Are you spending too much on AdWords?

Many companies today are using AdWords with Google or other search engines to promote their products, generate traffic for their websites and increase online transactions in form of sales or sales leads.

But Google’s AdWords only draws the Attention of internet surfers. It is your web site’s responsibility to create Interest, help your visitors make a Decision in your favor, and walk them through the desired Action to buy your product (the AIDA selling process).

Even if you are not selling a product online, the same techniques apply to get prospective clients to contact you either by completing your online form, or by calling your sales agents.

When you correctly setup your AdWords campaign on Google, it will keep track of your hits data and display it in the Analytics area. It is there, that the most important statistics are reported, like:

1. Bounce Rate: % of visitors that leave your site after landing there without viewing a second page. The lower the better.
2. Average time visitors spend on your site. The longer the better.



3. Conversions: Total number and percentage of visitors that reach your set goals (purchase your product or request information). Increasing the number of conversions is the name of the game!
   

Google knows the importance of these numbers and that they are the key indicators of the effectiveness of your site to retain eyeballs and steer them to your desired action. Attracting eyeballs is driven by the effectiveness of your AdWords keywords and ad group, and most importantly your daily budget.

But increasing competition online for using AdWords has driven bids on keywords sky high reaching the $5 and even $10 level per click on some! Remember that a click is just the first step to gaining business. It takes many clicks to create a prospect, and many prospects to create a client.

With heavier competition, companies are paying more and more to attract the same number of visitors. Reducing bounce rate and retaining visitors is becoming even more important to increasing conversions.

The cost of a lead or transaction is calculated by dividing the total amount spent on AdWords by the number of conversions associated with your campaign. By monitoring the conversion rate and performing what-if scenarios on your site’s design and content, you can optimize your site for maximum benefit.

How does all this relate to localization? A website that speaks your prospective client’s language vastly reduces its bounce rate, keeps visitors on the site and increases their conversion rate.

Additionally, keywords in languages other than English are not as competitive as English. Google gives you the ability to target any country with your AdWords campaign and to cater specifically to those countries with custom keywords and custom ad groups that direct them to custom pages.

For instance, Spanish keywords cost less per click than their English counterparts. When coupled with a Spanish ad group pointing to Spanish landing pages, you can reduce not only your AdWords budget, but also your bounce rate, by keeping your Spanish speaking prospects interested.

Don’t take my word for it; you now have all the tools you need to test and measure. Just don’t overlook the benefits of localization the next time your AdWords campaign is due for a review.