You Adwords

[K2012]

You all run a business on here, or at least are researching the idea.

I am wondering when it comes to the above do you do it?, do you monitor the results? and have they worked for you?

Have you or do you use any of the following companies, www.lavoramarketing.com - www.zenithmedia.co.uk www.getclickedon.co.uk - to name but a few.

I keep being called from the above oh and another called Matchstick marketing or something, and do you know what never pay any outsourcing company like this £100'ss of pounds for your adwords. It is far cheaper and probably more productive to do it yourself.

Just thought I would see what peoples experiences are on this.

Kev

 

[K2012]

Sorry for any spelling errors previous, my PC was/is playing up.. Hmm I have a feeling my sister has spilt milk in this..

Kev

 

[seedstotal]

yep, it can work very well for every business, if you want someone to manage your adwords for you try Steve Gibson, he is a member here,
and as you are a local business you want a google map listing too i would think, Ali-v-8 is your man regarding that, he is also a member here
combine the 2 and you will have a very effective marketing campaign

 

[directmarketingadvice]

do you know what never pay any outsourcing company like this £100'ss of pounds for your adwords. It is far cheaper and probably more productive to do it yourself.

As Red Adair once said, "if you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur".

Outsourcing specialist work to an expert can make a lot of sense.

So, while some businesses do well running their own campaigns, others realise a specialist will do a better job and generate more sales at a lower cost... and some people are just so busy running their business that it makes sense to hire someone to lighten their load.

Steve

PS Some of the companies you mentioned in your post are scammers. I won't say which ones (don't want to get sued), but if anyone wants to know, they can search for the company names in the forum archives.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

You all run a business on here, or at least are researching the idea.

I am wondering when it comes to the above do you do it?, do you monitor the results? and have they worked for you?

Have you or do you use any of the following companies, www.lavoramarketing.com - www.zenithmedia.co.uk www.getclickedon.co.uk - to name but a few.

I keep being called from the above oh and another called Matchstick marketing or something, and do you know what never pay any outsourcing company like this £100'ss of pounds for your adwords. It is far cheaper and probably more productive to do it yourself.

Just thought I would see what peoples experiences are on this.

Kev

I actually don't use an Adwords specialist. The reason being is that I've learned the basics of Adwords myself and how to run a decent Adwords campaign.

It probably isn't very efficient and I'm probably wasting 50p+ per click, but it works and it brings me enough clients for me to be busy.

So, in that respect, the investment in a specialist wouldn't be worth it.

I'd say the same could go for many localised businesses where the number of clicks may be very small. However, if a business is looking at hundreds of clicks, then the efficiency can lose you (or save you) hundreds of pounds, so it can then be worth hiring a specialist.

 

[webpromoterservice]

I have found adwords to be the most powerful advertising tool online,but also the most difficult to maintain and monitor.

You have to keep your eyes on the ball constantly and not let anything slip.Some negative results that people report through adwords are due to factors outside of their control;like new competitors joining the market.

So continual research is important and testing of various keywords,ad texts and landing pages to achieve the best Return On Investment.

 

[Ali-v-8]

There is more to Adwords than just clicks.
I have learnt a bit off Steve Gibson on this forum.
The problem is that most people wont research past the keyword volume.

 

[snapshotmedia]

I have tried adwords. £20 has gone without anything in return.

We have £60 left on the account now.

I guess it may not be for everyone but it's worth a try.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

I have tried adwords. £20 has gone without anything in return.

We have £60 left on the account now.

I guess it may not be for everyone but it's worth a try.

What are you selling? Have you carried out any research to understand how to use Adwords properly?

A £60 expense before you receive a solid lead is very worthwhile if you happen to sell something worth thousands. Depends on your situation.

 

[J-Wholesale]

My advice runs contra to much of the above advice. When you're starting out, you should run your Adwords campaigns yourself. For online, and many offline businesses, your online marketing is one of the most important parts of your business. Doing it properly can mean the success or failure of your business.

The problem with outsourcing is that it's very difficult to know if that 'specialist' is really a specialist at all. Steve has already cast doubt on the reputations of some of those specialists who cold called you. And getting referrals is not as simple as it sounds. We've used people on this very forum with great reputations (on the forum) who we found to be inadequate and just not up to the job.

So why should you do it yourself?

You need to understand PPC advertising in as much detail as possible. The more you understand it, the better placed you will be further down the road to make that outsourcing decision, and the better placed you will be to sniff out the charlatans who will do nothing but steal your money. If you were an offline business just starting out, would you pass all responsibility for advertising to another company, or would you investigate newspaper ads, flyers, radio ads, etc. yourself?

Just because it's the internet doesn't mean you should pass all the techie stuff to someone else. Adwords is too important for you not to understand it.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

I think you make some good points.

Unlike SEO, PPC is pretty transparent. With the right resources, it's not that hard to figure out the gist of it.

So, if someone is thinking about using PPC for their business, I'd recommend they buy "Adwords for Dummies".

It only costs around £15 and comes with an adwords voucher they can use for a new campaign. That voucher pretty much covers the cost of the book.

Some things aren't spelled out particularly well in the book, so although I don't wish to self-promote, I'd also recommend they read the free report I wrote about adwords.

They can get it from the link in my sig below. There's no signup or anything like that. Just right click and save once you get to the page.

Those things should give people enough idea of how adwords really works to be able to understand what it might do for their business.

From there, if they feel they "get it", they can start a campaign for themselves and see how it goes. Or, they can hire someone to do it for them.

However, either way, if they're spending a meaningful amount of money, the campaign should eventually be managed by a specialist.

Which means either they themselves have to go deep and become an expert or they outsource it to someone.

That's how I believe it should be done. And it starts with this: it's best to get educated before you hire anyone.

So, some telemarketer might call you up and tell you how great PPC is, but that person is a salesman on commission, he's not your marketing manager.

And, for that reason, he shouldn't have a role in making your marketing decisions.

Steve