How to Create High-Converting YouTube Ads: Best Practices & Things To Avoid

Summary

In this video, Michelle B from Learn with Shopify VOS discusses the top six mistakes to avoid when running YouTube ads. She emphasizes the high conversion rates possible with YouTube ads, typically over 12%, and advises on proper conversion tracking setup, allowing sufficient data collection time, creating effective landing pages, and analyzing ad performance to optimize campaigns. Michelle also stresses the importance of ad creative and budget management, suggesting a five-part ad structure and testing different ad variations for better results.

Takeaways

• 🔍 YouTube ads can offer a conversion rate of over 12%, which is significantly higher than the 1-3% average for e-commerce pages according to Google Analytics.
• 🌐 Advertising on YouTube provides massive reach due to its large audience base of billions of users.
• 🎯 Targeted advertising on YouTube allows you to strategically choose your audience based on demographics, interests, viewing history, and more.
• 👀 YouTube's audience is highly engaged, increasing the chances of your ad being seen and remembered compared to other platforms.
• 🛠️ Ensure conversion tracking is set up correctly when running YouTube ads to accurately measure performance and ROI.
• 📈 Start with broad targeting to gather data, then refine your audience targeting based on campaign insights to improve ad effectiveness.
• 🕒 Be patient and give your ad campaigns enough time to gather data for optimization; don't expect immediate results.
• 📱 Make sure your landing page is optimized for sales, is mobile-friendly, and highlights benefits over features to avoid losing potential customers.
• 🔍 Analyze your funnel to identify where people are dropping off and optimize your messaging and offer for improved conversion rates.
• 🎯 If your campaigns are running out of budget and performing well, consider increasing your budget to scale your ads effectively.
• 📊 Test different ad variations to find what works best, and structure your ads with a hook, promise, call to action, proof, and a repeated call to action.

Q & A

What is the average good conversion rate for a YouTube ad campaign?

A good conversion rate for a YouTube ad campaign is usually over 12%, according to LinkedIn.

What are the advantages of advertising on YouTube?

Advertising on YouTube offers several advantages such as a high conversion rate, massive reach due to billions of users, targeted advertising capabilities, and a highly engaged audience.

Why is YouTube's audience considered highly engaged compared to other platforms?

Unlike other platforms where users might be multitasking or mindlessly scrolling, YouTube's audience is highly engaged, often watching with full attention, which increases the chances of ads being seen and remembered.

What is the first thing to check when setting up YouTube ads to ensure proper conversion tracking?

When setting up YouTube ads, the first thing to check is the Google Tag Manager tags and conversion tracking pixels to ensure they log whenever a user completes a desired action.

How can one test if conversion tracking is set up correctly on their YouTube ads?

One can test conversion tracking using Google Tag Assistant or by simulating conversions to ensure data is flowing correctly between the website, Google Tag Manager, and Google Ads.

Why is it important to give YouTube ad campaigns enough time and data collection?

It is important to give YouTube ad campaigns enough time and data collection to allow the algorithm to gather data on who responds best to the ads and to optimize the ads accordingly.

What should one do to ensure their landing page is optimized for sales?

To ensure a landing page is optimized for sales, one should highlight benefits over features, use high-quality videos, catchy headlines, subheads, and avoid massive paragraphs. Adding testimonials, ratings, and reviews can also add credibility.

What does the presenter suggest to do when analyzing data to improve conversion rates?

When analyzing data to improve conversion rates, one should look to their funnel to see where people are dropping off and then make optimizations to their messaging and offer.

Why might a YouTube ad campaign be running out of budget?

A YouTube ad campaign might be running out of budget because it has the potential to scale, and YouTube will spend the budget to continue making the ads successful by hitting the CPA targets.

What structure should ads follow to make great ad creative?

Ads should follow a five-part structure: hook, promise, call to action, proof, and call to action again.

What is the significance of the presenter's personal story about playing pickleball?

The presenter's personal story about playing pickleball serves as a metaphor for being open to learning and improving, which is a theme that can be applied to optimizing YouTube ads by being receptive to feedback and making adjustments.

Outlines

00:00

🎯 YouTube Ads Optimization Tips

Michelle B introduces a video discussing common mistakes to avoid when running YouTube ads. She emphasizes the high conversion rates possible with YouTube ads, often exceeding 12%, and compares this to the 1-3% rate for e-commerce pages on Google Analytics. Michelle highlights the platform's advantages, such as its massive reach and the ability to target specific demographics and interests. She also points out the high engagement level of YouTube's audience, which is more likely to pay full attention to ads. The video promises a ranking system to guide viewers through tips, starting with the basics of setting up conversion tracking correctly using Google Tag Manager and ensuring that conversion actions are well-defined.

