Adwords: Money for nothing or works?

[jasonx]

That's my point as long as your getting the return you need on your investment then its worth it isn't it.

 

[CentralSigns]

Your right, exactly right. But $5000 more business dollars would free me from marketing and I'd just make signs. No more door knocking. Cool I'm in.

 

[FrankenSigns.biz]

I don't know if you guys are aware of who Dan Antonelli is. He is in fact among the most talented individuals in this industry. He is a regular feature in SignCraft and I believe his work is second-to-none. His work has even been featured in Roland Digital's own advertising. We should all be honored to have Dan here at S101.

 

[CES020]

Good luck with your $50 a month campaign. That's exactly the approach that will lead you back to this thread saying "Adwords suck and are a waste of money".

$50 a month? You want to spend $1.67 a day on marketing and you think that's going to be a successful plan?

I'll do you a favor. It won't work. There, I saved you $50 a month.

I've never looked up the keywords for signs and their prices, but let's just throw out some numbers. Let's throw out .50 cents per click. So you get 3 clicks a day and then your "marketing campaign" is turned off. I'm not a marketing guy, so I don't know all the stats, but what are the conversion to customer stats, 3% on a good day? So you had 3 people click on your ad (and then it turned itself off because you used up all your money), and 3% of 3 people is about 1/10th of a person. So you're going to have to work some magic to get that 1/10th of a person to convert to an order.

$50 a month isn't going to get you anything but $50 poorer. Having said that, I'm sure we'll see a post saying "I spent $4 on adwords and got a $52,000 customer from it". I'm talking about the rules, not the exception.

 

[signmeup]

You don't pay if they don't click.

 

[CES020]

You don't pay if they don't click.

I said "So you get 3 clicks a day and then your "marketing campaign" is turned off."

The point is to get them to click. Without them clicking, they aren't coming to your website. If they don't come to your website, you can't convert them to a customer.

Sure, you can get 10,000 impressions and zero clicks. Hasn't cost you anything, but hasn't gained you anything either.

 

[signmeup]

If I get three local people who are looking for a sign shop in their area per day that's 90 well qualified clicks per month. I think I can get one or two to bite out of that 90. I think you've just convinced me to try adwords.

 

[astro8]

It's not just customers clicking ...it's your competitors as well...sure, Google will track your clicks and may reimburse you 1 or 2 clicks... I personally know guys in a different industry/profession that are paying $40 - $50 a click and positive that their competitors are doing them over a few hundred$$ in clicks a day and they're probably doing it to them too...it's just crazy stuff.

 

[CES020]

that's 90 well qualified clicks per month.

Clicking on something doesn't make them well qualified. It makes them curious.

I'm glad I've shown you the light, I'd suggest you don't start off too aggressively. Maybe try $10 a month first

 

[signmeup]

It's not just customers clicking ...it's your competitors as well...sure, Google will track your clicks and may reimburse you 1 or 2 clicks... I personally know guys in a different industry/profession that are paying $40 - $50 a click and positive that their competitors are doing them over a few hundred$$ in clicks a day and they're probably doing it to them too...it's just crazy stuff.

Good point.....Hadn't though of that.

 

[signmeup]

Clicking on something doesn't make them well qualified. It makes them curious.

I'm glad I've shown you the light, I'd suggest you don't start off too aggressively. Maybe try $10 a month first

Local people looking for signs that are curious about my website.....sounds like a qualified click to me. Once they are on my site it is up to me to convert them from curious to customers.

The prospect of my competition clicking away at the adword link doesn't warm my heart though. Maybe not everybody is a prick though.... I wouldn't do it to my competitors. Things have a way of comming back to bite you.

 

[Jim Doggett]

Clicking on something doesn't make them well qualified. It makes them curious.

Agreed! That's rub, which is what makes qualifying so important (SignWarehouse does great with AdWords). AdWords is the messenger and not the message. I could put a good ad or a bad one on the back cover of People Magazine, and have completely different results.

So my advice is to not go for lots or clicks, but instead for qualified clicks. Be real specific about what you're selling, i.e. Banners and not something generic (great prices for signs). Then add other ads for other services, while limiting keywords to a very select group of terms that are a rifle shot to the specific consumer need.

