Google AdWords for Chiropractors
In the past, as part of our VIP Chiropractic Marketing Service, we provided AdWords management. So we have years of experience with optimizing pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. Through our work, we’ve seen that AdWords can be an effective tool, but if not managed properly, it can be a very expensive waste of money. We see a lot of poorly run AdWords campaigns (many of them run by popular services you've probably heard of), so we’ve put this guide together to help you avoid common errors and to help you ask intelligent questions of your marketing agency. Here are some of the key components of an effective AdWords strategy:- Focus on geography. This one’s pretty basic, but important: Don’t run ads outside of your local area. If you’re looking for patients in your neighborhood, limit your ads to that area. Most of your patients are probably coming from a fairly constrained area, so limit your ads to that.
- Do your research. Keyword research takes up a sizable amount of time: both when setting up a campaign and then monthly, when analyzing conversions and engagement. When you’re first putting together your AdWords plan, you’ll find that Google gives you tons of suggestions for “improving” your campaign. You have to be very cautious with this, as Google will suggest a lot of useless keywords and phrases, and will suggest vague keywords that will result in a lot of useless (and expensive) clicks. Think about your keyword list very carefully and then analyze your results to see which phrases are working and which are wasting money.
- Don’t direct ads to your home page! This is one of the most common mistakes we see in AdWords campaigns, and the big marketing firms are some of the most egregious violators. Too often, an agency will set up AdWords with a list of keywords…and then send them either to the firm’s home page or a boring, generic listing with basic contact information. These clicks don’t get good engagement or conversions. If you’re spending $70 for a click (which is possible with some competitive keywords), you need to do everything possible to optimize your conversions!
- Set up unique landing pages for each group of keywords. To optimize conversions, you need to channel patients who click on your ads directly to the content that is going to convert them into a client. For instance, if your keyword is “back pain,” don’t send them to your home page; send them to a custom-crafted landing page that talks about the issues involved with back pain and how you can help.
- Call to action. You need to specifically tell your website visitors what to do; don’t assume that they’ll figure it out on their own. State your patient's problem, offer a solution, and then ask them to take action: “Call our office now for a consultation,” or “Email your questions about how we can help you with your injury.”