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Google’s Local Services Ads: A Comprehensive Guide to Boosting Your Business

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Local Services Ads

In today’s dynamic digital landscape, if you want your business to thrive, you’ll need to establish a phenomenal online presence. There are multiple ways to do this and taking advantage of Google’s Local Services Ads (LSAs) is one of them. If you are new to the digital marketing game, you’ll want a few pointers on how to navigate the ins and outs of such a service. Even for a pro, it’s always good to shine up on your skillset by revisiting your options for digital marketing. Whichever camp you fall into, stick with us for the next few minutes as we discuss what Google’s Local Services Ads is, how to use the service effectively, how it can benefit your business, and how we at Ligon Marketing can help you accelerate your growth by utilizing it.

What are Google’s Local Services Ads?

Google’s Local Services Ads is a paid advertising platform designed specifically for local service providers. Whether you’re a plumber, electrician, locksmith, dentist, preschool, law firm, maid service, or other service professional, LSAs can substantially elevate your business’s visibility on Google’s search results. These ads feature prominently at the top of relevant search result pages when users search for services in their local areas. By facilitating direct connections between potential customers and trustworthy local businesses, LSAs effectively bridge the gap between service providers and clients.

How to Use Google’s Local Services Ads:

Step 1: Eligibility Check

Before diving into LSAs, you’ll need to ensure your business is eligible for participation in your region. Google supports various services, including plumbing, HVAC, electrical, garage door repairs, pest control, accounting, tutoring, personal training, and many others. A quick virtual trip to Google’s LSA’s home page will help you in this category.

 

Step 2: Create a Google Badge Certification Account

To participate in LSAs, businesses must apply for a Google badge certification. This certification involves a thorough background check of your business and employees, reassuring customers about your credibility and trustworthiness. A Google certification badge is prominently displayed on your ads and instills confidence in potential customers, as it means Google stands behind the quality of your services. Certification badge options include Google Guaranteed, Google Screened, and License Verified by Google.

 

Step 3: Set Up Your Profile

Your LSA profile is essential for attracting potential customers. Create a comprehensive and appealing business profile with accurate details, including the services you offer, your service areas, business hours, and contact information. The more information you provide, the higher the likelihood of attracting qualified leads.

 

Step 4: Budget and Bidding

Determine your daily budget and bids carefully. LSAs operate on a pay-per-lead model, meaning you only pay when a potential customer contacts you directly through the ad. Setting an appropriate budget ensures you can manage your ad expenditure effectively while generating valuable leads.

 

Step 5: Manage Your Ad Performance

Tracking the performance of your LSAs is essential for optimizing their effectiveness. Google provides performance metrics, such as lead volume and cost per lead, enabling you to make data-driven decisions. Regularly review these metrics to refine your advertising strategy and enhance your return on investment.

 

In our experience, setting up your Google LSA profile and subsequently managing your logistics and ad performance is always better with a professional agency by your side. Working with a team like Ligon Marketing will ensure that you set your data up correctly and are not wasteful in time, money, or resources.

 

Why Google’s Local Services Ads are Good for Your Business:

 

Enhanced Visibility: LSAs are positioned prominently at the top of Google’s search results, giving your business maximum visibility to potential customers actively seeking services in your industry and location.

Trust and Credibility: The Google certification and badge boost your business’s credibility in the eyes of potential customers. This trust factor is especially helpful for new customers who may be hesitant about trying out unfamiliar service providers.

Qualified Leads: LSAs are triggered by specific service-related queries, ensuring that the leads generated through these ads are highly relevant and more likely to convert into actual customers. This results in a higher return on investment compared to traditional advertising methods.

Cost-Effective Advertising: Pay-per-lead ensures you only pay for genuine inquiries from potential customers. This cost-effective approach minimizes wastage of ad spend on irrelevant clicks or impressions.

Mobile-Friendly Reach: With the increasing number of users relying on mobile devices for their online searches, LSAs are optimized for mobile, allowing your business to connect with potential customers on the go.

 

How Working with LSAs and an Agency Can Help Your Business Grow:

Hiring a marketing agency when trying to utilize Google Local Services Ads (LSAs) can be highly beneficial and essential for the success of your advertising campaigns. Here are several reasons we believe partnering with a marketing agency is important:

Expertise and Experience: A professional agency specialized in Google Ads and LSAs brings invaluable expertise to the table. At Ligon Marketing, we have a deep understanding of Google’s advertising platform and can create and manage campaigns that maximize your ad performance. By leveraging our expertise, you can avoid common pitfalls and ensure your ads are optimized for maximum performance.

