Google Adwords. Anyone familiar with how it all works?
Discussion
Having just recently started up on my own, I am looking for ways to advertise and obviously Google is an option but I would like some advice.
I have been messing about with the software and if I am making sense of it, it is telling me I should be 'bidding'?? About £5 for each click through to my website!!
That seems very steep to me, so I have a few questions.
If I bid less than that, does my webpage just come up lower down the rankings, and is that suggested bid price enough to get me top ranking?
If my competion were to click on my website all day long they could cost put me out of business just with Google charges, is there some protection against that kind of activity?
I have been messing about with the software and if I am making sense of it, it is telling me I should be 'bidding'?? About £5 for each click through to my website!!
That seems very steep to me, so I have a few questions.
If I bid less than that, does my webpage just come up lower down the rankings, and is that suggested bid price enough to get me top ranking?
If my competion were to click on my website all day long they could cost put me out of business just with Google charges, is there some protection against that kind of activity?
I run my own. Its not hard but it is getting a bit more complex each time google update their policy.
£5 clicks must mean very high value sales or services IME.
As for people clicking many times, I think google restricts it to 3 clicks per day, after that its free so yes they could cost you £15.
At that kind of money be very careful. I pay c.50p a click and I still have to watch it as it easily builds up through the day. You can of course limit the budget.
The best thing to do is start off with some very specific key words and restrict them using [ ] to exact match.
So for example, if you sell used rolex watches in leeds then a non exact might cost you ££££!!!
used rolex vs [used rolex leeds]
£5 clicks must mean very high value sales or services IME.
As for people clicking many times, I think google restricts it to 3 clicks per day, after that its free so yes they could cost you £15.
At that kind of money be very careful. I pay c.50p a click and I still have to watch it as it easily builds up through the day. You can of course limit the budget.
The best thing to do is start off with some very specific key words and restrict them using [ ] to exact match.
So for example, if you sell used rolex watches in leeds then a non exact might cost you ££££!!!
used rolex vs [used rolex leeds]
Thanks for that..
It does all seem quite complex!
The service I offer is localised to the Aberdeen area, not particularly high value sales, I just supply and fit blinds..
I don't understand why the value of my sales should have any bearing on what Google charges me though, and if that is the case I would rather give them a small commission on successful leads than money for every unsuccessful one..not sure how that would work though.
I think I should find myself a local internet guru to sort out my website and advertising..
It does all seem quite complex!
The service I offer is localised to the Aberdeen area, not particularly high value sales, I just supply and fit blinds..
I don't understand why the value of my sales should have any bearing on what Google charges me though, and if that is the case I would rather give them a small commission on successful leads than money for every unsuccessful one..not sure how that would work though.
I think I should find myself a local internet guru to sort out my website and advertising..
For a local search area £5 per click does sound a touch expensive to me. Keep in mind there's a whole matrix of criteria that affects your bid price - some of it could be related to how well your target landing page on your website matches the search term. I limit most of my bids and put a daily cap on spending which generally seems to work out OK.
Anyone can setup an Adwords account and get an advert running, but it takes quite a bit of time and analysing to get the most from it.
Anyone can setup an Adwords account and get an advert running, but it takes quite a bit of time and analysing to get the most from it.
Ad words is trial and error really, when you start you will probably spend a lot of money and not get results, but I've found that you need to let it run and tweak it daily. You need to do keyword reasearch before hand and I would recommend using broad match on your keywords to begin with, so you can then gauge what people are searching for that will land them on your website - you won't have even considered what some people are searching for to land on your page.
You will also need to ensure that your landing pages are optimised with strong calls to action. There is no point paying to get clicks if your landing pages don't encourage people to pick up the phone or purchase.
We pay around 25 pence a click and we're advertising online sales with a lot of competition, I would imagine blinds in Aberdeen wouldn't be so competitive so £5 seems a very high CPC to me. I wouldn't bother trying to be the highest bidder either, as research has shown that 3rd place on adwords is a good place to be in terms of value per click and where it is placed on the search - usually top on the right hand side of the page.
Where does most of your traffic come from? Desk top or mobile? I would imagine people searching for blinds / fitters would probably be doing so on a desktop rather than smart phone or tablet.
You will also need to ensure that your landing pages are optimised with strong calls to action. There is no point paying to get clicks if your landing pages don't encourage people to pick up the phone or purchase.
We pay around 25 pence a click and we're advertising online sales with a lot of competition, I would imagine blinds in Aberdeen wouldn't be so competitive so £5 seems a very high CPC to me. I wouldn't bother trying to be the highest bidder either, as research has shown that 3rd place on adwords is a good place to be in terms of value per click and where it is placed on the search - usually top on the right hand side of the page.
Where does most of your traffic come from? Desk top or mobile? I would imagine people searching for blinds / fitters would probably be doing so on a desktop rather than smart phone or tablet.
