Google Ad Words

[cody44]

After much consideration and some research I am now thinking of setting up a Google Ad Words campaign for 3 main websites I have. The question I have is 'Does Google Ad Words still work and is it effective as Google makes us believe?'

I am now searching through Amazon for a few books to purchase to use as reference - anyone recommend any specific authors or books?

Thanks

 

[Shopclicks]

The question I have is 'Does Google Ad Words still work and is it effective as Google makes us believe?'

Google will get people to your sites if you have the budget, the Ads are correctly set up and the campaigns are correctly targeted. How effective the Ads are, depends on what you do with the visitor once they get there.

If the site in your profile is one of the sites you want to advertise, it needs work. In particular, the mobile version.

 

[scstock]

I'm very very sceptical about the benefits of most traditional forms of advertising, but Google Adwords seems to work well for me for one of the product lines I sell.

This product line does however have a clear USP and my company is the exclusive Distributor in the UK.

 

[Erno Horvath]

I wouldn't recommend you to start working on your PPC campaigns completely alone. I'll be more specific later on, but the best books would be:
Perry Marshall - Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords
Brad Geddes - Advanced Google AdWords
also there is an Udemy course 'Ultimate Google AdWords Course 2017' I haven't seen this one, but seems pretty massive, about 20 hours of training.

The problem with the books above are they printed in 2012 and now it's 2017 and Adwords changed a lot, eg: 4 ads on the top & 4 on the bottom, new ad extensions, different ad type etc.

It's good to learn the basic principles, however 20-30% of your budget can be wasted, because you can't use the latest techniques. Like bid differently for different age groups or bid differently for genders, these rolled out about 5 months ago and I bet you can't find these in the books.
So, after you've read through these ones, I suggest to consult someone about the latest changes & best practices.

The one and most important thing from the very beginning is, precise targeting, Adwords is sniper rifle:
keyword - ad text - landing page
should be aligned, if you keep in mind only this advice you'll be on the right track.

Also it depends on many things, your market, your competitors etc, but if you new to Adwords and your competitors are runnings ads for ages they might have vast amount of data like which keywords are working & which not when to advertise etc.
If you don't have to figure out everything alone, I think you can save budget.

 

[cody44]

Google will get people to your sites if you have the budget, the Ads are correctly set up and the campaigns are correctly targeted. How effective the Ads are, depends on what you do with the visitor once they get there.

If the site in your profile is one of the sites you want to advertise, it needs work. In particular, the mobile version.

Thanks Shopclicks................
I am aware that I need to do some work on the mobile version of the platform and will need to consider this prior to implementing the PPC.

 

[cody44]

I'm very very sceptical about the benefits of most traditional forms of advertising, but Google Adwords seems to work well for me for one of the product lines I sell.

This product line does however have a clear USP and my company is the exclusive Distributor in the UK.

Thanks scstock

I understand that Google adwords will work better for a niche market and clear USP - this is my concern and wonder will it work! I am hoping to get a return from the investment but the ROI is a target that I will probably not know until weeks into the campaign.

 

[cody44]

I wouldn't recommend you to start working on your PPC campaigns completely alone. I'll be more specific later on, but the best books would be:
Perry Marshall - Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords
Brad Geddes - Advanced Google AdWords
also there is an Udemy course 'Ultimate Google AdWords Course 2017' I haven't seen this one, but seems pretty massive, about 20 hours of training.

Thanks Erno,

Yes, very aware that these books have a very short 'lifespan' have ordered two books for now and know one of the editions is 17 March 2016.

It will be a case of 'running' as soon as my feet touch the ground - Have known one or two competitors who have used Google Ads and they simple said it did not bring in any additional sales for them. I know there is a right way and a wrong way of applying a campaign such as Google Ads and like the idea of seeing it as a 'sniper rifle' - I know I have to be so specific and already writing notes for specific location and timings of displaying the ads. I know it will not be worth applying the ads over the weekend or after 5:00pm for example. I am looking at my busy periods and know that the morning session is much busier than the afternoon session so this gives me some data to work on.

Thanks

 

[fisicx]

It won't work with your current site. Or more accurately, it won't work as well as it could. You need dedicated adwords landing pages that match exactly the advert. People will already know ehat they want so you just need to sell it to them without all the waffle and with clear calls to action. For example, a phone number in the header is no good, it needs to be in the content and you need a booking form for the hotel manager to fill when you are closed for the weekends.

There are a whole load of other issues with the site, not just the poor mobile experience (it's based on a three year old theme which doesn't help). The way people access the internet these days is different to even a year ago, which means don't bother with adwords until you have updated the site. Join UKBF as a full member and get your site reviewed - you may get depressed at the findings but you should then be able to move forwards and get a great site built ready for your adwords campaign.