Timesaving: Managing LSAs and staying updated with Google’s advertising policies can be time-consuming. By partnering with an agency like Ligon Marketing, you can focus on running your business while leaving the ad management to the experts.

Performance Tracking and Analysis: We use advanced data analytics tools to monitor your ad’s performance, identifying trends and patterns in real-time. This data-driven approach enables agencies like us to make strategic adjustments to your campaign, ensuring optimal results.

Flexibility and Adaptability: Google’s advertising platform and algorithms are constantly evolving. Partnering with an agency can help you swiftly adapt ad campaigns based on changing market dynamics, seasonal trends, and shifts in consumer behavior. This flexibility ensures that your ad strategy remains relevant and effective over time in an ever-changing digital landscape.

Better Targeting: At Ligon Marketing, we possess the knowledge and tools to target specific demographics and locations effectively. By reaching the right audience at the right time, your business gains a competitive edge and attracts high-quality leads.

Cost-Effectiveness: While LSAs can be cost-effective due to the pay-per-lead model, managing the campaigns efficiently requires expertise. A marketing agency can optimize your budget, targeting, and bidding strategies, ensuring you get the best return on investment (ROI) and maximize the value of each lead generated.

Strategic Targeting: A marketing agency can help you identify and target the most relevant and profitable customer segments. By refining your targeting, you can reach potential customers who are actively looking for services like yours, increasing the likelihood of conversions.

Adherence to Google Policies: Google has strict policies regarding the content and format of LSAs. A marketing agency should be well-versed in these policies and will ensure that your ads comply with them to avoid potential penalties or ad disapprovals.

Strategic Planning and Growth: Beyond immediate ad management, a marketing agency like Ligon Marketing can help you develop a long-term advertising strategy aligned with your business goals. This strategic approach focuses on sustained growth and brand awareness in your target market.

 

Our Takeaways:

Google’s Local Services Ads present an incredible opportunity for local service providers, and incorporating LSAs into your marketing mix can significantly enhance your business’s online visibility and attract valuable leads. However, to unlock the full potential of LSAs, we believe partnering with a marketing agency is crucial. The expertise, experience, and strategic insights of an agency like Ligon Marketing will ensure your campaigns are well-optimized, cost-effective, and tailored to meet your business objectives. By entrusting LSAs to a reliable marketing agency, you can focus on running your business while enjoying the benefits of a successful digital advertising strategy.

If you have questions or would like to set up a time to discuss how LSAs can benefit your business, give us a call at 863.430.1935 or email us today!

When You Thought You Left Algorithms in High School Math…

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Algorithms

Do you feel confident in your social media game? Maybe you have great content but feel that the right audience hasn’t been seeing it. Does this sound familiar? You spend endless hours coming up with the perfect posts only for minimal engagement to take place.

It all has to do with algorithms. But wait, weren’t algorithms something you studied in high school algebra? Yes! And they are definitely making a comeback! Before you tell yourself you’re not a math person and decide to let social media take a backseat within your business plan, let’s see if we can break down some essentials when it comes to algorithms.

No doubt, your business uses some type of analysis system to define success: profitability, patient or customer satisfaction, productivity, repeat customers, contract renewals, or any combination of industry-specific points. Well, social media platforms use complicated metrics to grow their advertising business by refining their reach to highly targeted audiences and giving those audiences posts they want to see. Basically, these algorithms help social media platforms in the decision-making process when it comes to what you and your friends see in a newsfeed. Algorithms consider various factors such as your past interactions, interests, and trends to determine which posts, videos, or ads are most relevant to you.

Understanding algorithms is crucial when using social media because they shape your feed and influence the content you see and interact with. You don’t have to understand all the details behind these algorithms though to use them to your advantage.

Here are Our Top Five Tools to Help Your Business Get Noticed on Social Media

  1. Use Videos
    All social media platforms are visual mediums, so feed the beasts what they want. Well-done videos get attention from users, and that type of organic reach makes social algorithms happy to give your posts a boost. Attention spans are short, however, videos can also be short, while still being fun and engaging. They can also be used to tease longer, informational videos that link to your website for those who want more.

If creating videos sounds daunting, hire a professional! At Ligon Marketing, we can help you create eye-catching videos and optimize your own content for better visibility and engagement.

  1. Ask Questions and Start Discussions
    Social media platforms thrive on engagement, so content that generates conversations get a nod. Are there questions or discussion points common among your customers? As a business, you can lead that conversation in a respectful, informational way.