What keyword/phrase are you bidding on that costs £5? I would change to a more focused phrase/keyword as someone's suggested already. When it comes down to it, it's about ROI. £5 isn't terrible if your product/service costs a lot and you sell a lot of them.
Think about the chain of events:
search -> adwords -> website -> purchase/enquiry
If the adwords ad is good (relevant) then you'll get a quality click through. If the website is good (makes the visitor interested), you'll get a purchase or enquiry (depends on the product/service). So assuming your website is good and/or your ability to convert enquiries into sales is good eg 70% success rate, if your product is £100+ then £5 a click through isn't a problem. If the product is cheap or the conversion rate is pisspoor then £5 could be very expensive.
I would also check that you're specifying the area that you cover rather than the whole of the country (irrespective of your views on a referendum
).
Think about the chain of events:
search -> adwords -> website -> purchase/enquiry
If the adwords ad is good (relevant) then you'll get a quality click through. If the website is good (makes the visitor interested), you'll get a purchase or enquiry (depends on the product/service). So assuming your website is good and/or your ability to convert enquiries into sales is good eg 70% success rate, if your product is £100+ then £5 a click through isn't a problem. If the product is cheap or the conversion rate is pisspoor then £5 could be very expensive.
I would also check that you're specifying the area that you cover rather than the whole of the country (irrespective of your views on a referendum
).I think I can easily figure out what people will be typing into google when looking for blinds in aberdeen 
And at this point,this thread will probably come up!!
I think I need some proper advice on the rest of it though, and I need to do some serious work on the webpage, right now it is just a temporary page with my company name and contact info, but it will never be a proper on line sales site.
And at this point,this thread will probably come up!!
I think I need some proper advice on the rest of it though, and I need to do some serious work on the webpage, right now it is just a temporary page with my company name and contact info, but it will never be a proper on line sales site.
Shuvi McTupya said:
I think I can easily figure out what people will be typing into google when looking for blinds in aberdeen
And at this point,this thread will probably come up!!
I think I need some proper advice on the rest of it though, and I need to do some serious work on the webpage, right now it is just a temporary page with my company name and contact info, but it will never be a proper on line sales site.
Certainly, "Blinds Aberdeen" would probably cost you a lot less. What other phrases could you also bid on that are relevant? Perhaps split it by town/district? I don't know your area but I could search for "Blinds London" or "Blinds Kingston". What about the design eg "full length blinds Aberdeen"? What else might people search for when shopping for blinds?And at this point,this thread will probably come up!!
I think I need some proper advice on the rest of it though, and I need to do some serious work on the webpage, right now it is just a temporary page with my company name and contact info, but it will never be a proper on line sales site.
Re your website, do you make customised blinds? If so, then make sure it has all the info people would need to entice them to contact you eg photos of previous work. Try to make it look half decent (you don't need to spend thousands on a well-designed site these days - a nice but simple WordPress site will still give you a design that doesn't look like it was knocked up by your 15 year old nephew for £10).
Shuvi McTupya said:
I think I can easily figure out what people will be typing into google when looking for blinds in aberdeen
And at this point,this thread will probably come up!!
I think I need some proper advice on the rest of it though, and I need to do some serious work on the webpage, right now it is just a temporary page with my company name and contact info, but it will never be a proper on line sales site.
If your landing page isn't really encouraging people to spend money with you don't waste money on adwords until your landing page is optimised. You will just be throwing money away.And at this point,this thread will probably come up!!
I think I need some proper advice on the rest of it though, and I need to do some serious work on the webpage, right now it is just a temporary page with my company name and contact info, but it will never be a proper on line sales site.
Dejay1788 said:
Shuvi McTupya said:
I think I can easily figure out what people will be typing into google when looking for blinds in aberdeen
And at this point,this thread will probably come up!!
I think I need some proper advice on the rest of it though, and I need to do some serious work on the webpage, right now it is just a temporary page with my company name and contact info, but it will never be a proper on line sales site.
If your landing page isn't really encouraging people to spend money with you don't waste money on adwords until your landing page is optimised. You will just be throwing money away.And at this point,this thread will probably come up!!
I think I need some proper advice on the rest of it though, and I need to do some serious work on the webpage, right now it is just a temporary page with my company name and contact info, but it will never be a proper on line sales site.
As I suggested, everything between someone searching for something and that person handing you money has to be decent enough to keep them interested during the whole process.
Hoofy said:
Certainly, "Blinds Aberdeen" would probably cost you a lot less. What other phrases could you also bid on that are relevant? Perhaps split it by town/district? I don't know your area but I could search for "Blinds London" or "Blinds Kingston". What about the design eg "full length blinds Aberdeen"? What else might people search for when shopping for blinds?
Re your website, do you make customised blinds? If so, then make sure it has all the info people would need to entice them to contact you eg photos of previous work. Try to make it look half decent (you don't need to spend thousands on a well-designed site these days - a nice but simple WordPress site will still give you a design that doesn't look like it was knocked up by your 15 year old nephew for £10).