Example: If I want piano strings, I'll type "piano strings." Then the ad that says "Piano Strings" is what I'll click. I'll go right past, Pianos, or Piano Repair/Tuning/Whatever, etc. Piano Strings wins, assuming I'm directed to a page that screams "We got piano strings!" (They get more than a click; they get my money.)

Ditto with signs. Attract profits, not a bunch of leads, IMO.

Good luck,

Jim

 

[CES020]

Local people looking for signs that are curious about my website.....sounds like a qualified click to me.

Yeah, that does sound great, if it were the case. Being curious and being curious about signs are two different things. I click on stuff all the time, not because I want to buy a product, but because something caught my attention and I'm curious. I'm not sure if I've ever bought anything from getting to a site through adwords. I suspect I'm not alone.

Good luck with your new campaign. Report back and tell us all how it went.

 

[signmeup]

Yeah, that does sound great, if it were the case. Being curious and being curious about signs are two different things. I click on stuff all the time, not because I want to buy a product, but because something caught my attention and I'm curious. I'm not sure if I've ever bought anything from getting to a site through adwords. I suspect I'm not alone.

Good luck with your new campaign. Report back and tell us all how it went.

The adwords that pop up when I search for something are directly related to what I'm searching for. If I type in "signs" the adwords aren't trying to sell me bowling balls. That makes the person searching more than curious. Why would someone search for signs otherwise?

Some adwords I looked at are 8 cents a click. (Most seemed to run in the $1.50 to $2.50 range) I haven't researched this enough to know if that sort of thing would help me or not but it's pretty cheap if it will. It all depends on how well Google has this set up I suppose.

 

[signmeup]

Good post Jim.

 

[royster13]

Adwords can eat up a lot of money quick.....Just like any marketing and/or advertising expense, sometimes you get it right and sometimes not.....

PS....For those in Canada, I get my best marketing return using unaddressed admail....

 

[Joe Diaz]

Like I said. It is just one element among many others that has the potential to help your web site, but doesn't guarantee it's success. Having strong SEO or using adwords might put you on the first page of Google, but that doesn't guarantee sales. Having a great looking website may entice people to look around, but that doesn't guarantee sales. Having a well organized and functional site may allow people to browse through your site with ease, but doesn't guarantee sales.

There are no 100% guarantees. All these elements working together may make one incredible site but there are never guarantees that you will become rich just because you have a website. Use your website as a marketing tool, but don't ever rely solely on it. Taking care of your customers, taking pride in your work, doing the best you can will guarantee success, the website is just a tool. strong SEO is just a tool, a great looking functional layout is just a tool.

I like to think of a website as a store front. Ranking on search engines is the same as your storefronts location. Your website being harder to find on search engines is similar to your store being harder to locate in your city. This may be an obstacle to some, yet many business can succeed without being located in the center of main street.

Having an attractive an easy to navigate website, is like having an attractive storefront. It will definitely help "seal the deal" but having an attractive storefront doesn't mean the that shop does great work or has has great service.

Anyway, that is my opinion on the subject. Adwords is just a tool, just like a website. It may work for some it may not for others, the best way to know for certain is to try it and see for yourself.

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

i am obviously over simplifying this but you have to put yourself into your client's shoes. we view things as sign people. how are your client going to search for you? should be the obvious question you should be trying to answer.

 

[Jim Doggett]

Good post Jim.

Thanks Dr. Signmeup,

BTW, even "Banners" is pretty generic. You gotta sell to the need, and not just what it is, i.e.:

Banners for parties and special events. Great prices! (Then a landing page that speaks directly to that consumer need, so they'll know they arrived at their exact intended destination. You and they win.)

Then think of that one effort (AdWord ad and landing page) as a business. Is it making money? If not, whack it and go onto the next one.

Each ad has to be a profit center. And non performers must be eliminated.

IMHO,

Jim

 

[signmeup]

i am obviously over simplifying this but you have to put yourself into your client's shoes. we view things as sign people. how are your client going to search for you? should be the obvious question you should be trying to answer.

According to Google local, most people who clicked my free Google Maps listing searched "signs". I'm not sure what the search radius is though. I think some of this is related to how wide an area you want to gather your adwords clicks from. A 30 mile radius would suit me. Global.... not so much at this point.... but hopefully soon.