Here are some examples of creating meaningful and engaging dialogue:

  • Polls and Surveys – quick and fun polls or surveys to gather feedback from your audience. This not only encourages participation but also provides insights into their preferences.
  • Contests and Giveaways: Organize contests or giveaways that require users to engage with your content by liking, commenting, sharing, or tagging friends. This boosts engagement and spreads the word about your brand.
  • Ask Questions: Pose open-ended questions that encourage followers to share their opinions, experiences, or preferences. These questions can be related to current events, trends, or your industry.
  • Host Q&A Sessions: Plan regular Q&A sessions where you answer questions from your audience. This can help establish your expertise, provide valuable information, and foster direct interactions.

And here’s a friendly reminder – debate is healthy, but controversial or alienating posts are not. Don’t risk your brand by jumping into a fray that might offend your patients or customers unless you are willing to risk their business. Be sure to weigh the risks and rewards for addressing potentially controversial issues. The impact is more significant on small businesses.

  1. Build Your Internal Audience & Grow Outward
    Employee advocates, friends, and family are the perfect foundation for your social media to grow. Social media algorithms reward content from people over businesses, so these internal audiences have the power to expand your business reach more than ever. Not only do “shares” have more credibility with networks of friends, but they also have more credibility when it comes to algorithms.

Encourage (but don’t coerce) your team, family, and friends to share your business posts with their own network. Of course, your company should have a social media policy in place to ensure mutual understanding and avoid unexpected outcomes. Don’t have one? Call Ligon Marketing for help in developing and implementing a social media policy.

  1. Photos & Tags Are More Popular Than Links
    Different types of content will keep social media algorithms guessing. Each platform wants to keep users on their specific social network, so links are viewed less favorably than tags. Mix up your engaging content and videos with strong photos, GIFs, or other graphics. Use tags to target the audience you want. According to Hootsuite, posts containing images and visual elements are three times as likely to receive engagement.

Don’t have time to generate tags and images for your business? Leave that to us! Connect with us here.

  1. Keep Content Creative & Post at the Right Times
    It’s tough to create fresh content on a consistent basis, especially small business owners who are trying to do it all. It’s okay to use older content if you repurpose it in a new way. Highlight a different quote or aspect of the piece, change the visual or tags, or lead with a question in subsequent posts. Engagement drives the social media algorithms, giving priority to posts that perform well. Sometimes, timing is as important as the content. Learn about the best times for your business to post, then develop and follow a content calendar to optimize your reach.

 

Sound overwhelming? Keeping up with content creation can be hard enough before adding in the complexity of frequently changing algorithms. Pro tip: don’t try to do it all. Let professionals manage your company’s online presence, from your website to social media. Ligon Marketing can provide the technical know-how, as well as content that includes blogs, video, photography, and other visuals. Call us at 863-838-5475, and let’s talk.

 

Marketing Your Health-Related Practice

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Doctors, dentists, and other health care professionals spend years learning and passing intense exams to practice in their respective fields. Once the shingle has been hung, professional service providers face the challenge of attracting clients to their doors. All those years of medical education may not have included principles of business management or the value of professional marketing in driving business success.

For those starting out as independent practitioners who are looking for a fresh marketing approach, Ligon Marketing can offer you a few tips. We have worked with several types of professional medical practices, and have focused on both launching a private practice and expanding an established practice with new branding. We’ve assisted our clients in expanding clinic locations and patient volume, and we can do the same for you.

BRANDING

Do you have a logo or need one? A memorable and effective logo gives a strong visual impression of who you are. Establishing your brand is more than having a logo. It’s a process of reinforcing that image and concept of your business in all of your marketing materials.

WEBSITE

In today’s market, your website is not just a marketing machine but an expected part of doing business. Your website should meet several goals:

  • Attract new patients or referrals.
  • Provide needed information and forms to existing patients.
  • Serve as an educational resource related to your specialty, whether it’s dentistry, dermatology, or anything in between.
  • Host a patient portal for communicating electronically to your patients, in compliance with HIPAA.

Developing a website is more than buying a domain name and following a DIY template. (Many professions have industry-specific template providers, but keep in mind that a template site looks like every other template-based site. Bottom line – yours won’t stand out.) As a professional, you need a professional site, managed by someone who can keep it visible in the digital sphere. That requires strong visuals, useful and well-written copy, and frequent content updates for search engine optimization (SEO). Design matters. Potential consumers want to see photos of you and your team, as part of building a relationship. They want to hear “your voice” in the content. Must-haves are:

  • An attractive home page
  • An About Us page, with photos and bios
  • Contact information
  • Services provided

Your site should also be mobile-responsive, as today’s audience relies more and more on their smart phones. They should be able to find key information from your website quickly and easily on their phones.

SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

Facebook and Instagram have become required for most providers, as well. Your medical or dental practice’s visibility depends on active engagement, which is difficult for most busy practices to handle alone. These platforms drive potential patients to your website and ultimately, to your door. Ligon Marketing manages content posting and scheduling for most of our clients, and we can help you, too. 

In addition, your staff members are probably active on social media. It’s vital for health-related professionals to have a strong policy for employees in their online activities as they relate to your business reputation. This policy should address HIPAA compliance, as well as professional behavior, while respecting the team’s free speech rights. We have experience with this, too.

BUSINESS TO BUSINESS (B2B) AND REFERRAL NETWORKS

Most professional practices depend on and benefit from strong referral relationships with other businesses, practices, and professionals. Don’t overlook the opportunity to engage in networking and relationship-building opportunities. Not in your comfort zone? Ligon Marketing can coach you and your team on easy-to-implement strategies to increase your professional visibility.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Being treated well is a top priority for patient retention. Do you have standards for answering the phone, responding to questions and concerns, and handling billing or insurance problems? Does your team value and show respect for your patients the way you do? Our owner, Cora Ligon, has led customer-service training for numerous organizations, both in her own management roles and as a consultant. She can help you customize and implement training and policies if your office has a need.

COLLATERAL MATERIALS

Signs, business cards, forms, brochures, referral cards, prescription forms, patient packets….the list can seem endless. All these materials fill vital roles in a professional health-related practice. Each one represents your brand, and there is value in presenting a consistent look (logo, colors, type fonts, etc.). A professional marketing agency will ensure that consistency.

At Ligon Marketing, we’re not just marketers; we’re problem solvers. Our goal is to build long-term relationships with our clients, through listening, creating, implementing, and providing top-notch customer service. We’ve successfully helped other health-related practices grow, and we can use that expertise for you. (Of course, we’ll never compete with like-practices within a market area!) Give us a call today to explore your options!

 

SEO vs. SEM: Competing Strategies or Better Together?

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Search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search engine marketing (SEM) are two essential strategies in a comprehensive digital marketing plan. While both SEO and SEM have a similar overarching goal – to drive high-quality traffic to your website – they use different tactics to reach your target audience.

 

For a long time now, many marketers have approached SEO and SEM as individual silos. But the truth is that SEO and paid search aren’t competing strategies. On the contrary, they’re highly interrelated and can drive better results for your business when they work together.

 

Keep reading to explore how SEO and SEM work independently, and how you can effectively use them together.

 

What Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing a website and other online content to rank on the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs) and increase web traffic to a landing page, blog article, or website. Google and other search engines use multiple ranking factors to determine where content shows up on SERPs.

 

SEO includes improving website pages, blog pages, landing pages, and other content using some – and preferably all – of the following techniques.

 

  • On-page SEO. The primary best practice for on-page SEO is inserting relevant, targeted keywords into the on-page copy, title tag, meta description, alt image text, and URL. Optimizing your webpages and blogs with relevant keywords will help Google understand what your content is about and put it in front of people searching for your products and services.

 

  • Technical SEO. Technical SEO involves optimizing the backend structure and organization of your website to help Google crawl and index the site. Specific elements include site speed, site architecture, mobile friendliness, and security. Along with helping Google index your site, technical SEO strategies like improving site speed and mobile friendliness help visitors navigate your website quickly and easily.

 

  • Off-page SEO. Off-page SEO is designed to show Google that your website is credible and authoritative by linking it to other high-quality sites around the web. Best practice strategies for reputation building include backlinking, guest blogging, and social media sharing.

 

  • User signals. Along with the ranking factors listed above, Google uses signals like clickthrough rate (CTR), bounce rate, relevancy, and freshness to determine page rankings on SERPs. If your content is fresh and highly relevant to the keywords users are searching, you’ll attract more clicks and engage visitors on your site for longer. In return, Google will reward these positive user interaction signals with higher rankings for your content.

 

Having a comprehensive SEO strategy offers several benefits to your business. SEO is a leading driver of website traffic and brand awareness online. Research shows that organic search results have higher CTRs than paid ads across the web. Furthermore, search engine optimized content is a sustainable source of web traffic and clicks for your business in the long term. And finally, publishing highly relevant and educational content in the form of web pages and blogs improves your credibility and authority to website visitors.

 

What Is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?

SEM

Paid search engine marketing (SEM) is the process of using paid advertising to rank on the first page of SERPs. Like SEO, the goal of SEM is to drive more traffic to your website or landing page. But unlike SEO, SEM isn’t an organic strategy – instead, you’re paying Google or another search engine for ad space.

 

How do you land an ad on the first page of Google search results? Google determines ad placement based on the following factors.

