This "how-to" guide for small business owners provides a clear and easy to read outline for how to use Google for boosting your small business marketing. We cover the What, Why and How of Google for Business - including case studies and ROI insights.

1. GETTING THE MOST
FROM GOOGLE
A Guide For Small Business Owners
emergentconsulting.com.au

2. Contents
02
03
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06
07
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09
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10
11
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14
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Google My Business/Google Search/Google Maps
Google Plus (Google+)
Google Analytics
Google AdSense
Australian Case Studies
1. The Furniture Trader
2. Bay Fish N Trips
3. LJ Hooker
4. Shoes of Prey
5. Flexicar
Getting The Most From
Google AdWords
Estimated Costs and Benefits for Small Businesses
Picture Gallery
References
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3. EMERGENT CONSULTING AUSTRALASIA PAGE 02 - 19
Google My Business/Google Search/Google Maps
Google My Business is a free and easy to use platform that lets businesses
integrate their business information and manage their presence across
Google Search, Google Maps and Google+. An updated Google My
Business page results in the business information being showed in google
searches and on google maps, if a person searches for that particular
business in that location. The difference to Google AdWords is that here
the business details will only be showed in the organic rankings on google
search, not in the very top or the right side where the AdWords business
information is showed (“About Google My Business,” 2016; Vaughan, 2015;
Volpe, 2015).
Businesses that verify their information with Google My Business are twice
as likely to be considered reputable by consumers. A business can read
and respond to reviews from customers, and post photos that show what
the business does. Businesses that add photos to their listings receive 42%
more requests for driving directions on Google Maps and 35% more clicks
through to their websites than businesses that don’t (“About Google My
Business,” 2016).
Setting up a Google My Business profile is free of charge.
To get the free listing with the Google My Business, a business needs to set
up an account and provide Google with following:
+ A brief description of the business
+ A phone number, address, website, hours of operation and other
contact details
+ A logo or picture that represents the business
The more optional information the business provides the better search
results for the customer. Google My Business comes with options to
connect the business profile with the social media Google+ as well as
YouTube and other online platforms operated by Google (Vaughan, 2015;
Volpe, 2015).
whatwhyoptions
indicative
costs

4. Google Plus (Google+)
Google+ is a social network media just like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn
where a business can connect with customers, followers, fans and friends
(Copp, 2016). It is managed through the Google My Business account,
and as such those two tools assist each other. By strategically organising
connections on Google+, the business can segment key audience and share
relevant content with them (Copp, 2016).
The Google+ account is automatically connected to the Google My
Business account, which means having an up to date Google+ account will
benefit the activity on Google My Business and vice versa. When a business
is listed in a google search because it has a Google My Business profile, it
will automatically include a link to the business’ Google+ Page – hence, it
is important to spend time on the Google+ account to make customers
intrigued (Vaughan, 2015).
Setting up a Google My Business profile is free of charge.
Google+ comes with the four optional choices to improve the business
profile (Copp, 2016):
+ Circles: lets the business organise people into different Circles
such as customers or influencers. This help the business target its
messages to the right people. A restaurant could create a circle of
food lovers and then share updates on food with them.
+ Communities: are forums where people are organised around
a topic or a cause and thus provides the perfect opportunity to
engage with likeminded people.
+ Google Hangouts on Air: a tool that lets the business host and
broadcast videos through YouTube or Google+. Can be used for
events like webinars, performance tests, debates or other business
events that the business would like its customers/followers to see.
+ Collections: lets the business group posts by topics. The business
can create new collections or follow connections that it is interested
in. People can then easily click into the collection and view similar
content.
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whatwhyoptions
indicative
costs

5. “A business can connect with
customers, followers, fans and
friends.”

6. Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free website analytics product that gives businesses
a better and easier insight into its website traffic and can help the business
understand how people are finding and navigating its website (“About
Google Analytics 360,” 2016). It delivers a deep insight into a business’
consumers and their behaviour, so that the business can create more
engaging and fulfilling experiences for its customers.
Google Analytics helps the business analyse the visitor traffic and it paints a
complete picture of the audience and their needs. With Analytic a business
can see the complete customer journey, share those insights with everyone
in the business, and get useful knowledge that can assist in tailoring the
right marketing material and site content for the maximum impact (“Google
Analytics - overview,” 2016).
Google Analytics has two pricing tiers: Free and Premium. Google
Analytics Premium provides higher data limits, more custom variables, a
Service Level Agreement, and a dedicated support team. Pricing starts
at $150,000 / year.
Google Analytics comes with six product options (“Analytics 360 Suite,”
2016):
+ Audience Center 360, a data management platform that gives
the business a panoramic view of the audiences that matter most to
the brand.
+ Optimize 360, a website testing and personalisation tool where
a business can show its customers different variations of its site
in order to pick the best-performing site to increase customer
engagement.
+ Data Studio 360, a data visualization tool that crunches the
numbers and turns them into informative reports which are easy to
read, easy to share, and fully customisable.
+ Tag Manager 360, offers simplified data collection and powerful
APIs for better data accuracy and streamlined workflows.
+ Analytics 360, consolidates data about customer behaviour into a
single product and makes it easy to perform robust analysis
+ Attribution 360, helps advertisers see the value of their media
investments and allocate budgets with confidence.
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whatwhyoptions
indicative
costs

7. Google Adsense
Google AdSense is a free tool for businesses of all sizes to earn money by
letting targeted Google ads being displayed on their websites.
AdSense is an easy and free way for business to earn money from
advertising places on their websites. AdSense is different from other
providers in that it states that: it only runs ads that will be of interest to the
business’ users; it leverage on google search technology; it runs ads that are
targeted to the audience; it filters unwanted ads; and it is easy and fast to
get started (“How AdSense works,” 2016).
Participation in AdSense is free and will actually earn the business money.
Google will pay the business for clicks, impressions, and other interactions
with the Google ads displayed on the business’ website. Google pays the
business between 51% to 68% of the revenue recognised by google from
the AdSense activity. How much a business can earn depends on different
factors, for example what type of ads appears on the site, the pricing of
those ads, and how many AdSense products are used (“How AdSense
works,” 2016).
AdSense gives the business the option to choose what types and formats of
ads it wants displayed on its website as well as where it wants the ads places
on its website (“How AdSense works,” 2016).
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whatwhyoptions
indicative
costs

8. Australian Case Studies
1. The Furniture Trader
2. Bay Fish N Trips
When The Furniture Trader, a family-owned Melbourne business first went online they
were not appearing on Google for the relevant search terms. After developing a digital
strategy and a search strategy using Google AdWords, the company finally started to
see some results.
“If you compare organic search costs to conventional catalogue advertising, we would spend
about $100,000 on doing two months’ worth of the catalogues each year, whereas organic
search cost us just a fraction of that.”
The owners of Bay Fish N Trips; Sandra and Stuart from Victoria, use Google
AdWords, Google Analytics as well as various social media to compete, and thrive in
a mature market, against competitors who were established decades ago. Sandra and
Stuart established Bay Fish N Trips in 2010. Sandra’s concern when she started the
business was how to find an edge against the competitors, some of whom had been in
business since the 1970s. Sandra adopted various social media tools such as Google
Plus, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, and aligned them to more traditional
channels like newsletters and blog. The revenue began to grow substantially following
the release of a new website and through the use of Google AdWords. Sandra estimates
that the approximate annual spend on Google AdWords is between $3,600 and
$8,400. She finds that this amount is insignificant when compared to the number of
customers that have booked fishing and cruising tours by finding Bay Fish N Trips on
Google.
“Through Google Analytics I know that the majority of our customers find us via Google
AdWords, which links them to our website”
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9. “the majority of our customers find
us via Google AdWords”

