How to Run Google Ads in Cameroon
By Wondering how to pay for Google Ads in Cameroon??? if yes, then this article was specifically written for you.
In this article, I’m going to show you how to launch your first Google Ad campaign in Cameroon and drive tons of quality traffic to your website.
If you’re selling something online or rendering a service, then one of your ongoing goals is almost certainly to sell more product or get clients to pay/subscribe to your service. Too often, when we try to sell more, the first thing we do is try to get more visitors on our site. After all, more visitors = more customers, right?.
One of the sure ways which anyone in Cameroon can launch an online business or blog today and start making money from the website right away, is by investing money on Google Ads (paid traffic).
Launching a Google Ads campaign is one of the sure ways of driving quality (targeted) traffic to an online store or blog and make tons of sales.
Note: there’s a difference between “quantity” and “quality” traffic.
“Quantity” traffic refers to random web visitors who may not be interested in your products and services while target traffic refers to relevant/targeted audience; who are desperately in need of your products and services.
By paying for Google Ads in Cameroon, you will be able to get tons of “quality traffic” from Google and make tons of sales (provided that you have quality products and have optimized your website for conversion before launching your Ad campaign).
Google is where people search for what to do, where to go, and what to buy. Your digital ads can appear on Google at the very moment someone is looking for products or services like yours.
Whether they’re on desktop or mobile, a well-timed ad can turn people into valuable customers.
Somebody may likely want to ask, how does Google Ads work in Cameroon???
Google Ads service enables website owners to receive targeted traffic from the Google search engines, YouTube and Google Adsense partner websites/blogs.
To get targeted traffic from Google, you will need to visit the Google Ads platform to set up an Ad campaign.
After you have successfully created and launched your Google Ad campaign on the Google Ads platform, your AD link will be placed on the first page of the Google search result whenever your target keyword is typed on the Google search bar by a Google user.
Your Google Ad will also appear on YouTube videos and blogs relevant/related to your target keyword(s).
One of the reasons why the Google Ads platform is considered as the best online advertisement platform is because many internet entrepreneurs around the world have confirmed that traffic from Google converts far better than other traffic sources.
For those of you who don’t, the quality of a web traffic is measured by its conversion rate; which is the percentage of web visitors who will buy your products or service after arriving at your ecommerce website or blog.
With Google Ads, you are sure of getting a return on your investment as 60% of visitors from Google are bound to make a purchase on your website since Google only displays your Ad on their search results for relevant keywords and also display your Ads on relevant websites/blogs often visited by your target audience.
Other Advertisement platform like Facebook and other social media sites send you tons of traffic which doesn’t convert at all thereby leading to waste of money.
So if you have been reluctant to pay for Google Ads in Cameroon because you think you won’t be able to get a return on your investment, i will like to reassure you that Google Ads is the best way to take your products and services to your target audience and start making money online within a short timeframe.
However its advisable to optimize your website for conversion before you start launching Ad campaigns on the Google Ads platform.
Simply put, before you can start paying for Google Ads in Cameroon, make sure that you have quality products on your site, return and refund policy page, Contact Us page, FAQ page, testimonials and also ensure that your website is mobile responsive and user friendly.
With the aforementioned factors taking in to consideration, you will be able to maximize your traffic as most of the web visitors will end up purchasing a product on your website. So do your homework first, before paying for Google Ads in Cameroon to avoid waste of money. Sure, you will definitely receive tons of daily visitors after launching your Google Ad campaign but with a poor converting site, the percentage of casual visitors who are turning into customers will be low.
The issue here is that one of the conversion variables above, are inhibiting your target audience from making a purchase on your site. For instance a potential customer/client arrives on your site and decided to make just a little inquiry about your product or service before clicking on the buy button…but there’s no contact form on your site and he or she ends up leaving without purchasing a product.
It should be noted that Google charges advertisers using a Pay Per Click billing system i.e. this simply means that whenever your Google ad in the Google search result or Google partner site is clicked, the debit card linked to your Google Ads account is debited….hence when somebody clicks on your Google ad, comes to your site and leaves without making a purchase, that is equal to waste of money.
