You provide your knowledge in nutrition as a service. At the same time, many individuals in your city are looking exactly for what you offer. But, how can you reach them and offer your advice?
If you are new to marketing it may be best to start with our marketing for nutritionists guide. Otherwise, read on for tips on Google ads specifically.
Imagine that someone is asking Google for exactly what you offer. Wouldn’t it be great to be amongst the first few results? This article will help you leverage Google Adwords as a nutritionist.
How to rank high in Google
There are basically three ways to show up at the top in Google:
- Long-term organic ranking via SEO
- Paid advertising: i.e. Google Adwords
- Being friends with the CEO of Google.
Obviously the third alternative is the best! But if you don’t have the option, the other two can work well.
For SEO, you can check this article I wrote about Free Marketing for Nutritionists.
Today’s article revolves around the second way: Paid Advertising in Google.
Who is paid advertising best for?
Before you discard paid advertising completely, please consider the following: schemes such as Adwords are structured in such a way that users profit more than they spend. Otherwise nobody would use them!
You probably get clients currently via different channels: referrals, online marketing, etc. Perhaps Google Adwords can be a nice addition to get some extra cashflow.
That said, Adwords will probably work best for you if you meet this conditions:
- You tend to maintain long-term relationships with clients
- You have few clients, and charge a high price; as opposed to having many clients, but charging a small amount each.
- You have a great website, where potential customers can book a consultation with you
You can easily get a $75 voucher for Adwords (search for it in Google) to get started. So that’s an easy way to try it and see if it works for you.
How does it work?
You choose keywords that are relevant to your nutrition practice, or to the services you offer. A few examples could be:
- nutritional therapist in Chicago
- weight loss consultant in Brighton
- wellness coach in Melbourne
Once you’ve chosen your keywords, your ad will show to people searching for them. Check out the example below of Google Adwords advertising themselves to see how an ad looks like.
What are the costs?
The most common strategy is that you Pay Per Click (PPC). This means that every time a visitor reaches your website via Adwords, you will be charged a certain amount.
The cost of each click is different each time, depending on a variety of factors. You can limit the cost by setting a cap i.e. get only clicks below $2, to ensure your campaign is profitable.
The more clicks, the more customers and the more you pay. If there are no clicks, then you pay nothing. It’s simple.
The biggest advantage of paid advertising in google, is that you will get visitors to your page that are literally looking for what you offer, right now.
On average, if you get enough consultations through paid advertising to compensate for the investment, then it will be profitable.
On the other hand, if you don’t get enough bookings, or clicks are too expensive, then you should probably search elsewhere.
The best way to see if Google Adwords can work for you is to try it with a small budget (using vouchers is ideal). Every case is different and it’s hard to predict beforehand how well it will work for you.
How to get a Google Adwords Account for Nutritionists
Follow these simple steps to get started with your new paid advertising campaign.
Step 1: Search in Google for a free voucher to get started. Don’t worry if you don’t find any, they will probably email you one once you start using the service.
Step 2: Setup an account at Google Adwords. You will have to fill in some basic forms.
Step 3: Configure your campaign and start getting clicks!
Starting a campaign can be done in a few minutes. However, optimising and fine-tuning it so that it yields the best results it’s a longer process.
When configuring a campaign, there are tons of options to choose from, and some non-intuitive settings. Let’s explore some tips to get started.
Starting a Google Adwords Campaign for Nutritionists
Here are some of the things you should pay attention to when creating your campaign. You can take this as a to-do list, and cross out the items as you implement them.
- Setting your Ad, i.e. Lose weight with professional advice from a certified nutritional therapist
- Setting your target keywords. These are the phrases that will trigger your ad when people search in Google.
- Setting negative keywords. These allow your ad to be excluded from searches that you don’t want to show for. They serve to cut costs.
- Choosing which geographical area you want your ads to show in, i.e. your city or district
- Choosing your budget, and maximum Cost Per Click
The bottom line is that you have to imagine who is the ideal person to find you in Google, then setup everything in your campaign to target these particular individuals.
Avoiding major pitfalls
The easiest way to waste your marketing budget is to target the wrong keywords. It doesn’t matter if you get 1,000 clicks if the keywords are not accurate and none of the visitors book in with you. (Well, it does matter… to your wallet).
For example, you shouldn’t target generic keywords such as weight loss. This is because someone searching for weight loss in Google can be interested in a wide range of results: e.g. books, videos, articles about fitness… not necessarily your services.
Generally, the more specific your keywords, the better the results will be. Rather than targeting weight loss, you can target weight loss with a professional nutritionist, and other variations of the phrase.
The goal is to show up in Google for people searching exactly for what you offer. Every click can cost a small fortune, but if 10% of the people that click on your ad book in a consultation, then you just found a gold mine!
Conclusion
Google Adwords can be a great asset in your arsenal of online marketing activities. Bringing in new clients you may otherwise never meet. Many companies benefit from paid advertising, and it is definitely an option to consider for your nutrition practice.
As an example case study, we use Adwords to advertise our nutritionist software. After fine tuning the keywords and campaign parameters, this form of paid advertising is helping us reach more people that can benefit from NutriAdmin.
This article was intended as an introduction to the topic. If you would like me to write about the specifics and step-by-step guidance on how to setup a campaign, let me know in the comments below and I will be more than happy to do it!
Finally, if you enjoyed the article and would like to receive more content like this in your inbox, please subscribe in the yellow box below. You can also check our guide on the top 5 apps for nutritionists and dietitians to continue reading.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
