Burning through cash with Google Ads is pretty easy. You might end up losing money if you don’t know the basics.

Creating profitable Google Ads to promote your forms and calculators doesn't necessarily require insider secrets or complex strategies. Your success depends on building solid foundations and mastering the fundamentals.

In 2024, the average cost per click for Google Ads was $4.66. For a standard campaign, that means about $2000 monthly, a significant investment, especially when you're just getting started.

But here's where it gets exciting: Small businesses that focus on proven fundamentals can generate $2 for every $1 they spend, an ROI of 100%.

This guide will help you maximize your Google Ads potential by focusing on the basics. 

Let's start building your foundation for successfully promoting your online forms and calculators.

Setting Up Your Google Ads Account

Let's get started with creating your powerful advertising presence. Your journey to maximizing digital advertising starts here.

1. Create Your Account

Get started by signing into your existing Google account or creating a new one before visiting the Google Ads homepage.

• Click the "Start Now" button to begin your advertising journey. You'll need an active email address and phone number for verification purposes.

• Add your business info - name and website URL.

• You can link your other Google accounts, like YouTube and Google Business Profile, or skip this if you want.

2. Create Your Campaign

Once you’ve entered your business info, you’re directed to “choose a goal.”

We can skip this part for our purposes, as this sets up a smart campaign. For this example, we’ll set up a search campaign.

When we skip, the next screen prompts us to “choose a campaign type.”

Here, we’ll choose “Search” and click “Next.”

The following screen prompts us to select keywords. Google automatically finds keywords for you based on your website URL, and you can enter what products or services you want to advertise for more suggestions.

You can see here the keywords Google selected for Convert_. I’d change these if I was running an ad, but they’ll do for this example.

There are more settings you can change here.

These settings are a little more advanced, and we won’t get into them now.

Google Ads now prompts you to “create an ad.” Here, you select the final URL - the page people visit after clicking your ad.

I’ve got the Convert_ homepage entered here, but I’d advise against sending people to your homepage from ads. Sending people to a service/product page or a specific landing page works much better.

This is also where you create headlines for your ad. You can write between 3 and 15 headlines.

Based on your website, Google automatically writes headlines for your ad. But I’d recommend writing them yourself or hiring a copywriter to write them for you.

The next section is where you input descriptions for your ad - between 2 and 4. Google creates ad descriptions for you, but again, I’d recommend writing these yourself or hiring someone.

When you’ve created your headlines and descriptions, you can add more features to your ad. These include sitelinks - our sample ad has “Webflow Platform,” “Help Center,” etc. as extra links.

Additionally, you can add promotions, pricing, a phone number, and more. But we won’t go into adding any of that here.

When we click “Next,” we’re invited to set a bid strategy. We’ll keep it at “clicks” here.

Maximizing for clicks starting out is best for beginners. The cost per click (CPC) is less than if you’re maximizing for conversions, and you won’t have any data to work with yet.

For instance, you don’t know which keywords or ad copy performs best yet. But selecting clicks lets you see which ads get the most traffic, and then you can decide which ones are best for maximizing conversions.

When setting a bid strategy, you’ll also see a checkbox to “set a maximum cost per click bid limit.” Generally, you can ignore this - unless the CPC for your industry is super high.

For instance, CPC bids for industries like lawyers might reach $150. You may want to set a maximum cost per click bid limit in that case.

Next, we set a budget for our ad campaign. The budget is how much you want to spend daily on this campaign.

I’ve selected Google’s recommended option. This is based on what other businesses in your industry are spending on campaigns, but you can set a custom budget as well.

3. Enter Payment Details

The final step involves providing your billing information. This is straightforward and involves creating a payments profile, which is associated with your Google Account and shared across Google services, and adding your preferred payment method.

When you enter your payment details and click “submit,” you’ve set up your first basic Google Ads campaign. You can track everything from the Google Ads dashboard.

Understanding Google Ads Dashboard

The Google Ads dashboard is your dynamic control center. Navigating it is pretty straightforward.

The main sections are:

• Campaigns

• Goals

• Tools

• Billing

• Admin

Campaigns, goals, and tools will be the main sections you deal with. The first has all the info on your individual campaigns, where you can check insights and reports and audiences, keywords, and content.

The goals section lets you set up conversions tracking. This includes actions from ads on your website like online sales, page views, and signups.

