One of the fastest ways to get you to the top of Google”s first page is to run a Google Adwords (pay-per-click or PPC for short) campaign.

The terminology “pay-per-click” makes reference to the concept that you the advertiser will only pay for a click when a prospective patient clicks on your advertisement. It doesn’t cost you a penny to have your ad displayed, only when it’s clicked.

When a campaign is created correctly, Adwords campaigns can have a major impact on your practice. A relevant, focused Ad campaign can drive an immense amount of traffic to your website, potentially generating you a lot more patients.

Using the following steps below, you can create an effective Google Adwords campaign for your practice.

1. Visit the url https://ads.google.com, and follow the steps to get your account set up, this is generally a quick procedure only taking a matter of minutes.

2. Create a campaign: Once you are logged in to your account, you will first create a new advertising campaign. Campaigns should be organised by theme for the services you want to advertise (such as cosmetic dentistry, general dentistry, orthodontics). You will later create “Ad Groups” under each campaign to target specific services.

a. Set campaign name(s): If you want to advertise cosmetic dentistry services, set your campaign name accordingly. Tie your campaign name to services you want to market, this will keep you organised and help you identify appropriate keywords and ad groups.

b. Specify geographical location for your ads to appear in. By clicking the “Let me choose…” option, you can specify the exact city, region, or post code so your ads only appear to your local targeted audience.

c. Set your daily budget. Depending on the keywords you choose, a single click can range from $0.20 to $9 or more. To determine your daily budget, decide how much you are willing to spend on a campaign each month and divide it by the number of days in the month.

3. Create ad groups: Ad groups are a collection of ads under a campaign that corresponds to a group of related keywords. Creating ad groups enables you to further segment your campaign to focus on specific products or services. For example, if your campaign is for “cosmetic dentistry” and you want to market services for “teeth whitening” and “veneers,” you should create separate ad groups for each of these services under the same campaign.

4. Generate ad text: After you create ad groups, you will set the ad text headlines, descriptions, and URLs.

a. Final URL: You will add your destination URL (the page a user will be sent to after clicking your ad). The destination URL should lead to a page on your website that focuses on the advertised service, to help visitors quickly access information on the topic for which they searched. It is important to avoid just dropping visitors onto your home page.

b. Headlines x3 (30 characters each): Write a brief statement that includes the related keywords. For example, if your ad group is for teeth whitening, a good headline might read “Teeth Whitening Special.”

c. Descriptions x2 (90 characters each): Next, create two descriptions that emphasises benefits of the service and includes a clear “call to action” to encourage visitors to click, call, or contact your practice.

Your ad text might be input as:

Final URL: http://www. yourdentist.com/teethwhitening

Headline1: Teeth Whitening Special

Headline2: Get bright, whiter teeth today.

Headline3: Covering all [Town Name] Areas

Description1: Take advantage of our amazing Teeth Whitening Special Offer Today

Description2: Call for a free consultation with one of the best cosmetic dentists in Devon!

5. Select relevant keywords: Choose keywords that relate to your ad group title. When brainstorming keywords, make sure you use terms and phrases that people might search for on Google to find your product or service. AdWords also has a “Keyword Planner” that can help you build your keyword list.

6. Set up Extensions: Utilising Ad extensions is a great way to expand the room your Ad takes up in Google search results.  Try and fill in as many of them as you can, most people use at least the sitelink and callout extensions, in recent times Google has really expanded on the different types of extensions you can add, ranging from price, to location, to even putting a lead form in there, have a look around and decide which would work best for your practice.

7. Incorporate ad text into your website: If you are advertising a discount or particular service, make sure your ad links to a page on your website that displays this information to help prospective patients immediately find what they are seeking. Edit your webpage to include your keywords, the title of your ad group, and the title of your campaign.

Seeing that Google is the favoured go-to search engine for 81% of Internet users, Google AdWords is prime real estate for running your PPC campaign. By creating an effective PPC campaign, you can drive immediate traffic to your website and ideally convert these online search users into new patients.