ADVERTISING
Before your first Google Ads campaign: a launch checklist
Prepare the offer, landing page, tracking and follow-up before the first paid visit.
Define a service and a suitable customer
Choose a service you can describe clearly and deliver reliably. Write who it is for, where you can serve customers and what the next step involves. A narrowly defined first campaign is easier to diagnose than one covering every service and location.
Collect the phrases real customers use in enquiries. Separate research questions from urgent buying requests. This helps the campaign brief reflect intent rather than a list of words that merely sound relevant.
Send visitors to an appropriate page
The page should continue the promise made by the advertisement. Include the relevant service, useful detail, honest proof and a clear contact action. A generic homepage may leave visitors searching for the offer they expected.
Open the page on a phone using an ordinary connection. Read the first screen, inspect the form and test every contact link. Check what happens when a field is missing or an upload fails, if uploads are part of the journey.
Verify the conversion rather than the button
Google Ads supports different conversion actions, including website and call-related outcomes. Select the action that reflects your campaign objective and verify that the implementation records it correctly. A button click and a successful enquiry are different events.
Submit a test lead and follow it through the confirmation screen, notification and destination system. Check for duplicates and failed submissions. Do not put personal enquiry details into analytics labels or page URLs.
Agree on limits and responsibilities
Write down the budget limit, launch owner and approval process. Confirm who can pause activity and who reviews customer feedback. Keep media spending separate from management fees so the commercial arrangement is understandable.
Discuss working hours and response capacity. A campaign sending calls to an unattended phone creates a problem that advertising optimisation alone cannot solve.
Make the first review diagnostic
Review whether tracking worked, which requests were relevant and where people abandoned the journey. Check actual enquiries against the intended customer profile. Keep a change log so the next review has context.
Avoid drawing a final conclusion from a handful of interactions. Early learning can reveal broken steps quickly, but commercial performance needs enough relevant evidence and time for the sales process.
PUT IT INTO PRACTICE
Your action checklist
- Approve one clear offer and landing page.
- Test successful and failed form submissions.
- Confirm conversion tracking and notification delivery.
- Name the owner of budget and lead follow-up.
CONNECT THE IDEA TO YOUR BUSINESS
Google Ads
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