Choosing the right budget
One of the most challenging decisions for online advertisers involves deciding on the most appropriate budget.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a simple solution to this. It depends on various factors, such as business goals, the type of industry and the competition for certain keywords.
Generally speaking, the more expensive a keyword is, the more valuable it is likely to be, as it will offer significant opportunities for customer conversion.
Start with an amount that you’re comfortable with spending every month, and then aim to review it at regular intervals.
Google may adjust your daily budget
It’s difficult to predict when people will be searching for keywords that relate to your ads. On some days, there may be more interest compared to others.
To help you capitalize on greater search volumes, Google has the flexibility to use up to twice your daily budget on ads. This is balanced out with quieter days, where there may be less traffic.
You’ll never be charged more than what your monthly budget works out at, when multiplying your daily budget by the number of days in each month.
Example:
Let’s say your budget is $8 a day and your billing cycle is 30 days. Over the course of the month, you might notice that on some days you were charged $5 and on other days $10 (although note your daily spend limit won’t exceed $16 – i.e. two days’ worth). However, at the end of the billing cycle you won’t be charged more than $243.2 (which is your daily budget of $8 multiplied by 30.4 – which is the average amount of days in a month).
It’s also important to note that budget and click price are not the same. The click price is what you are willing to pay for a click, while the budget is what you are willing to pay per day for total clicks that your ads receive.
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Why is my budget being exhausted?
When you run ads on Google, you only get charged when someone clicks on it. Therefore, it’s not necessarily a bad thing if your budget gets used up quickly, as it suggests that your ads are generating interest from website visitors.
That said, there are some common reasons why it might go quicker than you expected.
Budget too low
If you have set your budget so low that the cost for a few clicks already exceeds your campaign budget, your budget might get depleted very quickly and your ads will not be shown. When this happens, your campaign status will show “limited by budget” in your Google Ads account.
Target location too broad
If your targeted location is very broad, it can happen that many people trigger your keywords through their search queries and end up clicking your ads. In this case, we suggest narrowing down your target area so your budget doesn’t get diluted by an audience that is too large.
Maximum CPC bid too high
The maximum cost-per-click bid (or max. CPC) is the highest amount that you’re willing to pay for a click on your ad. If your max. CPC is $6, but your daily budget is only $12, you’ll
run the risk of your budget being used up very quickly. Ads that show in a lower position can still get quality traffic and benefit from a lower CPC.
Start advertising today: sign up to Cobiro.
Tips for making your budget go further
Getting clicks on your ads is exciting, but it’s only the start of the process. Before you create a campaign, think about your goals and what you want to achieve with your ads. Would you like to increase traffic and therefore awareness of your website, product or service, or is there a specific action (conversion) you’d like to happen?
Once you know what your overall strategy is, there are a few more things you can do to give yourself the best chance of success:
Don’t always aim for the top
If your ad is third or fourth in the search results, it may mean that those who do click on it are more likely to convert (if that’s what you’re aiming for). These people would have reviewed the other results and decided to click on yours at that moment in time – as opposed to the undecided early-stage explorers, who may be tempted to click on the first ad they see.
Create a powerful ad
People who use search engines are looking for something specific, so your ad copy needs to reflect this. Steer your content towards benefits and solutions, and consider adding a reference to a third party review to install further confidence. Top content, with a clear CTA can help your budget go further and deliver quality leads.
Optimize your landing page
Getting a click on your ad is great, but it doesn’t guarantee a pleasurable user experience or customer conversion. Having a landing page that works is equally important as the ad itself. Make sure there’s a consistency between the both: that your keywords and content are similar, and that you can deliver on what was promised.
How Cobiro can help
Get the results of a marketing pro by running your ads through Cobiro’s platform. This includes:
- Help with writing your ad: we guide you through the whole process, including selecting your target audience, finding the best keywords and deciding on a budget.
- Full control of your budget: you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, so if no one interacts with it, there’ll be nothing to pay.
- Better auction results: our bid engine automatically adjusts your bid depending on a range of factors, helping you achieve more with less.