10. 3. LJ Hooker
4. Shoes of Prey
LJ Hooker Nerang wanted to drive more leads online but found it challenging. Real
estate in Nerang is fiercely competitive. In a city where home buyers and sellers
have a menu of real estate offices to choose from, LJ Hooker knew it was critical to
position the LJ Hooker Nerang brand as a trusted leader in the market. After getting
the Nerang office consistently ranked on the bottom of the first page of Google
search results for keywords like “real estate nerang,” the office needed help getting LJ
Hooker’s trusted brand in the top of search results including relevant keywords. The
office made use of Google AdWords to gain the position they wanted.
“Our natural position was on page 1, and we wanted to be on top. That’s important to me,
that we’re top of mind, and not in the bottom half of page 1, and certainly not on page 2.”
With over 269,917 impressions (ad views) generated to date, LJ Hooker Nerang is now
positioned as a leader and trusted brand in the local Nerang market. According to the
office, these ads provide one more “touch point” to reassure leads.
“With regards to online, Google AdWords is the biggest lead generation tool we have. Now I
can see it was worth giving a go, and we haven’t looked back.”
The online custom shoe design company Shoes of Prey has had massive success with
the use of Google AdWords. As the company expanded internationally, it created new
AdWords campaigns targeted at English-speaking countries with currencies they could
process. They used AdWords location-targeting to show ads in new locations: Canada,
Ireland, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.
“Despite being based in Australia, it took only a matter of days for our first orders to start
coming in from the other side of the world. It was exciting to see!”
Currently, about 10 percent of Shoes of Prey’s shoe sales come from AdWords
customers—and about 40 percent of those sales are from international buyers.
“We time specific AdWords campaigns to target each of these events. Mother’s Day is on a
different day in different countries, so AdWords lets us run ads at different times of the year for
the various countries, and edit the ads so they speak to users in those countries. For example,
we’ll mention the price of our shoes in euro in Ireland and in dollars in the U.S.”
With AdWords the team behind Shoes of Prey have been able to share their passion for
custom shoes with international customers who share their love for customization.
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11. 5. Flexicar
The green car-share company Flexicar allows 24-hour, inner city car access, when
required, without all the costs, hassles and carbon footprints associated with car
ownership. The company has relied heavily on Google AdWords as its most effective
form of advertising since it was founded in 2005, helping it increase business by 400
percent in just one year.
Flexicar has never used traditional advertising methods like television or radio. Soon
after the company’s inception, the sales and marketing manager insisted on only using
Google AdWords.
“AdWords produces far more results for Flexicar than any other form of advertising. On top
of that, these results can be easily tracked.”
“Flexicar started out with a small budget and a few general keywords. We have since created
a more targeted AdWords campaign and have increased our budget significantly as we’ve seen
that it works,”
“It’s definitely something worth including in your company’s marketing plans, you actually
see results.”
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12. Google AdWords
AdWords is a search driven marketing platform that allows businesses to be found
on google whenever people search for keywords that are included in the business’
advertising. The business only pays for the advertising once people click on the
advertising link, or call the business directly (“Google AdWords,” 2016). This form
of advertising will appear above or on the right side of Google’s organic search
result, when people search for the keywords.
It is easy to measure results/activity on advertising material. It provides insight
around the clock by letting the business log on to its account. It lets the business
stop, start, pause, change, and test material whenever it likes (“Google AdWords,”
2016). It is a tool well suited to generate instant leads, visits, conversations or sales
for almost any product, service and organisation. It captures the attention of the
web user exactly when they are actually in the process of looking for a product/
service, and if the business offers what the person is looking for in that instant,
there is a good chance it could result in a lead or even a sale (Sequeira, 2012).
Google AdWords has a comparatively longer lifecycle than other social media
advertisements since they appear to people when they search for related keywords,
meaning that the campaign can run effectively for a long time without having to be
updated constantly (Sequeira, 2012).
The most normal way to pay is via cost-per-click (CPC) bidding. With the payment
method the business only gets charged when someone is interested enough to
click on the ad. The business tells AdWords how much it wants to pay for a click
on its ad (maximum cost-per-click-bid) and AdWords runs an auctions on popular
keywords, and depending on the cost the business is willing to spend (and the range
of keywords it has) it might be chosen to be on the top search page that day. On
days when a business’s ad is more popular, AdWords allows up to 20% more of
the average daily budget as to not miss out on valuable clicks. On days when the
keywords are not so popular, the budget will be lowered again. This ensures that
spending is averaged out to the limit the business set. Most businesses get off to
a good start with a budget of at least $5 a day (“AdWords Help,” 2016; “Google
AdWords,” 2016).
The business has the option to target its customer according to country, region
or city. Another option is to target by website type or audience type (“Google
AdWords,” 2016). However, targeting only concerns the people who actually search
on the keywords in Google’s search engine, and people who do not search for the
keywords will not see the ad.
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whatwhyoptions
indicative
costs
Get The Most From