Adwords can be very very lucrative of you have the right targets, the right advert and the right landing page. And you do need to run the adverts after 5pm and at weekends. Not everyone will be looking for your services during office hours.

 

[cody44]

It won't work with your current site. Or more accurately, it won't work as well as it could. You need dedicated adwords landing pages that match exactly the advert. People will already know ehat they want so you just need to sell it to them without all the waffle and with clear calls to action. For example, a phone number in the header is no good, it needs to be in the content and you need a booking form for the hotel manager to fill when you are closed for the weekends.

Hi fisicx,

Yes, I do need to stand back and look at the mobile platform and rather than looking at a cheap plugin maybe I need to look at something more responsive and appealing that works across a number of mobile devices! I really didn't think I would be considering this as much before posting....

I have previously been a full member of UKBF a few years ago and accept that there may be many benefits for me to join (probably to be done in the next few days)

I do have a phone number on all the training pages which is placed middle and top of the pages. I do well for most keyword searches on Google which lands on the specific page for the keyword search. I understand what you say about the waffle and sometimes I need to have certain descriptions and course content for them to read. I have reduced a number of content from pages and have just started using MOZ tools to finely tune the content.

Yes, maybe I need to get the site reviewed and endure the depressing period and move on with a completely different outlook!

Thanks again

 

[fisicx]

You don't need a plugin, you just need a responsive theme. But you would need to rethink the navigation system first.

People scan pages which why they (like me) will miss the phone number. And it doesn't help that you list expired courses on the page.

Ignore MOZ, they will send you in the wrong direction. You need lots of content, you just don't need it on the adwords landing pages.

And you need to split the 'at work' and the 'open courses'. They target two different groups so would need two different adverts and keyword sets. That's about as much advice as I can give without reviewing the site. The more I look the more things wrong I can see.

 

[cody44]

You don't need a plugin, you just need a responsive theme. But you would need to rethink the navigation system first.

People scan pages which why they (like me) will miss the phone number. And it doesn't help that you list expired courses on the page.

Ignore MOZ, they will send you in the wrong direction. You need lots of content, you just don't need it on the adwords landing pages.

Hi fisicx,

Have just upgraded membership and as soon as active I think I will put on 'website review'! The course dates will always be hand-balled into the pages and these are updated as often as possible.

Yes, I think I will look at some mobile responsive themes and will get my notebook at hand for making the notes!

 

[cody44]

I think elements of the website may affect the success of the 'ad words' campaign and have just posted for a website review.

Any comments will be welcomed

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/threads/website-review-required.369859/

 

[makeusvisible]

We run Adwords campaigns for many types of client, large, small, lead generation and e-commerce.

I would not advise anyone to delve into Adwords until they know the answer to one simple question;

What is the conversion rate of your website?

A 'conversion' for you might be someone contacting you via an enquiry form (for example).

The answer to this question means everything in terms of calculating if Adwords may work for you, or if it wont....Adwords definitely isn't for everyone.

Imagine for example that your site converts at 5%. We can estimate from Adwords that your average cost-per-click might be £1 (for example). that means for every single enquiry costs you £20 on average.

If your selling mortgages it might be worth £20 per lead.... but if your selling t-shirts it probably isn't. It very much depends on what a lead is worth to you....which incidentally will be the driving force behind the "cost-per-click" you pay on Adwords. I've seen CPCs range from a few pence to £15 per click for finance related keywords.

If you website is brand new, and you don't have a conversion rate, than you will have to keep in mind that your initial couple of months running Adwords may be a market research exercise rather than lead generation... because you simply don't have the stats to do due-diligence.....and it will cost some money on Adwords to generate traffic and build up stats.

Going into Adwords without the help of someone who manages campaigns day-to-day can be a very expensive learning exercise. Adwords is hugely complex, takes a lot of time, and can be an absolute money pit if setup incorrectly.

Best of luck.

 

[cody44]

We run Adwords campaigns for many types of client, large, small, lead generation and e-commerce.

I would not advise anyone to delve into Adwords until they know the answer to one simple question;

What is the conversion rate of your website?

Thanks for the advice,
I think its still possible for an individual to prepare a successful 'Ad Words Campaign' but as you highlighted there is a lot of ground work to do beforehand. Will do the research and read up prior to delving in head first!

 

[StevePoster]

Running a campaign through Google Adwords takes time to filter the most effective ad in which really converts to ROI but still consider first the elements of the ad campaign like relevancy, performance, quality score, etc. to help Google effectively show your ad to the right users or audience.