As always, we’re here again to give you the best, up-to-date digital marketing knowledge as of August 2018. We’ve shown you previously how Bing Ads compares to Google AdWords, and that Bing Ads has some advantages that ought not to be overlooked.
Today, we’ll show you how to start a Bing advertising campaign for your small business. We’ll explain it clearly so everyone can understand. After all, making your digital marketing efforts easier is what we do here at Falcon.
Ready to get started? Use these easy-to-follow steps to set up your Bing Ads campaign today.
Get $100 Free
When you create your Bing Ads account, you’re entitled to $100 in Bing advertising money to get you started when this promotion is offered. There’s no better way to get used to a new ad campaign than to test it for free!
Well, technically, you have to spend $25 to get the $100. But still, it’s not something you want to miss out on!
Before you create your account, click this link to request your $100 off Bing Ads coupon. The offer ends September 30, 2018, so don’t wait too late.
Create your Account
Now, head to the Bing Ads signup page and enter your information. Make sure you follow the instructions that come with your coupon and that any applicable information matches.
Start or Continue Your Ad Campaign
Next, you are given the option to begin a new ad campaign or import an existing campaign you may have on Google AdWords. If you have a Google AdWords campaign, importing is the better option.
This will give you a solid foundation to build off of while testing the Bing market. Not only does this save time and effort, but it makes more efficient use of your free advertising dollars. If you have the option, import.
Picking the Right Keywords
Bing Ads has a Keyword Research tool included in your account. To reach it, simply click “Tools,” then “Keyword Research.”
Then, type in a sample keyword related to your needs, like “Kansas City Pizza” or “landscaping services.” Based on your sample keyword, Bing Ads gives you a list of popular keywords and how they rank in several categories.
Here, you can see how often a keyword is searched and how often it’s clicked. And most importantly, you can see the CTR (click-through rate) and CPC (cost-per-click) of each keyword. Use these rankings to pick the best keywords for your business.
This will likely make them more expensive, but they’re worth it. The reason they’re expensive is that they get results. Besides, having $100 in free Bing advertising makes this a good time to try out the expensive ones.
A final keyword tip is “ready-to-buy” targeting. That is, target an audience that is already planning to purchase. Do this with keywords like “pizza near me” and “cheap computer parts online.”
Create a New Campaign
If you want to create a new ad campaign, click “Create Campaign” and enter the requested information. This info lets Bing know more about your advertising goals so it can provide relevant, helpful suggestions.
From here, you can also add a daily budget. For this initial testing phase, go with a smaller budget. $50 daily should be good enough to see how well your ads perform without spending too much.
Also use this page to toggle your local advertising settings. Local advertising is extremely important for any business.
If you are a local business, you want to make sure you are heavily targeting people who are in your local area right now. And combine this strategy with ready-to-buy targeting. These are your perfect, highly lucrative leads.
Even if you are an online business, you can reach relevant local searchers and steal some sales from brick and mortar locations. This is especially a good tactic if you can advertise to a location that doesn’t have your type of business nearby. This will attract new, loyal customers who can’t conveniently get these services elsewhere.
Choose Keyword Matching Style
When giving Bing your ad keywords, you can decide how closely searchers must match the keyword to see your ad using modifiers. You’ll have to play around with these to see which perform better.
Broad
If you type the keyword phrase by itself, Bing will show your ad to anyone who searches for the keyword or similar words or related words. Example: if your keyword is “fantasy novels,” your ad may still appear in search results for “fantasy stories” or “fairy tale books.”
Modified Broad Match
If you ad a plus symbol before one of the words, that exact word must be typed in the search for your ad to be seen. If your keyword is “+fantasy +novels,” both “fantasy” and “novels” must be in the search, but other keywords can be in the search as well, such as “buy fantasy novels online”.
If the search is “fairy tale novels” or “fantasy romance novels,” your ad will appear. If the search is “fantasy stories” or even “fantasy novel,” your ad won’t appear. This is typically the best place to get started with keywords.
Phrase-Match
Surrounding an entire phrase with quotes requires searchers to use the exact phrase to see your ad or a very close variant. But they can add to the beginning or end of the phrase and still see the ad.
For the keyword,”‘fantasy novels'” (in quotes), search results for “used fantasy novels near Reno” will still show your ad. But results for “fantasy romance novels” will not. As long as the exact phrase is included, in the correct order, your ad will be seen.
Exact Match
An exact match means that your ad will only display in search results with your exact keyword and nothing else. Indicate an exact match by putting the keyword in brackets.
So obviously, if your keyword is “[fantasy novels]” only results for that exact phrase, with no words added, will display your ad.
Negative Keywords
Negative keywords are keywords you want to make sure your ad doesn’t display with.
If you’re allowing broad keyword matching, be sure to set up negative keywords, too. It keeps your ad from displaying in searches that are similar but far less relevant.
Reaching an irrelevant audience will result in expensive, accidental clicks. Use negative keywords to save your clicks for the right audience and avoid wasting spend.
Write Compelling Copy For Bing Ads
Now it’s time to write your ad.
Step 1: If you’re not a writer, hire a writer if necessary.
Step 2: Keep it simple. There are only a few things you need in your ad: the keyword, hyperlocal or specific product/service language, one specific point and a statement of what makes you unique or selling points of your company.
Step 3: Preview your ad. Check how your ad looks in all 3 ways it might be displayed.
Step 4: Split test by writing multiple ads to find the best performer.
Split Testing
Split testing simply means writing and publishing various versions of the same ad to see which one performs best. Then you pick the best one, discontinue the others and make more money.
Add Credit Card
Lastly, add your credit card information to your Bing Ads account when prompted. Now you’re done!
Get Started
You now have all the knowledge you need to get started with Bing Ads. We even gave you some tips on how to keep it going!
Get more PPC marketing tips on our digital marketing blog.