MoreVisibility has over 5+ years managing successful Google Ads Grant accounts across multiple verticals. This past week I had the pleasure of visiting the Grow With Google NYC Office where I attended a workshop learning the latest and greatest on maximizing these unique accounts. (Google provides $10,000 of free a Google Ads spend to registered non-profits. You can see if you are eligible here.) Here are 5 key takeaways from the event.
- Don’t worry if you’re not spending the full $10,000. Your spend is not a reflection of the quality of your grant account. Most non-profits aren’t spending the full $10k. In fact, several of the non-profits I spoke with were spending around $500-$1000 per month. One should be more focused on benchmarking goals and trying to beat them month over month. That brings us to our next key takeaway.
- Track your conversions. Make sure you are tracking conversions. Speakers at the event highly recommended conversion and revenue tracking. First and foremost, by utilizing conversion tracking you will know which campaigns and keywords are driving key conversion actions. In addition, this will allow you to use additional bidding strategies within the campaign settings. Many non-profits have other conversion points than donations, so be sure to track whatever key actions are the most important for your non-profit.
- Use maximize conversions bidding strategy. This was talked about heavily during the workshop. Once your conversion tracking is implemented and key actions are being tracked, leverage automated bid strategies such as maximize conversions. Even though $2 is the max bid, by using the maximize conversions bid strategy google may bid above the $2 threshold.
- KW Research is your friend. Finding new and niche keyword opportunities based on your non-profit will be key in maximizing your grant spend. You can bid on keywords related to content on your website, blog topics, FAQs, and even relevant current events related to your non-profit. Even if a keyword has an estimated CPC of over $2, you can still bid on them. Think about long-tail keywords variations and how your target audience would be searching.
- The secret to maximizing your grant account…. there is no secret. Time and dedication must be allocated to your Google Ads Grant Account to maximize it. Whether it is dedicating your own time or finding someone within your organization who is data driven and technical, the key here is nurturing and growing your Google Ads Grant Account as if it were a paid one. Dedicate time to build new campaigns based on relevant events, mine for new keywords, create and test new ad copy, spend time to setup the appropriate conversion tracking, and enhance the landing page experience.
Once these elements are in-line you will find great value in your Google Ads Grant Account. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].