 

  • The purpose of paid SEM is to get your ad to rank on the results page when users search for keywords that are relevant to your business. To that end, you can choose specific, targeted keywords and place a bid on them. Your maximum bid is the amount of money you’re willing to pay when a user searches the keyword and clicks on your ad. Google uses your maximum bid amount to help determine ad ranking and placement when several ads are competing for the same spots.

 

  • Quality score. Paid advertising often gets a bad reputation for being “pay to play,” with the highest bidders winning the best ad spots. But it’s in Google’s best interests to show users the most relevant ads to their queries, not simply the most expensive. That’s why your ad’s Quality Score is just as (and perhaps even more) important than the maximum bid. Google determines the Quality Score of your ad based on expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience.

 

Targeted and compelling paid advertising offers several benefits to your business. SEM campaigns generate near-instantaneous results – you can expect to see clicks within hours after launching a campaign. They’re an excellent way to boost immediate brand visibility and web traffic. Additionally, paid ads are highly targetable. You have the power to push ads to the demographics, locations, and interests that are the most likely to take an action on the ad.

 

How Do SEO and SEM Work Together?

SEO and paid SEM are not competing strategies. Individually, each marketing approach is designed to bring more brand awareness and targeted, high-quality traffic to your website. But together, SEO and SEM build on each other to strengthen your marketing efforts.

 

Here are a few key ways SEO and paid search can work together within your overall digital marketing plan.

 

  • Short-term traffic. SEO takes time to see results, especially if your website is new. But paid search ads rank and see results quickly, in as little as a few hours in many cases. Implementing a paid search campaign to generate clicks and traffic can help your company achieve short-term growth while you wait for your SEO efforts to start paying off.

 

  • Long-term growth. While SEO takes longer to produce results, it’s a more sustainable strategy to generate traffic, clicks, and brand visibility in the long term. Optimized websites, blogs, and landing pages can keep driving web traffic as long as they rank. Over time, your team can update and refresh old content to maintain good rankings in Google and continue drawing traffic.

 

  • Brand visibility. Together, SEO and SEM can improve your brand visibility on SERPs. A strategic marketing effort to target specific, highly relevant keywords can position your brand to rank above-the-fold for a paid ad and below-the-fold for organic listings. Appearing multiple times on the results page is a fantastic way to improve brand visibility and awareness and increase credibility and trustworthiness among your audience.

 

  • Keyword insight. SEO and SEM rely on keywords at the core of each strategy. You can maximize your keyword gains by gleaning insights from both approaches and using them to guide future SEO and paid search strategies. For example, since SEM generates rapid, measurable results, you can use the data from paid campaigns to identify and analyze the best-performing keywords and incorporate them into SEO content. And if you already have optimized website or blog content that performs well, use that information to help guide SEM campaign creation.

 

  • If you have the budget, short-term SEM campaigns are great testing grounds for experimenting with new keywords, new copy and visuals, and new landing page formats. As previously, mentioned, paid search drives rapid, measurable results. New keyword testing or A/B testing for ad copy and graphics is a useful way to gain insight into what’s resonating with your audience.

 

Ready to Get Started With SEO and SEM?

 

At Ligon Marketing, digital marketing is what we do best. If you’re struggling to see results from your marketing efforts, we highly recommend seeking help from an experienced digital marketing, search engine optimization, and paid search specialist like Ligon Marketing. From start to finish, our team will help you create and launch a digital strategy that helps you achieve your marketing and ROI goals. Call us today at 863-838-5475 or drop us a message online.

A Guide to Online Fundraising for Political Organizations

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Thank you to Tiara Stephan of Qgiv for this spotlight blog.

When it comes to political campaigns, studies show that whoever spends the most money usually sees the most success. But to spend money, you need to make money, and online fundraising is one of the best ways to do that.

How does political fundraising work?

From individual grassroots donations to political action committee contributions, there are a variety of ways to raise money for political purposes. If you are fundraising for a political organization like a political party, special interest group, or non-governmental organization, it’s important to stick to the Federal Election Commission’s rules and regulations for raising money.

Why do campaigns have to raise money?

When you raise money for your campaign, you’re also raising awareness of your message and gaining exposure. From paying for traditional marketing advertisements to creating merchandise, raising money can help you rally support and increase your likelihood of political success. Campaigns are also powered by people, and fundraising helps you hire vital staff members and consultants that can help you take your campaign to new heights.

Overall, raising money is a vital part of the success of every political organization, and online fundraising has made it easier than ever to solicit donations and connect with your donors. Here is our list of tips for online fundraising for your political organization.