13. EMERGENT CONSULTING AUSTRALASIA PAGE 12 - 18
Google AdWords Keyword Planner and Google Trends are tools that can be used to
optimise and plan the Google AdWords marketing campaign.
extra
tools
“Google AdWords
is the biggest lead generation tool”

14. Google AdWords
$5 per day
(minimun recommended)
Tangible:
- Possible sales increase
- 100% controlled budget (cost spend)
- Increased leads
Intangible:
- Increased brand awareness
- Increased click through rates
Google My Business
Free Tangible:
- Free tool to get into organic search
results on Google
- Tool that increase integration and
efficiency of various Google products
- Increased leads via Google search
Intangible:
- Increased brand awareness being
in the top of Google’s organic
search
- Increased click through ratest
Google Plus
Free Tangible:
- Possible sales increase
Intangible:
- Increased brand awareness
- Increased social ROI
+ impressions
+ reach
+ post likes
+ page likes
+ shares
+ comments
+ frequency
+ click through rates
Google Plus
$150,00/year Tangible:
- 100% controlled budget
(cost spend)
- Saved costs on market analysis
(target market behaviour)
Intangible:
-Increased consumer knowledge
Google AdSense
free/earn between 51-68%
of the revenue estimated
my Google
Tangible:
- Increased income
Intangible:
-Increased brand awareness
Costs and benefits for Small-Medium Sized Businesses
Indicative Costs Benefits/ROI
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15. Gallery
Google Adwords:
placed in the top of Google search page,above the organic
search, and marked with a green “Ad” symbol.
Google My Business:
placed under the Google AdWords ads in the organic
search.
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Google Search: “car rentals cairns” screenshots

16. Google Plus:
a social network business page just like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, where businesses
can engage with communities, fans and customers.
Google Analytics:
an analytical tool from Google providing business with easy to understand
data on website usage and consumer behaviour.
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17. Google AdSense:
a way for businesses to make money by allowing ads to appear on their websites.
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18. About Google Analytics 360. (2016). Retrieved from https://support.google.com/analytics/
answer/3437434?hl=en&ref_topic=2430414
About Google My Business. (2016). Retrieved from https://support.google.com/business/
answer/3038063?hl=en
AdWords Help. (2016). Retrieved from https://support.google.com/adwords/
answer/6334502?hl=en&ref_topic=6334440
Analytics 360 Suite. (2016). Retrieved from https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/ga360s_
productoverview_360-suite.pdf
Copp, E. (2016). Google Plus for Business: How to Put the Platform to Work For Your Brand.
Retrieved from https://blog.hootsuite.com/create-a-google-plus-page/
Google AdWords. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.google.com.au/adwords/?channel=ha-ef-
bk&subid=au-en-ha-rhef-bkhp0~109870386919
Google Analytics - overview. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.google.com.au/analytics/standard/
How AdSense works. (2016). Retrieved from https://support.google.com/adsense/
answer/6242051?hl=en&ref_topic=1319753
Sequeira, N. (2012). Google Ads Vs Facebook Ads Vs LinkedIn Ads – A Cost Per Click
Advertising Comparison. Retrieved from http://www.business2community.com/online-
marketing/google-ads-vs-facebook-ads-vs-linkedin-ads-a-cost-per-click-advertising-comparison-
0220021#SL3WFDbZSwMgbOSZ.97
Vaughan, P. (2015). 15 Google Marketing Tools You Should Be Using. Retrieved from http://blog.
hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/11249/16-Google-Tools-to-Improve-Marketing-Effectiveness.
aspx#sm.0000o7qq3tfq6feo10uhza3fsbkbm
Volpe, M. (2015). Free Advertising on Google. Retrieved from http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/
tabid/6307/bid/1612/Free-Advertising-on-Google.aspx#sm.0000o7qq3tfq6feo10uhza3fsbkbm
References
EMERGENT CONSULTING AUSTRALASIA PAGE 17 - 18

19. Want to go to the next level?
Talk to us about how we can help your business, social
enterprise or non-for-profit organisation develop digital
marketing strategies that deliver outstanding results over
the long term.
Call or email to arrange a free 1-hour consultation session!
info@emergentconsulting.com.au
+ (61) 439 221 430
emergentconsulting.com.au