What if you spent $100 on Google Ads and got 500 visitors but non made a purchase on your online store, that will be waste of money.
If you’d focused on getting traffic first before optimizing your site for conversion, a lot of those visitors would end up leaving without ever making a purchase, and would be a whole lot less likely to come back.
Once you have optimized your website for conversion, then it’s time to focus on getting new visitors.
Summarily, optimize your website/blog for conversion before paying for Google Ads in Cameroon or else you will end up wasting your time and money.
Cost of Google Ads in Cameroon
One of the questions i often get asked is, how much will it cost me to launch Google ads in Cameroon???
Like i mentioned earlier, Google charges Cameroon Advertisers using a Pay Per Click billing system. This simply means that your Google Ads account/debit card is billed each time somebody clicks on your Google ad on the Google search results, YouTube videos and Google Adsense partner sites/blogs.
The amount you will be charged for a click on your Ad (cost per click), will depend on factors such as the level of competition for your target keyword (s) and your target country (countries).
It should be noted that there are two types of keywords which include;
*** Information Keywords
*** Navigational Keywords
*** Buying (transactional) keywords
- Information keywords are often used by people who are searching for information to solve a particular issue. People who use informational keywords, know they have a problem or need but they aren’t sure how to solve it or fill the need. They use informational keywords to find solutions and answers. Information keywords include; how to get rid of stretchmarks in Cameroon, how much does it cost to start a blog in Cameroon etc.
People who often use the information keywords are said to be in the awareness phase of the buying cycle and can easily be converted in to customer if provided with the relevant content and info.
- Navigational Keywords are often used by people who have an idea about what they want or need and are researching to see if it is the right solution for them. They use navigational keywords to find information about specific products, services, and brands e.g Longrich body lotion for stretchmarks,
People who often use the navigational keywords are said to be in the consideration phase of the buying cycle and just needs confirmation about a product or service, in order to make a purchase.
- Buyer keywords are the search terms people use when they are planning or ready to make a purchase e.g. keywords like where to buy iPhone, Laptop for sale etc are buying keywords.
Simply put, buyer keywords are the phrases people use in search engines when they are searching to buy a product or service. The intent behind buyer keywords shows that the searcher is actively in the buying cycle, already aware of their need and seriously considering the solution they want.
People who use the buying keywords are said to be in the transactional phase of the buying cycle as they are ready to make a purchase.
Like i mentioned earlier, the cost per click of your Google Ad will be determined by your target keyword. If you target the buying keywords, you will be expected to pay a high cost per click as the buying keywords converts better than the information and Navigational keywords. In addition to that, there’s a high competition for the buying keywords.
When there’s a huge number of Advertisers competing for a spot on the Google search result for a particular keyword, Google uses an bidding system and relevance score to determine whose Ad will appear on a Google search result when the target keyword is searched.
Google Advertisers who are ready to invest more money and have relevant content, will get the top spots on the Google search result for the keywords with high competition.
For a very competitive keyword, the cost per click may go as high as $3 to $50 per click as Advertisers bid and outbid each other to get the top spots on the Google search results.
Except you have a huge budget to invest on Google Ads campaign, its advisable to focus on the information and navigational keywords; which have a low competition and very budget friendly cost per click (which range from few cents to a dollar).
Secondly, another factor which determines the cost of Google Ads in Cameroon, is your target country (countries).
Google Advertisers in Cameroon targeting customers/clients in the USA, UK, United Arab Emirates (and other countries with people actively involve with online shopping) will be expected to pay a high cost per click due to high competition as there are many Google Advertisers targeting customers and clients in those countries.
On the other hand, Google Advertisers targeting customers and clients in Cameroon, will be expected to pay a low cost per click owing to the fact that there are very few Google Advertisers targeting the Cameroon market.
Where will Google Place my Ad after paying for Google Ads in Cameroon???
After you have created your Google Ad campaign and set up payment on the Google Ads platform, your Ad will appear on the first page of Google search results whenever Google users in your target country, search your target keyword(s).
If your Ad couldn’t get a spot on the Google search result (due to high competition for your target keywords), Google will place your Ad on relevant YouTube videos and on Google partner blogs/websites.