Identify a fundraising goal

Before you start any sort of online fundraising campaign, it’s essential to establish a fundraising goal. If you’re raising money on behalf of a federal candidate, research how much successful political candidates and organizations have raised in the past to win similar campaigns. Use that information as a guideline when you’re determining what is realistic for your campaign.

It’s also vital to understand your donor base as you raise money. You represent a community of people, so while you may understand what they need from an elected representative or advocacy group, it’s also important to know what their preferred giving and communication methods are for fundraising. For example, Baby Boomers prefer to give offline, Generation X is more likely to be moved by social media appeals to donate, and about 29% of Generation Z most like to donate via text message. By keeping track of these trends, you’ll quickly learn how to best reach out to your supporters for donation appeals.

Make your website easy to navigate

Your website will often be the main resource for people trying to learn more about your campaign and what you stand for. If your donors can’t easily navigate your website, they won’t know why they should donate to your campaign and will likely leave without donating. To avoid losing out on that valuable support, make sure you have a well-designed website.

A big part of having a well-designed website is making sure that it’s optimized for online visitors who are coming to your site via their mobile devices. Mobile-responsive donation pages yield 34% more donations, and about 26% of all online giving is processed on mobile devices. So if your website is difficult to explore on a phone, you could be missing out on a lot of potential donations.

You also want to ensure that any website visitors can easily find your donation form so they can support your mission. Place your “Donate” button somewhere obvious like the top right-hand corner of your website. Use a bold accent color to draw people’s attention to it without detracting from the cohesiveness of your website’s design.

Choose the right online fundraising platform

Your online fundraising platform will power your fundraising efforts whether you’re hosting an event or simply collecting online donations, making it one of your most important fundraising tools. When it comes to choosing the right platform for your campaign, there are a few considerations to keep in mind.

If you currently use a customer relationship management software, it can be extremely helpful to have a fundraising platform with integration features for your CRM database. With integrations, your database can be automatically updated with information every time one of your supporters donates. You’ll be able to keep track of giving histories, event attendance, and essential communication information without needing to complete manual updates.

Some fundraising platforms also offer tandem fundraising support. If you’re closely aligned with another organization’s mission, you can conduct tandem fundraising campaigns where donations can be split between you and your fellow changemakers. Tandem fundraising campaigns are a great option for gaining more exposure and expanding your reach.

Above all, the online fundraising platform you choose should benefit both you and your donors. Your platform should provide your supporters with a great user experience and make it easy for your campaign to raise money and keep organized. With the right online fundraising platform, you’ll see a boost in your donations and the support you receive.

Design an effective online donation form

Your online donation form is one of the most important tools to have for online fundraising. With an effective online donation form, you can collect donations quickly and easily from anyone who visits your website.

A great feature to have for your online donation form is recurring donation prompts. These prompts will pop up whenever someone donates and ask donors if they’d like to upgrade their one-time donation into a recurring donation. With recurring donations, you’ll end up spending less time on fundraising and can focus more on campaigning.

However, when you’re building out your donation form, it’s best to steer clear of manipulative patterns like using pre-checked recurring donation options on your form. Misleading your donors into making recurring donations when they’re not even aware of what they’re agreeing to will lead to a breakdown in trust between you and your supporters.

Other great donation form features to include are using suggested gift amounts with images, GiftAssist options, and conditional fields to collect relevant information from your donors. You should also brand your donation forms to link your donation form to your campaign. Prominently display your logo on your donation form and use your campaign colors on your form. This will increase trust with your donors and reassure them that they’re donating to your campaign.

When you’re soliciting donations on an online donation form, it’s important to place a legal disclaimer on your form in accordance with campaign finance laws. An example of contribution rules that your donors must acknowledge when making a donation may include the following:

  1. I am a U.S. citizen or lawfully admitted permanent resident (i.e., green card holder).
  2. This contribution is made from my own funds, and funds are not being provided to me by another person or entity for the purpose of making this contribution.
  3. I am at least eighteen years old.
  4. I am not a federal contractor.
  5. I am making this contribution with my own personal credit card and not with a corporate or business credit card or a card issued to another person.

As your donation form is considered public communication, it should also include a legal disclaimer stating who authorized and financed the donation form (e.g., “Paid for by the XYZ Committee and authorized by the John Smith for Congress Committee.”).

Create a marketing plan

Marketing is essential to a campaign’s success. It’s best to start by getting to know your donors and using a multi-channel marketing approach to expand your reach across all demographics. From direct mail, email, social media, and text donation appeals, you should aim to reach out to a variety of potential supporters to increase awareness of your campaign and your message. Then, segment your donors to deliver personalized appeals and better connect with them. With social sharing buttons you can make it easy for your supporters to share their own support with their personal networks and help you expand your reach.