05:02

🌟 Maximizing YouTube Ad Effectiveness

In this section, Michelle discusses the importance of allowing sufficient time and data collection for YouTube ads to be effective. She advises starting with broad targeting to gather data and then refining the audience based on campaign insights. The summary also touches on the need for patience, as immediate results are not expected, and the algorithm requires time to learn and optimize. Michelle also stresses the importance of having a strong landing page that is optimized for sales, highlighting the need to focus on benefits rather than features, and to include high-quality videos, catchy headlines, and customer testimonials.

10:05

🚀 Advanced YouTube Ad Strategies

Michelle shares a personal anecdote about learning to play pickleball and uses it as a metaphor for being open to advice and learning, which transitions into a reminder about the Shopify free trial for building an online store. She reiterates the importance of the channel's focus on learning with Shopify and encourages viewers to subscribe for more content. The summary wraps up with a light-hearted life update and a reminder about the free trial offer, maintaining a personal and engaging tone throughout.

Keywords

💡YouTube Ads

YouTube Ads are a form of online advertising where businesses pay to have their promotional content displayed on YouTube. In the script, Michelle discusses the effectiveness of YouTube ads and how to optimize them for better results. The video's theme revolves around maximizing the potential of YouTube Ads for business growth.

💡Conversion Rate

Conversion Rate refers to the percentage of users who complete a desired action after viewing an advertisement, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. The script mentions that a good conversion rate for YouTube ads is over 12%, which is significantly higher than the 1 to 3% often seen in e-commerce through Google Analytics.

💡Targeted Advertising

Targeted Advertising involves showing ads to specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. The script highlights the advantage of YouTube's ability to allow advertisers to strategically choose who they advertise to, ensuring that ads are shown to the most relevant viewers.

💡Engagement

Engagement in the context of YouTube refers to the level of interaction and attention users give to content. The script notes that YouTube's audience is highly engaged, often watching with full attention, which increases the chances of ads being seen and remembered.

💡Conversion Tracking

Conversion Tracking is the process of monitoring the actions users take after viewing an ad to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. In the script, Michelle emphasizes the importance of setting up conversion tracking correctly to ensure accurate data on ad performance.

💡Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager is a tool that allows businesses to manage and deploy website tags (snippets of code) without having to modify the website's code. The script mentions using Google Tag Manager to set up conversion tracking pixels, which log actions taken by users that indicate a conversion.

💡Data Collection

Data Collection in the context of YouTube ads refers to gathering information about how users interact with ads to optimize future campaigns. The script advises giving campaigns enough time and budget to collect data, which is crucial for determining ad effectiveness and making necessary adjustments.

💡Landing Page

A Landing Page is the web page that users land on after clicking an advertisement. The script stresses the importance of having a high-quality, optimized landing page that can convert visitors into customers, as a weak landing page can lead to lost sales.

💡Optimization

Optimization in the context of YouTube ads involves making adjustments to improve ad performance. The script discusses analyzing data to identify areas for improvement and making targeted changes to messaging, offers, and other elements to increase conversion rates.

💡Ad Creative

Ad Creative refers to the design and content of an advertisement. The script suggests that a compelling ad creative is crucial for engaging viewers and driving conversions. It mentions structuring ads with a hook, promise, call to action, proof, and a repeated call to action.

💡Budget Management

Budget Management in YouTube ads involves allocating funds to campaigns effectively. The script advises against pausing campaigns that are running out of budget, as this can be a sign that the campaign has potential to scale if given more budget.

Highlights

Top six things to avoid when running YouTube ads

Good conversion rate for YouTube ad campaigns is usually over 12%

YouTube allows for massive reach with billions of users

Targeted advertising lets you choose specific demographics and interests

High audience engagement on YouTube increases ad visibility and memorability

Ensure conversion tracking is set up correctly before running ads

Test conversion tracking using Google Tag Assistant or simulate conversions

Give your ad campaigns enough time and budget to collect data

Start with broad targeting to gather data, then refine your audience

Ensure your landing page is optimized for sales and conversions

Highlight benefits over features on landing pages to drive positive outcomes

Use high-quality videos, catchy headlines, and concise text on landing pages

Add credibility with testimonials, ratings, and reviews on landing pages

Analyze your funnel to see where people are dropping off and optimize accordingly

Michael's story: adjusting ad creatives to reduce click-away rates

Consider Shopify for building an online store to sell products and services

Ad creative should follow a five-part structure: hook, promise, call to action, proof, and call to action again

Don't pause campaigns that are running out of budget, as it may indicate potential to scale