How to pay for Google Ads in Cameroon (Google Ads Payment methods in Cameroon and Requirements)
To pay for Google Ads in Cameroon, you will need the following things;
1) A Debit Card
2) Google Account (Gmail account)
As of March 17th, 2021, Google Ads only accepts payments from Cameroon based advertisers via debit cards only.
Does Google Ads accept virtual credit cards and Prepaid Cards???
In an article published on the Google Ads support blog, Google revealed that in addition to regular credit cards, Advertisers can also pay for Google Ads using a one-time use credit card (also known as virtual credit card); which is commonly used as an alternative to physical credit cards when making online payments…adding that Google Ads accepts these credit cards as long as they have a Visa or MasterCard logo.
However in 2018, Google Ads stopped accepting payments from Cameroonians via new prepaid cards and virtual credit cards (also known as virtual credit card).
A few days ago, i personally tried to pay for a Google Ad campaign for a client using the UBA Africard prepaid card but received an error message which says “UNABLE TO COMPLETE TRANSACTION, PREPAID CARDS CAN’T BE USED” as seen in the screenshot below.
In response to a twitter user who frowned at the fact that prepaid cards are no longer accepted on Google Ads, Google Ad support said (in a tweet) that in the past, prepaid cards have proven to be an unreliable payment method. Hence, due to security reasons, new prepaid cards are no longer accepted on Google Ads…adding that this shouldn’t affect the prepaid cards that are already being used in an Ads account. In other words those who already linked their prepaid card or virtual credit card to the Google Ads account are still allowed to use their card for payment despite the ban.
The above tweet insinuates that any Cameroonian who is planning to get either a prepaid card or a virtual credit card (this 2021), to pay for Google Ads, will end up wasting his or her hard earned money as it will be impossible to use a new prepaid card or virtual credit card to issue payment on Google Ads.
Like i mentioned earlier, in addition to a debit card, you will also need a Google account to be able to run google ads in Cameroon. If you already have a Gmail account, YouTube channel, have access to the Google Play store or have blogger account, then you already have a Google account. You can use that same Google account to create your Google Ads account in Cameroon.
If you already have the things listed above, then you are ready to launch a Google Ad campaign and drive tons of quality traffic to your website.
How to run a Google Ads Campaign in Cameroon.
One of the reasons why Google Ads is considered as the best online advertising platform, is the fact that Google has made it very easy for Advertisers launch an Ad campaign on the Google Ads platform. Within 15 minutes, you can set up a Google Ad campaign on the Google Ads platform as the platform is self-explanatory,
Follow the simple procedures below to set your first Google Ad campaign in Cameroon.
1) Visit the Google Ads platform via this link https://ads.google.com/home/
2) On the Google Ads platform, click on the Start now button and account.
3) After you have clicked the Start Now button, you will be prompted to choose the Gmail account that you will like to create your Google Ads account with. After you have chosen the Gmail account, your Google Ads account will be created “automatically” and you will be taken to your Google Ads account dashboard where you can start creating your first Google Ad campaign.
4) On your Google Ads account dashboard, you will be expected to choose your main advertising goal to begin creating your first Google Ad campaign on the Google Ads platform.
There are 3 main advertising goals you can choose from on the Google Ads platform.
What is your main advertising goal??? Do you wish to…
*** Get more calls ???
*** Get more website sales or sign-ups done ???
*** Get more visits to your physical location ???
Choose your advertising goal based on your need.
In my case, i wish to drive traffic to my website to get more sales or sign-ups done, so I’m going to choose the second option as seen in the screenshot below.
5) Enter your Business name
In this step, you will be expected to enter your business name. Simply enter your business name (brand name) and click next to proceed to the next phase.
6) Enter the link to a post or page on your website or blog that you will like Google to send traffic to.
Consider what you’re advertising, and enter the most relevant page of your website. This might be your homepage, or a more specific page.
In my case, i wish to drive traffic to a post on my blog; where web visitors will be able to learn how to fund a Perfect money account in Cameroon. So I’m going to paste the link to the post in the provided area as shown in the screenshot below.