Visual storytelling is one of your best tools when connecting with your donors. Share pictures of your organization in action in emails and highlight staff members and volunteers on your social media channels, asking them to share why they support your campaign.

Plan a variety of fundraisers

When you fundraise, it’s best to plan a variety of fundraisers to keep your supporters engaged. When you’re in your planning process, look at your donor base and your supporters’ event attendance history to determine what your contributors would be interested in participating in.

From text-to-give drives to virtual campaign events, you can encourage your donors to support your campaign with fundraisers they can get excited about. Selling campaign merchandise in an online store is also a great way to raise money and give your donors the opportunity to express their support and raise awareness of your platform. However you choose to fundraise, just make sure you’re engaging your donors with campaigns and events they’ll enjoy.

Thank your supporters

After you receive a donation from a supporter or finish an event, always remember to express your gratitude. Send thank-you emails after every donation and event to all your donors and volunteers. Explain the impact of their support by describing how their donation was used and how many people your volunteers were able to reach because of their work. Adding personal touches by handwriting your letters can make a supporter feel extra special, helping you to retain support from your donors. Continue with follow-up communications to strengthen your connections with your supporters and cultivate long-term relationships.

Final thoughts

Fundraising for your political organization takes hard work and effort, but online fundraising has made it easier than ever to connect with your donors and raise money no matter where your donors are and when they want to donate. If you’re searching for more help with fundraising, download this annual fundraising plan template to start setting goals and raising money!

Tiara is a Content Marketing Specialist at Qgiv, a company that’s dedicated to building powerful fundraising tools that empower nonprofits to achieve their mission. She’s a writer by trade and a passionate supporter of nonprofits by nature. When she’s not typing away at her keyboard for hours, you can find her dancing (if you can call it that) at concerts, drinking copious amounts of English Breakfast Tea, and daydreaming about traveling the world.

Digital Advertising Part III: All About Google Ads

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Welcome to part three in our running blog series about digital advertising. So far, we’ve discussed what digital advertising is and the pros and cons of each type of digital ad. If you’ve made it this far, we hope you’re putting some serious thought into how paid search and other forms of digital advertising could positively impact your business.

No discussion on digital advertising is complete without talking about the largest driver of paid search campaigns in the U.S.: Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords). While there are many types of ad campaigns you can run on Google Ads – display, video, app, shopping, etc. – this article will focus on pay-per-click (PPC) search engine advertising.

PPC, google ads, paid search advertising, pay per click

You likely see a paid search ad every time you run a query through Google – paid ads occupy the prime, top-of-page real estate on search engine results pages (SERPs). In the world of digital advertising, Google Ads boasts an impressive ROI, promotes top-of-page brand awareness, and puts your products/services directly in front of your target audience.

 

Is Google Ads Really That Effective?

 

Google sites are the most visited among popular, multi-platform web properties in the U.S., with approximately 269 million unique visitors from mobile and desktop connections. Google processes 3.5 billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide.

In conclusion…..yes. Google Ads is quite effective.

 

How Much Does Google Ads Cost?

 

The truest (and most frustrating) answer to the question posed above: it depends. Advertising on Google isn’t cheap, but it doesn’t have to break the bank for small to medium sized businesses lacking thousands of ad dollars to spare.

One common misconception is that advertisers with the largest budgets score the highest rankings and exert more influence over paid search. But Google is not strictly pay-to-play. The platform wants to show visitors useful and relevant advertising to preserve its own credibility and trustworthiness as a search engine. That means ad quality and relevance matter when Google determines ad rankings, a factor that evens the playing field for advertisers of all budgets.

Ad quality and relevance matter when Google determines ad rankings, a factor that evens the playing field for advertisers of all budgets.

Google gives complete control over setting an ad budget and determining how much you’re willing to pay for ad performance. Investing more money into Google Ads helps, but you can still run successful paid search campaigns on a smaller budget.

Google Ads pricing is different for every ad. To understand why, keep reading to learn how the ad auction works.

 

How Google Determines Ad Ranking

 

Welcome to the auction. Google uses a bidding system to select placement and ranking for ads competing for the same keyword. Google processes millions of split-second ad auctions a day – an auction occurs every time a visitor lands on a SERP where ads are displayed.

There are two primary factors that determine ad positioning on a SERP.

