywords and even split these into separate campaigns or ad groups since branded keywords can often skew reports (if someone is searching for your brand, are they more likely to click on your ad?)

  • Keyword match types: Consider splitting your campaigns into a combo of exact match ('EM') and broad match modified ('BMM') with the EM negatives added to the BMM ad groups. This doubles down on your EM keywords and is great when you have a good keyword list that's likely to convert. Adding these as EM negatives to the BMM campaign reduces cannibalisation between ad groups and ensures only one ad competes and fires for that keyword when searched.

  • The 'Search Terms' report: Check this regularly to see what keywords are actually triggering your ads. Great as both a source of more keywords to add to your list OR to see bad keywords and variants that you want to add as negatives.

  • Negative keywords: Update and maintain regularly. This can also be a 'macro' factor if done as a list through the shared library, which is a good best practice as it allows you to share the negative keyword list between accounts.

  • Demographics: Drill down here and see which age groups are converting or giving better value. If there's a particular standout age group, consider segmenting it into a separate ad group with more personalised ad copy and/or creative that will appeal to that audience. Consider pausing age groups that are under-performing.
Adwords demographics report
The demographics report
It's best to target a smaller group of quality, relevant keywords and do it really well than to target a large group of keywords and do it badly "
  • Audiences: Look for any audiences that represent your brand/product well. If you're unsure, set these audiences to 'observation' initially to see if they perform any better than than the control group - once you have more data you can set them to 'target' if the results are positive.

    ​Consider building similar audiences from visitors who have taken a particular action on your website. Again, you can set these to 'observe' initially and gauge the results (note: Adwords will automatically start a similar audience from any audience that you create).
Adwords audiences
Adwords audiences
Also try custom audiences if you have a large pool of customer data that you can upload directly into Adwords and build similar audiences from.
​

Look for clues in Google Analytics on affinity or in-market audiences and see how these perform - look for any outliers and even consider custom ad copy / creative if any of them really stand out (e.g. 'Pet Lovers').

Also check out life event audiences such as 'moving house' which may be relevant to your brand or product.

Tip: As well as targeting audiences, also think about excluding them when appropriate. 
E.g. People who have just submitted an enquiry form on your website.
Google Analytics affinity audiences screenshot
Google Analytics affinity audiences
  •  Ad copy and creative: This is a topic all by itself. In general, try at least 3-5 different variations of each ad, experiment with compelling ad copy and make it relevant to the offer you are presenting. Include keywords to boost ad rank. Keep within the Google guidelines.
    ** Check out this Wordstream article for more tips on writing effective headlines.

    ​Also try Dynamic Keyword Insertion, but in small doses and NOT with a competitor brand targeted ad group - you don't want the competitor's name to be inserted!

    Test with Responsive Ads for both Display and Search. Enter multiple headlines and descriptions (for search), or upload a number of different assets (for display) and over time, Google Ads will automatically test and learn which combinations perform best (as well as resizing the creative to fit any display size).

    Or, if you are running a e-commerce site, upload your product feed in Google Merchant Center and experiment with ​Dynamic Display Ads

  • Placements and Themes (for display ads): Check these reports and look for clues. Modify, double-down or exclude where its appropriate.

  • Remarketing: Don't use the same generic ads for remarketing. Think that these people have already been to your website - make the offer more pointed or add some urgency (just don't be creepy... "we see you've been to our website...")

    If you have remarketing campaigns mixed in with your others, keep in mind that remarketing tends to convert at a higher % and could skew results if you're looking at a combined dashboard.
5. Evaluate after 14 days
Armed with all of these tips, you've gone and made some changes. Now, it's best to wait at least 7-14 days to see the results of any changes to your campaigns (or even a little longer if you can afford the time). 

Additionally - it might be tempting to keep making bulk changes. But once you've hit a good baseline, it's best to keep changes to one at a time so you can objectively see the results and effect without overlap and cross-contamination of your results.
6. Repeat steps 3 - 5 (also Report)
Keep working through steps 3 - 5 and as above, limit changes to one, or a few, at a time. 

Finally the all-important bit comes... Report on your amazing results! 

Our Results

This article was originally titled '10X your Adwords CTR...' but we decided that was a little too click-batey...

As for the results we achieved with the HAMMER method... it was actually closer to an 11.5X improvement for one client, so 10X is still being conservative :)
Google Adwords CTR improvement screenshot

​Lead quality also improved, reducing Adwords spend, increasing conversion rate by 58% on lead forms and overall, improving Google Adwords campaign ROI for the client.

​
But "clicks were down!" we hear some of you say. And yes, clicks did reduce - but this was a good thing. 

In Adwords (as with most PPC), clicks are what you pay for, so you want them to count.

​Prior to the Adwords performance improvements we made, many of these clicks weren't converting into leads or enquiries and the client was simply blowing budget on vanity metrics that seemed impressive.

What's Next?

After the campaigns were optimised with the HAMMER method, this gave the client a solid base to work from. They could now either expand the existing campaigns, add new campaigns or increase budget with the extra available headroom they now had.

Or, they could sit back and enjoy the financial savings and spend less, of course... :)

​The HAMMER method creates a custom, scalable solution that maximises the value of clicks to ensure that budget isn't wasted now or moving forward.

Final Thoughts and Tips

It might seem daunting at first, but if you take the time, there are almost always better ways to improve Google Adwords performance than spending more money or adding more keywords.