Test different ad variations to see what performs best

Write headlines that evoke emotion and urgency

Michelle B's personal life update and reminder about the Shopify free trial

Transcripts

you're running YouTube ads and they're

not working or you're thinking of

running YouTube ads but before you start

dumping in your hard-earned cash you

want to make sure you know what you're

doing reasonable well in this video

we're going to talk about the top six

things that you want to avoid when

running YouTube ads my name is Michelle

B you're watching learn with Shopify Vos

let's get into

[Music]

it there are several advantages to

advertising on YouTube making it a

powerful tool whether you're a one show

or you're running a large business so

what benefits can you expect when

running YouTube ads okay so you'll be

happy to know that a good conversion

rate for an e-commerce page when looking

at Google analytics is often 1 to 3% for

a YouTube ad campaign a good conversion

rate is usually over 12% this is

according to LinkedIn and I think that

this speaks a lot to the power that this

advertising platform can harness as a

business advertising on YouTube can be

so beneficial because it allows for

massive reach YouTube has a hug huge

audience with billions of users logging

on every month so it is a great platform

to get your business in front of a large

audience but not just any large audience

you can strategically choose who you'll

advertise to with targeted advertising

right down to the specific demographics

and interests and even viewing history

and the types of videos they typically

watch one thing that I love about

YouTube advertising is that unlike any

other platforms the audience is highly

engaged with other platforms a user

might be multitasking or maybe they're

like mindlessly scrolling but YouTube's

audience is so dialed in to the point

where they're on the couch with their

full attention on the screen this

increases the chances of your ad being

seen and remembered some of you guys

seem to like the ranking system in my

last video um we went from easiest to

hardest tips ranked by hot peppers the

harder the tip the higher the heat so

we're going to do that again in this

video starting with the easy stuff we're

going to start off nice and easy guys so

this first tip she is a red bell pepper

no spice whatsoever when you're setting

up your YouTube ads you want to make

sure that your conversion tracking is

set up right imagine setting this up

wrong and not having the right

information about how your ads are

performing and the ROI that would not be

good there is money involved here okay

guys so we want to make sure that we're

setting this up to Perfection so the

main things we want to check are that

one we have our Google tag manager tags

these conversion tracking pixels log

whenever a user completes a desired

action and how Google knows what a

desired action is is through conversion

actions so number two you want to make

sure that you have these set up and then

Google understands whether you want a

purchase or a sign up or whatever but

make sure sure sure sure that everything

is good and in working order before so

you want to test your work test your

conversion tracking using Google tag

assistant or simulate conversions to

ensure that data is Flowing correctly

between your website GTM and Google ads

red bell pepper done guys the other day

actually I realized realized that red

yellow and orange bell peppers taste the

exact same I did I closed my eyes and

they were the exact same I thought red

was my favorite but all along it turns

out that we're living in The Matrix

anyone ever noticed that let me know

guys in the comment section down below

okay we're turning up the heat for this

one okay guys this next one is a

shashido pepper guys one in every 10 are

spicy did you know that it's like a

roulette okay focus Michelle the reason

that your YouTube ads might not be

working is because you might not have

enough data maybe you run your ads for a

little while and then you're like ah

you're scared you know you get nervous

you turn them off if you're not giving

your campaigns enough time or spending

enough money to collect that data that

is needed then unforge YouTube can't

determine if your ads are effective and

optimize accordingly you know what I

mean the YouTube ads won't be able to

add so how do you make sure that you

give it enough data okay first you want

to try starting with broad targeting

wider audience targeting options allow

the algorithm to gather data on who

responds best to your ads after you let

that run and you have some data in the

bank you can refine your targeting then

at this phase use insights from your

campaign reports to segment your

audience based on demographics interests

and behaviors this allows you to focus

your ads on users that are most likely

to convert you want to be patient you

want to give a time okay party people

don't be expecting a barn burner on the

first day of running your ads did I just

say barn burner who talks like this but

don't expect immediate results is

basically what I'm trying to say it

takes time for the algorithm to gather

data and to learn what works best for

your specific campaign is anyone feeling

the heat a little bit it's getting a

little spicier in here o laa okay so we

just jumped to a Sano pepper now when I

was a we thing I tried my first sweet

chili heat Dorito have you guys ever

tried those uh I was like 10 so

naturally I coughed from the spice and I

just remember my dad cracking up that

was not the Mexican he raised me to be

not handling a Dorito no sir and I have

not coughed from spice since that day so

before running your ads you want to make

sure that your landing page is perfect

perfect perfect because if you have a

killer ad and then the landing page is

looking weak or like untrustworthy or

like God forbid not mobile optimized

what is this $1 1999 our potential

customers might just you know get the

ick they might leave and we want to make

sure that we're not losing money so you

want to avoid not having a good landing

page that is optimized for sales this

this and this are all examples of strong

landing pages this is not this is not

this is not so how can you make landing

pages that look like this and not like

this highlight benefits not just