  1. Maximum bid.

    The maximum bid is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the maximum amount of money you’re willing to pay for a click on your ad. Your maximum bid doesn’t necessarily determine the actual amount you’ll end up spending per click. It only sets a limit on what you’re willing to spend. The actual cost-per-click (CPC) could end up being less than what you bid for it. While CPCs vary by industry, the average CPC on Google Ads is between $1-2.

But Google Ads isn’t a pay-to-play platform, you don’t have to devote a huge budget to rank well on SERPs. Google wants to give its visitors a great experience, meaning they reward quality, relevant ads that are more likely to engage visitors and increase clicks. Their second ranking factor is heavily weighted to reward quality advertisements.

  1. Quality Score.

    The Quality Score is determined by the overall quality and user relevance of your ad, keywords, and landing page. Google also turns a critical eye on the expected click-through-rate (CTR) as a scoring factor. The more people who see your ad and click it, the more Google assumes the ad is relevant and helpful. You can also improve your Quality Score by including ad extensions that provide visitors with additional information (like site links, a phone number, a location, etc.) and drive more clicks.

Here’s what it boils down to: low-bid, high-quality advertisements will rank better than high-bid, low-quality advertisements. Along with higher rankings, Google rewards stellar ad quality with lower costs-per-click (CPC).

Let’s repeat that one more time: a higher Quality Score results in a higher ranking at lower costs.

 

5 Components of an Effective Ad Campaign

 

Let’s get into the meat of Google Ads: creating a successful ad campaign. Here are five important components to help guide the ad creation process.

 

  1. A clear ad goal.

    Advertising without a goal in mind is a wasted effort – and a wasted budget, too. Google Ads offers several campaign goals to choose from, including generating leads, driving traffic to your website, making a sale, or spreading brand awareness. Having a well-defined goal helps your team target the right audience, choose an effective bidding strategy and budget, and create a compelling ad that drives interest. Additionally, having a results-oriented goal helps your team more effectively analyze success and ROI upon campaign completion.

 

  1. Relevant, targeted keywords.

    Successful Google ad campaigns are built on targeting and bidding for the right keywords. There are several free and paid tools your business can use to conduct keyword research. Here are some factors to keep in mind during the research phase.

  • Who is your target audience and how are they searching for your products/services? What words and phrases are they using?
  • What keywords are worth bidding on? For every potential keyword, analyze the search volume, average CPC, and competitiveness to decide which words and phrases are worth your money. Keyword research can become very tricky when you’re balancing a keyword’s value within your target industry against the likeliness of outbidding competitors and staying within budget.
  • What is the user intent? Ads targeting customers in the decision stage of the buyer’s journey are more likely to drive direct conversions and sales. Research shows that 65% of Google Ads clicks are for ads that include buyer-intent keywords like “Buy,” “Shop,” “Get,” and “Purchase.”

 

  1. A defined audience.

    Make sure your ad lands in front of the people most likely to take an action on it. Google Ads offers a plethora of targeting options for you to hand-select your ideal consumer base. Build an audience based on location, demographics (age, education level, marital status, etc.), interests, lifestyle, habits, routines, and behaviors. Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to audience building – the clearer and more defined your audience is, the more likely you are to reach action-ready consumers.

 

  1. A compelling ad.

    Once you have the right keywords, incorporate them into compelling text ads that drive clicks and conversions. Persuasive and engaging ads that excite and entice consumers use dynamic, active language and speak to the user’s end goals and personal needs.

 

  1. A clean landing page.

    Remember that an engaging user experience continues after an ad click – make sure you optimize your landing pages for speed, quality, and attractiveness to keep consumers moving through the conversion cycle.

 

Google Analytics

 

google analytics, google adsHopefully, you’re already using Google Analytics to track and analyze your website traffic. Google’s powerful web analytics service helps you keep track of the audience demographics landing on your website, the actions they’re taking, and where they’re spending the most time. The metric and analyzation tools on Google Analytics can (and should) help guide your business’s digital marketing strategies.

It’s a simple task to link your Google Ads account to your Google Analytics account, and the resulting value is immeasurable. Ad analytics can (and should) help guide your paid ad strategies. Google Analytics allows you to follow ad clicks beyond the ads – you’ll be able to see the keywords and ad creatives that drive traffic to your website, the actions visitors take, and on-site engagement. You can use these valuable insights to improve future ad campaigns.

 

How Do I Get Started With Google Ads?

 

While you can set up a Google Ads account on your own, running successful paid search campaigns is a complex task to undertake if you’re new to the ad game. That’s why we highly recommend seeking help from an experienced digital advertising and PPC marketing services company like Ligon Marketing. From start to finish, our team will help you create and launch an ad strategy that helps you achieve your digital advertising and ROI goals. Call us today at 863-838-5475 or drop us a message online.

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