For those who own an online store, it’s only normal that you want to promote your store to everyone in your network and everyone online. The more noise you make the attention your brand gets and in turn the more online sales.
Ecommerce marketing techniques havent changed that much and now it’s more about being relevant to a subset of people who actually want what you have more than just marketing to everyone online. We want to help you understand targeting your products towards an audience of people who will actually want to buy or at least engage with your products now even if they buy later on.
This method works really well for generating your website traffic and in turn more sales, we like the use of Google Shopping Ads and Bing product advertising for this method.
If you want to use paid advertising to increase your stores products then we have a big reveal for you in this article. There is no bigger search network than Google and it’s only growing in size. We will take you through the Google Shopping platform and how it can help you sell more and increase your customer base. Lets dive in.
What are Google Shopping Ads?
You will notice the filters on the left-hand side its really convenient to use these to get the product type that you want. These filters are also really helpful when doing any type of product research on competitors.
Whats also really cool for us store owners is that even in the main Google search we get a chance to show first when people search, using the very broad keyword “Gaming Chairs” In Google search I have popped the Google Shopping Ads for gaming chairs. They are the first thing to show up.
I use this handy chrome extension called Profit Genie, it’s free and all you need to do is register your account and use it on any Google Shopping search page.
The extension as you can see below will pop open and give you information on the products showing on the page you are on. I use this to know the market averages, how they stack up against my offers and what I could do with some advertising. Get familiar with it, this will help you.
Now looking at the below image when using profit Genie you can enter your product cost and the extension will kick out for you the potential earnings against the market averages. This should save you time and encourage you to squeeze your manufacturer for better rates. Make sure you use this to improve your business.
How to Get Started with Google Shopping
Getting started with Google Shopping is quite easy by following the right advice. You will have to provide Google Merchant Center with your product descriptions, and from there, you can start to set up your Google Ads campaign. Your images, as well as meta descriptions, will be matched along with their relevant keywords and search terms.
Google uses this data you supply it to make shopping ads that are meant to draw in potential customers searching for items similar to what you’re offering.
Users may list individual ads or can decide to have their whole inventory included. A campaign can be launched to make sure that the relevant ads show up every time consumers input the linked search terms in Google.
What Does Google Shopping Offer?
Unlike most of Google’s features, Google Shopping is unique. The search results that show up when inquiring via the search engine all come up through organic search optimisation techniques. With Google Shopping, you are using a paid service which matches your ads to the customers who are interested in the items that you sell.
Besides advertising products that you sell, Google Shopping also allows its users to list their ads locally while providing a way for customers to give reviews of your store. Managing payments through Android Pay and deliveries with Google Express are all possible here as well.
Using Google Shopping for Your Online Store
Retailers of any size can benefit a lot when they use Google Shopping. However, it’s crucial for them to get things right, especially when planning their ad campaign using the platform.
To leverage Google Shopping to promote your products, you should know what your customers want and how you can make your ads unique, among others. Just using this platform to advertise your products is a huge plus for your brand.
What we would recommend once you have started using Google Ads to promote your products is to then look at getting a review of your store landing pages that specifically focus on the conversion rate elements of your web pages.
The more focus and attention we can give these pages the more money they make you from converting sales at a higher rate. The reason why we have to wait is that we need to build up the data of people coming to these pages so we can review the behaviour and make changes based on consumer patterns.
Designing Your Products Ads
When selling branded items, it’s smart to place the name of the brand at the start of the description. The reasoning behind this is because most buyers will begin their search with a specific brand. For example, users who are looking for Adidas shoes will have an idea of the item they’re interested in.
That is why your product description should reflect just that to make things easier on their end.
Including the brand name, product category, style, size, and color is a good idea as well. You want to be as particular with your ads as you can.
Leveraging Feedback and Reviews
A lot of shoppers, especially those online, read up on reviews and ratings first before they decide on making a purchase. That is why it’s essential that you include feedback in your product listing so your customers can get more details about your product on the spot. Besides that, these reviews also encourage them to see you as a trusted retailer.
After all, a seller that has better reviews than another will have a higher chance of being patronised by the consumer.
Settle for Quality Images
Pictures are very important for your Google Product listings, so retailers should make sure that they only go for high-quality images. You’ll want to showcase your item to your customers in its full glory. Using low-quality pictures that are blurred or out of focus can easily put off buyers.
An expert tip here is to display your product diagonally to utilise as much space as available within a square box.
Make Your Ads Mobile-Friendly
A continuously growing number of individuals are now shopping online through their mobile devices. That is why it is essential that your ads are accessible to both phones and tablets. Doing so lets you not only tap into this market but also make the most out of this trend.
Use Local Customer Targeting
For those with both physical and online stores, you can put out local ads that potential customers can learn from. These ads will provide people with information about your item while giving them directions on how they can visit your store.
Can Google Shopping Benefit All Online Retailers?
Online store owners that sell products that have a high demand and search volume are some of those that can benefit from Google Shopping the most. In most cases I say yes, Google Shopping ads can benefit retailers online and for physical stores.
The key to making it work is a combination of the following:
- Price the number 1 factor
- Images used in ad second most important factor
- Copywriting used in the advert
- Additional features like review count, shipping dates, distance from consumer
If you are priced $20 higher than a competitor but you ship faster thats a win for you, if you have better explained features than a competitor thats a win for you. They way people shop has changed since COVID so make sure to capture reviews when ever possible.
If many people search for the items you sell and you have the landing pages to take them on, then you should leverage the platform as much as you can.
Furthermore, the ads that are displayed with Google Shopping show up at the top of the search results page. Showing images at the forefront of customers is more appealing than the standard PPC ads we see on the search engine.
What next for Google Shopping?
Use the Google Shopping service as your own testing ground for product images, catchy descriptions and promotions. Its not super expensive and they are always adding new features.
To make the most of this feature I recommend hiring experts who can review the product feed, there’s little incremental optimisations that can be done that give you a 5% chance of getting ahead of competitors, and there are also scripts and automation that can be used for when competitors run out of budget or forget to increase spend and the top spot opens up.
I would also invest in these two parts to improve your product sales.
- Review your website landing pages, they need to be fast, self-explaining and sexy to a potential buyer.
- Do Conversion Rate Optimisation testing, this might sound wanky but it can change your business profitability within a week.
Read this guide on the topic: https://clickbucks.xyz/dropshipping/how-to-improve-conversions/
Doing these two things could change the way you advertise from now on. The potential is there you just need to test and learn and Google Shopping is the best place, you don’t have volumes of searches on other platforms that will help you learn as fast.
That allows users to leverage Google’s search power to promote their products online. If you’ve searched for an item via Google before, then you’ve probably come across Google Shopping already.
So in a nutshell optimise images, landing pages, and descriptions and play around with pricing to find the sweet spot.
Online shop owners that use Google Shopping have proven over the years how effective the platform can be in increasing revenue and driving more visitors to learn about what they have to offer. We often see a ROAS meaning return on ad spend for our ecommerce clients who use Google shopping ads to promote their products. This method of advertising works extremely well.
I hope this was helpful.
