Once your ad campaigns are set up and the tracking is in the place too, then you need to start the bidding. Keep in mind that your ability to rank in Google AdWords advertising is determined on the basis of how you bid. Your bid amount relies on your budget and goals, but there are some strategies and bid settings to pay heed to when launching your paid campaign.
Automated versus Manual bidding
- Automated bidding puts Google in control and lets the platform to adjust your bid according to your competitors. You can set a max budget nonetheless and Google will work accordingly to that range to offer you the best opportunity to win the bid in those constraints.
- Manual bidding lets you set the bid amounts for keywords and ad groups and reduce the spending on ads which don’t have a good response.
Bidding on Branded Search Terms
Branded terms are those terms where your company has a unique product name in them. It is still a heated debate on whether you should bid on your branded items or not. On one side, bidding may lead to yield organic results is also perceived as waste of money at the same time.
On the other hand, bidding on such terms offers you domain over these SERPs and assist you in converting the prospects that are further along the flywheel.
The other argument takes place in favor of bidding on your branded terms. It states that the competitors can bid on them and if you don’t, they will take the bigger piece of the cake which you deserve eventually.
Cost per acquisition or CPA
The gist of spending money in order to convert the prospects into leads is surely challenging, then you can always set up a CPA or cost per acquisition instead and only pay when the user finally converts into a customer. But not that this bidding strategy may cost you more money, so you can always be relieved to know that you pay only when you gain a paying customer. This strategy makes things ahead easier to track and then justify your ad spend as well.