Module 7 - Advertising - Google Shopping Ads
In Module 6 we worked with images. In this module we will look at images for social media and a little troubleshooting for images that are too small.
Then we’ll jump right into Google Shopping Ads, Merchant Center and Adwords. Hold on to your hat!
Images for Social Media
You are going to need to know what sizes work for social media posts because you will probably be doing a lot of posting of products on social media. See the link below for a list of image sizes for almost all of the social media sites.
Image Sizes for Social Media Cheatsheet
Suggested apps for posting to social media:
9 Apps for posting to social media
Troubleshooting Images
Hopefully you have a good handle now on the topic of image sizes and moving around in Photoshop and some online editing programs.
Small files are the bane of print on demand products. We need enough information to send to the vendor so that they, in turn, can print products that look great and make our customers happy.
Not sure how big your image file should be? Calculate the size of your image file. Chances are if your file is too small you won’t be able to use it for larger products.
Here’s a tip from Gooten:
One size fits most
A great default image size to use is, 6500x6500px at 300dpi or larger. If you’re creating artwork that doesn’t have text, like basic pattern designs or photography, you can use this default size and it’ll work across a large majority of our products. Your image will simply be cropped depending on the aspect ratio of the print area. To further streamline artwork creation, select the pixel dimensions for the largest SKU you’d like to offer in your store. When you upload your artwork, we automatically resize your image to fit the smaller print areas.
It goes without saying, or maybe I should say it a lot, that you should always, always order your own products before you begin selling them to the public. In this way you will know for sure if that image you hoped was big enough really looks good.
Want to make sure your images look great? First use the 200 test. Put your image into any photo editing software and zoom it up to 200%. How does it look? Blurry? Pixelated? If so, go back to the drawing board and reshoot the image or see below for options to increase file size of an image.
Also, open the image in Photoshop and choose View/Print Size. This will show the image at the print resolution.
As a last resort you can try enlarging the image with an online photo editor. This isn’t the best option because nine times out of ten you will not get the quality that you really need.
You can give these online editors a try.
A list of online photo enlargement sites. I have not used these.
As a very last resort, you can redesign the smaller image into a larger image. You might be able to create a repeating pattern or a “jigsaw” puzzle effect with the image depending on how graphic it is. Below is an example of a redesign using a graphic image. This won’t work on all images unfortunately, and is best used on images that are graphic.
Photoshp Hack to Enlarge Images
In this next section we are going to dive deep into the Google Shopping App. I firmly believe that Google has it over Facebook hands down when it comes to getting traffic to your store. That being said, we will also look at Facebook and Instagram advertising in the next module.
Follow along with the videos below and watch them completely through a couple of times. Take notes. It’s a lot to take in. Just work at your own pace and tackle Google Shopping Ads in small chunks.
Google Shopping Ads Part One
In Part One we will just set up the Merchant Center Account and the Adwords Account.
Google Shopping Ads Part Two
In Part Two we go through setting up the products for Google Shopping, Google Shopping Fields and creating a shopping campaign.
Help documents from Shopify
Download the Google Shopping Fields Document.
Set up the Google Shopping App
Set Up Your Merchant Center Account
Set up Your Google Adwords Account
Help for products without a GTIN
Print on Demand products without an identifier
Your homework this week:
Both #1 and #2 require that you remove the password from your store. If you’re not ready to go live, just put these on the back burner and return to them in a couple of weeks.
Review both Google Ads videos above. Become familiar with the information.
Fill out the information for your products’ Google Shopping Fields. You can only fill out Google Shopping fields for products that are available on the Google Shopping channel. You may want to wait until your store goes live to do this. See #3 below.
If you are ready for your store to be live: setup your Google Merchant Account and your Adwords account. You must have a gmail address to set these up. This requires that you take the password off of your store. You may opt to do this later.
Get a couple of social media images ready to post when your store opens.