features like focus on the why so

instead of listing features like this

water bottle is compact you want to

emphasize the benefits and the positive

outcomes users will experience like this

water bottle is the perfect cup holder

size so you'll never have a spill again

oh you see we're bringing up the spice

that one was just off the Dome I like

that also you want high quality videos a

super catchy headline and subhead and

guys while we're speaking of text no

massive paragraphs now I know that's so

hard because we just have so much we

want to say but you want to keep it

Point form and of course add

testimonials ratings and reviews to add

credibility it might be your landing

page that is hindering your sales so if

you keep those tips in mind you'll be

great heat up chocolate habanero that

sounds literally delicious but this one

is spicy because it's not cut and dry

guys it's not step by step you need to

be a problem solver and an analyzer you

have to let the data tell you a story so

the tip is this you must look to your

funnel to see where people are dropping

off then you want to make optimizations

to your messaging and offer for improved

conversion rates for example let's say

Michael is a fitness Enthusiast and he's

determined to grow his YouTube channel

let's pretend he's super excited to have

invested in creating YouTube ads and

initially Michael was happy with number

of clicks he had generated but upon

closer inspection of the data he

realized that viewers were clicking away

just seconds into the ad before even

seeing the full messaging about his

program so now it's up to Mike to infer

why these people are clicking away he

thought maybe the moves I'm showing at

the beginning of the ad look too hard

and beginners are intimidated so he

created a new ad that started by

acknowledging the challenges that

beginners face with that Mike was able

to significantly reduce the clickaway

rate and increase the number of viewers

who watch the entire ad so you can see

why this could be hard you know

sometimes it's hard to tell with

certainty what the issue is and often

it's not going to be something that you

can even Google right you need to use

your common sense and experience to make

your ads better over time the key is to

find one thing at a time that you want

to improve and use your best guess as to

what might be causing you issues do this

by pulling one lever at a time so that

you can be sure that that lever that you

pulled was directly correlated with the

outcome pull the lever grun wrong l

if you're using YouTube ads you might

have something to sell just a guess and

if you have something to sell but aren't

selling online yet then you might want

to consider Shopify so Shopify is an

online store Builder that helps you sell

products and services to anyone anywhere

in the world so if that sounds good to

you I will leave you guys the link for a

free trial in the description box the

trial truly is free and it'll let you

play around so that you can see if you

like it but yeah guys this is a Shopify

power Channel which is why I bring it up

but not even the only reason I bring it

up because I personally like it I

recommend it to my friends and family

and I personally just think it's a great

product so yeah free trial in the

description box okay back to it the ad

creative might not be hitting and this

next tip on how to make great ad

creative is a Carolina Reaper okay guys

not for the Fain of heart because we are

back in subjective land if you're seeing

that your campaigns are running out of

budget if you can help it try not to

pause it even though it might feel scary

one of the best signs that your campaign

has the potential to scale is that that

the only thing that's holding it back is

budget limitations or in other words if

you could put more money into the

campaign YouTube will spend it to

continue to make your ads Successful by

hitting your CPA targets at that point

YouTube is going to give you

recommendations for what you should

increase your budget to of course up to

you to decide whether you have cash flow

to support these suggestions but rule of

thumb is you want to spend money on the

campaigns that are making you money

structure so ads should follow a

five-part structure hook promise call to

action proof and call to action again

length of your video matters check your

data to see where people are dropping

off and that will indicate where your

audience attention span lies and of

course testing it's important to test

different variations of your ad to see

what performs best be mindful also how

you write your headlines you can call

out a duration like see results in 28

days and in your headlines you can speak

to a benefit as well so like lose weight

gain muscle for example use a power word

or power words like uh challenge

transformation these are going to evoke

emotion and urgency and that is a wrap

that is a chicken Caesar wrap hold the

hot peppers because we're tapped out and

hold the chicken too because I don't

like chicken unless it's fried speaking

of fried guys the other day I absolutely

fried my body so okay I have been

obsessed with pickle ball fastest

growing sport in America and the other

day I was on the court for it was 2

hours so I got paired up with a

gentleman and he started telling me how

to play okay and at first I was like I

was annoyed right I got into feminist

mode but then I was like to myself okay

listen he's just trying to help and I

was like okay lean into it lean into it

this could be good and I did I fully

leaned into it because the next thing

you know two hours go by and this

retired tennis teacher was basically

giving me a free lesson he was like use

your core can you guys picture this he

was like use your core and I was like

that means nothing to me but then like

two hours later I was in fact using my

core and my skills just went up okay

guys that was my life update that was

fun um gentle reminder that the Shopify

free trial is in the description box if

you want to get started building your

very own online store learn with Shopify

is the name of this channel Michelle Bal

is the name that my parents gave me love

that we got to hang this week and if you

guys want to hang next week as well hit

subscribe and I will see you then peace

[Music]