You can also set up value rules and custom variables, which can get quite complicated. But we don’t need to cover that here.

The tools section is broken down into areas like planning, troubleshooting, and budgets and bidding. Starting out, you’ll likely use planning the most.

Planning gives you access to the Google Keyword Planner. This lets you discover keywords relevant to your business and get search volumes and forecasts.

Using the right keywords for your Google Ads is crucial. Let's take a closer look at keywords.

Keywords for Google Ads

Google breaks keywords into three keyword match types:

1. Broad match

2. Phrase match

3. Exact match

Broad match keywords

With broad match keywords, ads can show up for searches related to your keyword. Your ad can appear in searches that don’t even contain the keyword term.

Phrase match keywords

Phrase match keywords reach less searches than broad match but more than exact match. With phrase match, ads can show on searches that include the “meaning” of your keyword.

Exact match keywords

Exact match keywords reach fewer searches than the other options but give you more control over who views your ad. With exact match, ads may appear for searches with the same meaning or intent as your keyword.

For beginners, I recommend focusing on exact match keywords because this lets you spend your budget more efficiently. Your ad may appear in fewer searches, but these searches will be highly relevant to your product or service. 

If you select a broad match, your ad can show in searches related to your keyword, but the connection can be extremely loose. Your ad can appear in searches with zero buyer intent, meaning your ad gets in front of people who aren’t even interested in using your services.

You might get a click in these searches, but the conversion potential is pretty low. So, you’re still paying for the click with little chance of making a sale, which affects ad profitability and is a great way to burn through your budget.

Choosing Keywords for Google Ads

Google Keyword Planner is your best friend when choosing keywords for Google Ads. As mentioned earlier, you can find Google Keyword Planner in the tools section from your Google Ads dashboard.

Click on “discover new keywords” to start searching. This gives you two options for performing keyword research.

1. Start with keywords

2. Start with website

Let’s quickly run through both options.

1. Start with keywords

Firstly, you can change the location to narrow down your results.

This helps if your business services a certain area. For instance, you might be a therapist that services Los Angeles, California.

You can also enter your website URL to filter out any unrelated keywords. But we’ll leave that empty here.

Say you’re a therapist who specializes in marriage counseling, and you want to advertise that service. You should search “marriage counseling” in the Keyword Planner.

The Keyword Planner will show you:

• Keyword suggestions sorted by relevance

• Average monthly searches

• Other keyword data

Here, we can see that the average monthly searches range from 100 - 100K and the competition is low. This would be a good keyword to target with your Google Ads.

The Keyword Planner also gives you 416 related keyword ideas. “Couples therapy” tops the list in the image above, but there’s a whole list of others related to “marriage counseling” that you can choose from.

Now, you want to select the best keywords for your service, create a new ad group, choose between broad, phrase, and exact match, and add the keywords to create your plan.

2. Start with website

Starting with your website also helps you find relevant keywords, although these may be more broad. For instance, you might offer several services, and keywords for all of these will come back.

Alternatively, you can enter a specific webpage (like a service page) or a subdomain.

For this example, I’ll use the Convert_ site.

You’ll notice that you have the option to “use the entire site” or “use this page only,” which is the homepage. I chose to use the entire site.

Searching this way brings back more results, 908 keyword ideas, but a lot of them will be irrelevant for a specific ad. Because Convert_ offers more than one product.

For me, option 1 (start with keywords) is better if you’re just starting out with Google Ads. Because you can create your list of keywords to target without needing to mess around with filters, etc.

Choosing the right keywords is vital to your Google Ads strategy, but there’s another important aspect. That’s writing effective ad copy, which we’ll cover now.

Copywriting for Google Ads: The Basics

Earlier, I recommended either writing your Google Ads yourself or hiring a copywriter. If you decide to go it alone, here are some tips to help with copywriting for Google Ads.

Here’s the thing, Google Ads are short - 30 characters for each headline and 90 characters for each description. This means you need to sell your services in as few words as possible.

That’s hard, especially if you’re not the writing type.

But I’m a professional writer, so I’m going to outline a few basic approaches to help you write better Google Ads.

Depending on your business, different approaches will work better than others.

• USP - Your unique selling point is about convincing potential customers to choose you over your competitors. For instance, a plumber might use “free callouts” or “24/7 service” as a USP. If you can, I’d recommend including your USP in your Google Ads headline.

