From personal experience, I can say that Google Ads is an extremely powerful way to sell your dropshipping products online. However, it is much different from Facebook or TikTok ads.
Here is a wonderful learning experience for you from someone who has used Google Ads to sell over $300k worth of products using a simple strategy.
Most of the time, these strategies are simple but you still have to learn them. And, because many people say it’s too simple to be true, they go ahead and complicate things to the point where it doesn’t even make sense to work.
So, let’s see who James Hudson is and what you can learn from this story.
Who Is James Hudson?
James Hudson is just a simple man who knows how to use Shopify and Google Ads to make money. He is also one of the people who has realized that it’s way easier to make money by selling some type of course or mentorship than it is with dropshipping.
But, in any case, James appears to know what he is talking about when it comes to Google Ads. Because of this, we’re going to give him a chance. Much of the knowledge he shares is free.
NOTE: Even when you find free knowledge, you shouldn’t listen to everyone. Sometimes, you waste a much more valuable resource, which is time. Join my newsletter if you don’t want to waste your time and learn from people who know their stuff, for free.
In this case, James is selling a course for using AI and Google Ads knowledge to scale dropshipping brands. The course costs $199 which is nothing too crazy, unlike many dropshipping gurus who scam beginners out of thousands of dollars when their knowledge is worth a couple of hundred dollars at best.
I have no affiliation with this course or James in any way, so let’s move on to his actual teachings when it comes to making lots of money with Google Ads dropshipping.
Google Ads and Dropshipping
James says:
“Google ads dropshipping is in my opinion the last remaining unsaturated dropshipping strategy.”
Whether or not he is right isn’t really important. What’s important is that if you do it right, it works extremely well. I, and many others, can agree with this.
He also says that if you get a store working on Google Ads, it works for years, unlike Facebook or TikTok ads. In my opinion, this isn’t always true. There are countless factors that can affect your success but Google Ads can be more stable.
Alright, let’s get into the step-by-step process that James has to share.
Step 1: Find a “Visual Product” Niche
James advises that you find products that are easy to look at and that people will recognize and know what they are instantly when they see them.
His favorite niches are home products and fashion.
Once you find a product like this, you only need to run Google Shopping ads. These are simple ads that you see on Google when you search for a specific product.
An amazing thing about Google Ads is that people come with intent. They are already in a buying mood and they know what they’re looking for.
Your goal is to optimize the ad well enough so that it ranks better and that you offer the best deal compared to your competitors.
With Google Shopping Ads, you don’t need any fancy images, videos, or even copywriting. All you need is a simple, clear image of the product and an excellent keyword structure.
Here’s a more in-depth guide on Google Ads for dropshipping if you want to learn more.
Or…
Let’s move on.
Step 2: Build Collections and Test a Minimum of 30 Products
Even for non-beginners, this requires a bit of further explanation. But trust me, it’s very simple.
Let’s break it down.
Put simply, this step means testing different products. This part requires a lot of research because you need to find amazing products that look great and solve a big problem. In other terms, they should be in demand.
His strategy requires you to test at least 10 products per collection. So, if you’re in the home products niche, some examples of collections are cooking knives, bowls, mugs, and so on.
Once you’ve found your products and organized them in a Google Sheet, you can move on to the next step.
Oh yes, and make sure you’ve opened a supplier like Spocket, CJ Dropshipping, or whatever to see if these products can be sourced for dropshipping.
Step 3: Brand Your Shopify Store
James says that the key to Dropshipping stores that rely on Google Ads is branding.
However, today this is true for any type of dropshipping store you open, regardless of where your traffic is coming from.
With dropshipping getting a bit too famous, good branding is what sets you apart from the rest of the stores that aren’t willing to put in the work.
So, in this step, you need to take your time and focus on the following:
- Making a good logo (keep this simple, clear, and memorable)
- A simple, recognizable brand name
- A solid dot com domain (the shorter the better)
- Organized navigation (make your menus as clean and as organized as possible)
- List all of your contact information, social media, and other info
- High-quality photos (this is crucial)
Hudson says that the product photos are the most important part. And, I can agree with this. You need to ensure they are of the highest quality. If you need to, do some research online on how to upload high-quality photos. There are tons of tricks you can do.
Here, you can find Google’s image requirements and other info.
Step 4: Google Ad Account and Merchant Center Setup
Now, this is going to be the most difficult part of the journey because setting up the ads account and the Merchant Center can be a pain. Their dashboard is complicated and you can get errors that even Google doesn’t know what they mean.
The biggest problem with this part is that most new accounts get disapproved by the Merchant Center. However, you can appeal a couple of times and it magically starts working. Crazy, right?
If you have the time, you can do this yourself. Google guides you along the way but there are some steps that are simply hard to understand since this is completely new to you.
There are two things you can do.
Number 1
If you have $200 to spare, you can buy Hudson’s course and go step by step from there. This method is the fastest and simplest because all of the content inside is tailored specifically for your dropshipping needs.
Number 2
The other option is learning how to set it up for free with YouTube videos and blogs. To save you some trouble, I’ll give you some resources that I find helpful. Check these links here:
- Davie Fogarty’s Google Ads Masterclass (Davie Fogarty is the founder of The Oodie, a multi-million-dollar Shopify brand)
- Google’s Instructions Document on Linking Your Ads Account to the Merchant Center
- Simple Tutorial of Shopping Ads
That’s all you’ll need for setting this up.
Step 5: Launch Your Shopping Campaigns
Now comes the fun part, making and launching your campaigns and waiting for the results.
Here’s how James advises you to do it.
According to him, you should avoid any type of Google Ad other than Shopping Ads. Once you’ve loaded up all the products that you found in Shopify, you need to create a Shopping Ad for each.
Here’s what all of this means.
So, you should set up your campaign and bid $1 cost per click (CPC) or lower. This is a very broad way to do it for all of your product’s keywords, but it seems to work for him since you’re only testing right now.
Your goal is to make your product appear in Google Search when someone searches for it as a Shopping Ad. This is why your images need to be extremely clean and display the product as simply and as clearly as possible.
You’ll understand how to set this up once you watch the videos I listed above or from Hudson’s course.
Now, if one of your products spends $50 and hasn’t made a single sale on your store, you remove it from your ads. After a week or two, you should increase the ad spend on the products that are selling the most. This should result in more sales and more money for you.
Do You Need Help With This?
That’s pretty much it in terms of setting up and starting to learn Google Ads for your Shopify store. This can be a very lucrative source of traffic and customers for your store. Best of all, it brings in customers who are already looking to buy your product.
Now, if you need help with this, I do free consultations for anything related to Shopify, e-commerce, and dropshipping every Thursday at 20:00 CET. You are welcome to join and learn with the others.
Just click the link below and sign up for free.
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