Take care dealing with Google support calls or suggestions from within the Adwords interface. Whilst these may seem helpful, Google is still a money-making business. The easiest 'solution' will often be to increase budget.

Similarly, the list of keywords you could potentially add is almost endless. But this isn't Pokemon and you don't need to add them all.

Keywords with higher search volume might seem better at face value, but ultimately you should focus on the keywords that are most relevant and specific to your business.
​

Have any of your own tips to add, or feedback on how some of these techniques worked for you? We'd love to hear from you in the comments.

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8 (Mostly) Free Digital Marketing Courses & Training Resources Online

16/1/2020

5 Comments

 

 ** Updated for 2020 **

(1:30 min read)
It's no secret - Digital Marketing moves fast. Keeping up to date can be challenging. 

Thankfully, in 2020 there are a number of well respected and (mostly) free digital marketing courses and training resources available online which are both easily accessible and contain highly current and relevant information.
Training - Girl at Gym Image
In places like our home city of Perth, offline digital marketing courses and official training events are a bit scarce, making the option of online training not only quite attractive, but a must-do in order to keep ahead of current trends in the industry.

Whether you are considering upskilling your existing marketing staff or looking into a digital marketing course yourself, we've compiled a clear and easy to reference list of 8 of the best online training resources to check out in 2020.

8 (Mostly) Free Online Courses with certificate of completion as noted

Hubspot Academy logo
1. Hubspot Academy
In 2020 Hubspot continues to be a powerhouse of content production, as well as providing excellent free training resources through their Hubspot Academy. Still some of the most up-to-date training material available online today, with certificates of completion to be renewed every 1-2 years.
Provider
Hubspot
Free/Paid?
Free

Certification
Yes​, including certificate of completion.
Content / Level

Hours of detailed, high quality video resources covering trending industry topics such as Inbound Marketing, Content Marketing, Growth Driven Design ('GDD') and more. 
Hootsuite Academy Logo
Hootsuite remain a trusted source for social media specialists - with platform training as well as an assortment of both free and paid social media specialisations, there is something here for everyone.
2. Hootsuite Academy
Provider
Hootsuite
Free/Paid?
​Free content. Certifications from $199
Certification
Yes​, including certificate of completion.
Content / Level

Social Media Marketing on a basic and advanced level, Hootsuite platform training
​(Hootsuite is a platform for scheduling and managing social media accounts)
Google Skillshop logo
3. Google Skillshop
Google Partners. No... Academy for Ads. No... Skillshop :)
​
Identity crisis aside, after several rebrands and a huge overhaul of the UI, Google Skillshop remains the best place to get free Adwords certification in 2020 with certificate of completion renewed every 12 months.

​Start with Adwords Fundamentals then move into one of the areas of specialisation such as display, search, mobile, shopping  or video. Where else to get it but the source?
Provider
Google
Free/Paid?
​Free
Certification
Yes, most ​including certificate of completion.​
Content / Level

Fundamentals through to advanced certifications for Google Adwords and Analytics as well as short form training resources via their LMS.​

** From late 2019 - Google Academy for Ads content has been moved to Skillshop
The digital garage - logo
4. The Digital Garage (by Google)
Provider
Google, IAB Europe
Free/Paid?
​Free
Certification
Yes​
Content / Level

Free entry-level courses on everything from search to social media, to help you grow your business or career.
Hands on course content aimed at those starting out and wanting to either broaden their skills or strengthen the fundamentals with 125 online courses and counting. They even have local coaching available in some areas.
Wordstream - logo
5. Wordstream's PPC University
Everything PPC from the basics to more advanced topics that you won't cover in Google's Adwords training. Wordstream also provide a ton of info in the form of case studies and whitepapers to back up their advice.
Provider
Wordstream
Free/Paid?
​Free
Certification
No​
Content / Level

Everything you could possibly need to know about creating PPC / Adwords ads - beginner to advanced level.
Udemy logo
6. Udemy
Udemy is undeniably a massive online resource of training and course content. Check the individual courses and do your research on whoever is providing the course content. Some of these can be less 'official' than other trusted sources such as Google and certifications not as valuable or well recognised.
Provider
Various
Free/Paid?
​Varies (some are free)​
Certification
Varies​, some including certificate of completion.
Content / Level

An online education hub with courses on pretty much anything. Over 45000 courses and 15 million students.
Moz Logo
7. Moz
Moz are one of the few independent trusted authorities on SEO outside of Google themselves.
​Check out their SEO learning center or their SEO certification.
Provider
Moz
Free/Paid?
Free
Certification
Yes
Content / Level

​Moz a consistently great source of digital marketing (primarily SEO and content marketing) info, broken into beginner and advanced sections. Their blog and 'whiteboard Fridays' have become legendary.
Facebook Blueprint Logo
8. Facebook Blueprint
As you would expect, the authoritative source for all things Facebook and Instagram.
Provider
Facebook
Free/Paid?
​Free content. Certifications from $400.
Certification
Yes​, including certificate of completion.​
Content / Level

​The official resource for Facebook and Instagram advertising. Content via LMS, extensive video resources and practice exams are free.
Every effort is taken to ensure this list remains up to date and current. Information is provided on behalf of third party providers and are not affiliates of MACH Digital. Logos used are property copyright of their respective companies.

If you notice any of the info above has changed, is incorrect, or have any of your own resources to suggest/add please let us know.
Interested in Personalised, On Demand Digital Marketing Training? 
See Our Current Courses
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