• Features - This is about establishing the tangible aspects of your product. For instance, FormulaScript, the unique calculation engine that makes our platform the most powerful calculator builder on the market, is a feature of Convert_.

• Benefits - Highlight the positive outcomes people experience from your product/service. With Convert_, users engage their audiences, generate more leads, and increase sales. These are the benefits of using the product.

• Problem - This is also referred to as the pain point. Focus on the problem or pain point your potential customers need to solve. For instance, a solar installer might focus on high energy bills as the problem they solve.

• Testimonials - Use the words of your customers to harness the power of social proof. A Convert_ customer said: “We cut out manual data labor by 95% and saw a 30% increase in our conversion rate.”

• Prequalifying - Here, you can separate the buyers from the tire kickers, deterring any bad fits from clicking on your ad. For instance, a high-end real estate agency might prequalify with “luxury” apartments, indicating a premium price.

Now, you can select the best approach when writing your Google Ads.

I’ll write an example ad, using our therapist in Los Angeles who specializes in marriage counseling from earlier.

Google Ads for Therapists: Example

What I’ll do first is set the scene, so to speak.

• Keyword: marriage counseling

• Audience: married couples

• Location: Los Angeles

Now, I’ll run through the different approaches to find which ones work best.

• USP - Let’s just say they don’t have a clearly defined USP. For instance, they don’t specialize in any techniques over their competitors. So we won’t use this approach.

• Features - These will be their approaches to therapy, like cognitive behavioral therapy. They don’t differentiate them from other therapists, meaning we won’t use features.

• Benefits - Here, customers benefit from better marital communication, conflict resolution, and improved intimacy. We’ll use this in the ad.

• Problem - Issues within the marriage is the obvious problem or pain point, but this is a sensitive subject. We’re not going to tug on this because that would be unprofessional and lack empathy, which is at the core of effective copywriting. So we’re passing on this approach.

• Testimonials - This hypothetical business has 26,000+ happy clients across Los Angeles. You could actually say this is a USP, but we won’t get into that now. Anyway, we’re going to use this approach.

• Prequalifying - This is an exclusionary approach that we don’t need to use here.

I’m not going to go through and write 5 headlines and 2 descriptions. Instead, I’ll write the ad as how it might look on Google Search.

Example Google Ad for a therapist

Marriage Counseling LA |  Resolve Marital Conflicts | 26,000+ Happy Clients

A safe space to improve marital communication, resolve conflicts, and foster intimacy. Our skilled therapists guide you through marriage counseling for a happier relationship.

You’ll notice that the keyword is in the headline and description of the ad. Always include your keyword in the ad. I referenced “LA” as well so that people immediately know the service covers their location.

You can also see that I included the testimonial (which doubles as a USP) in the headline. I recommend putting your USP in the headline because potential customers can see it straight away without needing to read the ad.

Then, I follow up with the benefits in the main text of the ad. I usually prefer including benefits here, but it also depends on the service you’re advertising.

How Convert_ Helps You Capture and Convert Leads

At the end of the day, running Google Ads is about capturing and converting leads. You want to reach new customers interested in your offering, get their contact information, and ultimately secure the sale.

The forms and calculators you create with Convert_ are perfect tools to do exactly that. This interactive content engages your potential customers, increasing the chances they’ll submit their details.

Another major benefit for you is gathering customer insights. For instance, with an interactive calculator, you can gather insights into customer:

• Wants

• Needs

• Preferences

• Behaviors

But I think automation is the main benefit for you when it comes to running your business day-to-day.

You can set up a Google Ad that directs people to a booking form you created with Convert_. They can input exactly what they need and book your services without you getting involved.

This will dramatically reduce the time you spend on manual tasks like booking and quoting. Which is extremely helpful when you’re running Google Ads, as you’ll (hopefully) be getting heaps of inquiries.

You don’t want to be spending all of your time responding to potential customers. And you don’t have to with Convert_.

Automating your processes frees you from manual tasks and gives you more time to focus on scaling your business.

Shift Collab, a virtual therapy business based in Canada, did just that with Convert_. They needed a software that could handle their complex booking service, matching clients with the perfect therapist, and Convert_ was able to do exactly that.

The results are pretty amazing.

Convert_ and Google Ads are a powerful combination. Sending potential customers to engaging forms and calculators increases the chances they’ll submit their details.

In turn, this helps you maximize your Google Ads for a better ROI.