7) In this step, Google will show you how the page will look like on web users browser when they arrive on the page or blog post you wish to drive traffic to.
If the page looks good on the mobile and desktop preview, click NEXT to proceed to the next phase.
If the page (that you wish to drive traffic to) doesn’t look good on one of the devices, then it would be advisable to hire a web designer to work on the design of your website to make it Mobile responsive so as to give your web visitors a nice browsing experience.
For those of you who don’t know, poorly designed websites increase the bounce rate of websites i.e. when many people arrive at a poorly designed website, they simply click the back button to go back to Google without bothering to check the content of the page.
The good news is, nowadays its very easy to get a well designed mobile responsive website thanks to the existence of WordPress themes. Get a well designed conversion-focused WordPress theme and install it on your blog to give your website a professional look prior to launching your first Google Ad campaign.
8) Write your Google Ad.
This is the phase where Google Advertisers write the Google Ad which appears on the Google search results, YouTube videos and Google Adsense partner websites/blogs.
Its very easy to write your Google Ad.
Simply write your heading 1, 2 and 3 and description 1 and 2
Ok after you have written your Google Ad, click on the NEXT button to proceed to the next step….
9) Choose your Target Keywords
After you have successfully written your Google Ad, in the next phase, you will be expected to choose your target keywords.
Your target keywords are the keywords that you want your Google Ad to appear on the first page of Google search result for, whenever they are searched.
For example, i would target the 9 keywords listed below because they are relevant to my Ad and as such all the Google users using the keywords below are my target audience and will likely be interested in my product or service as my goal is to get traffic to post on my blog about funding Perfect Money account.
I find the following keywords relevant to the post…
How to fund perfect money account in Cameroon.
How to credit perfect money account in Cameroon
How can i fund my perfect money account in Cameroon
How to create perfect money account in Cameroon
How to create a perfect money account in Cameroon
How to open perfect money account in Cameroon
Perfect Money Cameroon
Fund perfect money in Cameroon
Perfect Cameroon Cameroon sign up
To get quality traffic from Google; that you can easily convert to paying customers, you will need to choose highly targeted/specific keywords that will bring just your specific audience to your website and not random visitors.
Most inexperience Google Advertisers often ignore the specific keywords and go for the broad keywords with huge search volume.
Its better to get 100 web visitors per day, who will end up buying your products or service than getting 100,000 irrelevant visitors who may not be interested in your products or services.
Like i mentioned earlier, when web visitors come to your website and don’t purchase anything, you lose money as Google charges Advertisers using a Pay Per Click billing method.
Somebody may likely want to ask, How do i know the keywords used by my target audience???
You can use the keyword research tools to find relevant keywords that are being used by your target audience so you can target those specific keywords.
One of the free keyword research tool i often use to find relevant keywords (especially the longtail keywords), is the keyword research tool available at keywordtool.io.
On the Keyword tool, you just need to enter a keyword word idea in the search bar and click search….and the keyword tool will give you tons of keywords related to the keyword idea as seen in the screenshot below.
From the suggested keywords, pick the very specific keywords and target those keywords.
Ok after you have entered your target keywords, click on the NEXT button to proceed to the next phase…
10) Choose your Target Location(s)
Your target location is the area where your target audience are residing.
If your product or service is tailored to Cameroonians, then your target location should be Cameroon.
In my case, the post i wish to send traffic to, is relevant to Cameroonians, so i will choose Cameroon as my target location.
It should be noted that if you choose a particular country/countries as your target location(s), your Google Ad will only be displayed on the Google search result whenever people residing in your target location(s) use one of your target keywords.
So only the people in Cameroon will view and click on my Google Ad because i choose Cameroon as my target location.
You can target many countries if your product or service is relevant to people in different countries.
Ok after you have chosen your target location(s), simply click on NEXT to proceed to the next phase.
11) Set your Google Ad budget
Your Google Ad budget is the maximum amount you are willing to invest in a particular Google Ad campaign.
For example you may decide to set a budget of $100 maximum for your Ad campaign.
With $100 set as your Ad budget, Google will divide the Ad budget by 30 (for 30days) and $3.3 will be your daily Ad budget for a period of 30 days…and your Ad will stop running after you have reached your set budget limit ($100).