Believe it or not, it was the search phrase 'blinds in Aberdeen' that came back with the suggested bid price of a fiver, well, £4.70 or something.Re your website, do you make customised blinds? If so, then make sure it has all the info people would need to entice them to contact you eg photos of previous work. Try to make it look half decent (you don't need to spend thousands on a well-designed site these days - a nice but simple WordPress site will still give you a design that doesn't look like it was knocked up by your 15 year old nephew for £10).
I would probably lists all the local towns and the various types of blinds (vertical,Roman,roller etc) but does it get even more expensive if you ask for more search terms to be included?
As for me making them myself, no I don't. I am using other people to make the blinds , I go and measure up and show the customer some samples, then I order the blinds and go back and fit them about two weeks later, or less depending on the type of blinds and how fast I an get them!
As far as using Wordpress and the like, I just don't have the patience to figure it out and think about designs etc. I will have to pay someone to do that kind of thing as I get too frustrated when Things don't make immediate sense to me. (And I used to run a technical support help desk back In the early 90's..)
Don't know how I ever did that!
Shuvi McTupya said:
Believe it or not, it was the search phrase 'blinds in Aberdeen' that came back with the suggested bid price of a fiver, well, £4.70 or something.
I would probably lists all the local towns and the various types of blinds (vertical,Roman,roller etc) but does it get even more expensive if you ask for more search terms to be included?
As for me making them myself, no I don't. I am using other people to make the blinds , I go and measure up and show the customer some samples, then I order the blinds and go back and fit them about two weeks later, or less depending on the type of blinds and how fast I an get them!
As far as using Wordpress and the like, I just don't have the patience to figure it out and think about designs etc. I will have to pay someone to do that kind of thing as I get too frustrated when Things don't make immediate sense to me. (And I used to run a technical support help desk back In the early 90's..)
Don't know how I ever did that!
The more popular the term, the more expensive it is. It's based on a bidding process. Try "blinds in England" and it should be even more expensive... or just "blinds".I would probably lists all the local towns and the various types of blinds (vertical,Roman,roller etc) but does it get even more expensive if you ask for more search terms to be included?
As for me making them myself, no I don't. I am using other people to make the blinds , I go and measure up and show the customer some samples, then I order the blinds and go back and fit them about two weeks later, or less depending on the type of blinds and how fast I an get them!
As far as using Wordpress and the like, I just don't have the patience to figure it out and think about designs etc. I will have to pay someone to do that kind of thing as I get too frustrated when Things don't make immediate sense to me. (And I used to run a technical support help desk back In the early 90's..)
Don't know how I ever did that!
So the blinds are customised after all - in that case your website needs to be set up to entice people to call you. Photos of you measuring up, photos of the finished products etc. One thing to consider in the ROI is the commission you get compared to the price it's costing you to get an order eg if you only get £20 profit per order and it costs you £25 to get that business, it's obviously not worth it and you need to refine your adwords activities.
I'm sure a PHer or 10 will email you now to sell their web services to you. If not, you can pay me to do it.
Edited by Hoofy on Sunday 31st May 11:49
Its all about quality. You want quality key words to get quality traffic that leads to quality conversions.
No point spending £500 on CPC that gets you 1 £500 job.. or worse nothing.
The main thing is watching it like a hawk for the first 2 - 4 weeks. See what is driving clicks, is it key workds, ads, ad extensions. Monitor your e-mail and phone too during this time. Try and get a full picture of what leads your CPC generates. ASK!! ASK!!! ASK!! How did you get our details....
Make lots of notes and then at the end of each day put it all in a sheet and see whats driving what.
Its a PITA to set up but once you have it running well you might only have to look at it once week.
The other option is to consider just what value you get from CPC - if its not panning out don't just keep throwing money at it. Look at other ad methods.
My tips with CPC are
Remarket on your clicks
Ensure good quality landing pages
Use exact match
Track your conversions
Write good ads
Use ad extensions
Make sure your site looks good!
HTH!
No point spending £500 on CPC that gets you 1 £500 job.. or worse nothing.
The main thing is watching it like a hawk for the first 2 - 4 weeks. See what is driving clicks, is it key workds, ads, ad extensions. Monitor your e-mail and phone too during this time. Try and get a full picture of what leads your CPC generates. ASK!! ASK!!! ASK!! How did you get our details....
Make lots of notes and then at the end of each day put it all in a sheet and see whats driving what.
Its a PITA to set up but once you have it running well you might only have to look at it once week.
The other option is to consider just what value you get from CPC - if its not panning out don't just keep throwing money at it. Look at other ad methods.
My tips with CPC are
Remarket on your clicks
Ensure good quality landing pages
Use exact match
Track your conversions
Write good ads
Use ad extensions
Make sure your site looks good!
HTH!
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