Google often recommend 3 ad budget options for you to choose from as seen in the screenshot below.
It’s adviseable to choose among the recommended budget options or set a higher budget as the recommended budget options are budgets which Google has determine that it will enable you to outbid other advertisers (competitors) who are competing for a spot on the Google search results for your targeted keywords.
In other words, Budget recommendations help you stay competitive with other businesses looking to reach the same customers.
However if you are working on a tight budget, you can enter your own custom budget.
Like i mentioned earlier, if you set a low budget, you may not be able to get a spot on the Google search result. Instead your Google Ad will be placed on relevant YouTube videos and Google partner sites/blog.
NOTE : Traffic from YouTube and Google Adsense partner sites don’t convert like traffic from the search engines hence its always advisable to go with the recommended Ads budget to secure a spot on the search results for your target keywords.
12) Review your Google Ad before issuing Payment for it to go live.
This is the second to the last phase.
At this phase, you will be expected to review your Ad campaign to ensure that you entered every information correctly before issuing payment for the Ad to start appearing on Google search result, YouTube and Google Adsense partner sites/blogs.
After checking your Ad, if everything is OK, simply click on the NEXT button to proceed to the last step.
13) The Payment phase (the last step)
At this step you will be expected to link a credit card or debit card to your Google Ads account for your Google ad to start running.
Google charges(bills) Cameroonians for their Ad campaigns using the automatic billing method.
With the automatic payment option, your credit card or debit card will be debited automatically after 30 days (you will be charged by monthly invoicing).
At this phase you will be expected to enter your debit card details.
After you have entered your credit card details, your Ad will start running after about 4 hours time as Google will need to review your Ad before it can start running. If your Ad is approved by the Google Ads team, it will start running and you will notice and increase in traffic and sales.
Google Ads VS Facebook Ads in Cameroon
One of the questions i get asked often by Cameroonian internet entrepreneurs is, should i run ads on Google or Facebook???
Judging from my experience as an internet entrepreneur who has run ads on the two platforms, i can authoritatively say that Google Ads is a far better advertising platform than Facebook…. as I and other online advertisers in Cameroon, have noticed that traffic from Google converts better than traffic from Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms.
Facebook Advertising can be likened to the type of advertising done by the salesguys and saleswomen in Cameroon who go on knocking on the doors of random people in an attempt to persuade them to buy products. These people may or may not end up purchasing their products. Some people don’t even give the sales guys one minute of their time.
Summarily, with Facebook ads your Ads will be shown to people who have no buying intent.
However Facebook has made it possible for Advertisers to target audience based on their interest in an attempt to boost the conversion rate of their traffic.
Nevertheless conversion rate is still low as the Facebook users have no buying intent i.e. people go to Facebook to connect with friends and family without expecting to purchase an item on the platform.
On the other hand, traffic from Google has a high conversion rate as Google is often visited by people with buying intent. For example if you wish to know where to buy a laptop in Cameroon, do you go to Facebook or Google???
If your website is visited by people who have made up their minds to purchase your product, all you need is a payment processor on your site for them to issue payment (without you answering tons of questions as with Facebook traffic)
However, you can effectively leverage Facebook Ads by targeting people with interests in similar brands as your product and optimize your website to convert those people to your customers.
The only disadvantage of Google Ads is the fact that its cost per click is high for most keywords (especially the buying keywords)
However if you target the low competition keywords (especially the longtail keywords), you will pay less and easily get a spot on the search results for those keywords.
To achieve a good result when advertising on the two online advertising platform, you will need to keep the info below at the center of your mind.
- On Google Ads you target relevant keywords.
- On Facebook Ads you target people based on interest.
Like i mentioned earlier, to be able to make a lot sales from paid traffic, you will need to optimize your website for conversion or else you will end up wasting your money.
Ok we have come to the end of this article. If you have any question, don’t hesitate to send me a message on WhatsApp.
If you also want me to run a Google Ads campaign for you (for a little token) you can WhatsApp me.
If you need a web designer to design you a conversion focus website, hire me and i will design you a website that will help you maximize your paid traffic.
