Admittedly I’m not a residential expert in other PPC engines beyond Google’s AdWords. My time has great value and as such I put effort into what will provide the client the most return – not just any return. Notwithstanding – opening the door to PPC where a client has not ventured before allows them to reproduce these achievements in do course – should they desire… I don’t do professional spoon feeding. 🙂
Before we get into this I tend to draw on my experiences in submarines as a way to address problem-solving. Everything and I mean everything is both an “opportunity” and a “conspiracy”. You really need to look at both side of any argument and weigh the advantages and disadvantages and then use your conclusions to suite the particular situation you are in. In other words — there is quite often more than one way to gain the same results and you will likely get a taste of this Opportunity/Conspiracy theory through these writings.
Like anything else there is an “art” part and “science” part to AdWords. First things first though – a reality check — if you are among those that believe AdWords don’t work — “search results listings must not work either” thus you are in the wrong profession.
AdWords Science Part
AdWords are simply another way to reach customers and nicely complement your ranked results strategies – plus as an SEO AdWords gives you a certain amount of credibility – immediately. Should you have had a bad experience with AdWords say; spent $50.00 (or more) and didn’t make a nickel, the fault might lay elsewhere — AdWords are extremely efficient at matching buyers to sellers.
For an SEO AdWords are an efficient way to determine if a potential client is worthy of risk management. In any business venture there is always “risk” involved thus managing that risk is the only way to succeed successively.
When approached by a potential client the first question out of my mouth is, “are you currently using PPC?” If so, they have the characteristics of being your target customer – a “Risk Manager”. If not, this is both a red flag (traditionalist) but also a potential to develop immediate credibility for yourself – in both instances — the name of the game is “sales” (of some sort) and if you can make this process work, or work more efficiently — you gain more than just a fee.
There are a couple of academic questions that need answers to start. Commerce and distribution – A website without an ecommerce solution will have a tough time making AdWords work, and in addition to that, a local (only) commodity will likely not produce any desirable effect. That is — if is it far easy for a user to find and buy something locally e.g. groceries — it doesn’t stand a chance online. Shipping is also associated with this – if shipping expense or the delay of products/services is unrealistic AdWords are unlikely to help.
Remember that just as SEO “ranked results” are not some magical solution – AdWords in retrospect have similar disadvantages. Proactive SEOs therefore must help those where they can actually make a difference – and let radio, TV, newspapers and other print media services, service their markets.
Marketing dollar for dollar AdWords makes perfect sense. $0.06 (US Dollars) is quite inexpensive per qualified and near immediate lead. Ranked results can improve upon this margin (I have produce $0.013 per qualified lead – but not in the time span Google provides).
I keep a catch-all AdWords account and if I like what I see at the site I will spend a few dollars in AdWords to test the waters and potentially show the client what is possible. I could spend revenue in business cards, flyers, or even on my own AdWords campaign to develop new leads but in all likelihood I would spent far more revenue chasing dead ends than spending 5 bucks on already interested prospects.
Your proactive innovation provides an idea of “impressions”, “competitiveness”, “click throughs”, and possibly web sales for which the potential client will immediately see your value and professionalism.
Additionally, it is well worth that investment to quickly find those clients that are a good match to your services. In hindsight, I can’t remember how much time I have spent in the past wooing the wrong people. The use of AdWords technology in this fashion at a cost of about $5.00 per potential is an enormous cost saving to me – as I have said before, my time is far more valuable if you consider: writing emails, phone calls, initial website report writing, and then the potential of dressing a contract, only to find out that they have decided – I’m just too expensive to risk.
In contrast an argument could be made for talking yourself out of a contract – by showing them an easy way to “do-it-themselves”. Sure thing – the account however belongs to me, I don’t target primary “costly” terms nor do I show them the art of using AdWords effectively – thus in my opinion the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Opportunity or Conspiracy! 🙂
AdWords Art Part
This starts by reading and rereading Google’s tutorials, they are the very best resource to gaining a competitive advantage as most AdWords users (like most people online) tend to scan written documents and as such absorb little.
Notwithstanding, you really need to put a different spin on this – what is Google itself most interested in — getting more revenue per click or getting you to spend more per day, month, year. I’ve seen people go immediate and use the maximum bid in an attempt to gain and maintain that #1 spot. In competitive circles (and with many other using the same tactics) that allows them about 10 or 20 clicks, limited return thus becoming disillusioned with the process, and quit. In contrast – Google knows that long-term AdWords users will spend more over that term than a “once only user” thus Google favors the willingness to spend more over a term period.
Without going into all the functionality Google AdWords offer, the single most powerful AdWords function at your disposal (in my honest opinion) is the Negative Word Feature. This feature allows you to capitalize on broader terms without receiving irrelevant queries.
e.g. Targeting “search engine” to capture all uses of Marketing, Ranking, Positioning, Promotion (and many longer phrases using “search engine”) and using the negative tool to stop queries from displaying your ad for -engines, -submission, -submissions, -submit, -best, -strategies (which is a well known conference), etc. (please note: this is an example only and not recommended for use). In a sense – you get more bangs for your buck.
Also this process is continuously redefined – when seeing a query that isn’t part of your negative list – you add becoming far more efficient and targeted than you were previously.
AdWords also have a hidden value that is often over-looked until long after a contract is signed. Some websites “can’t sell” regardless of how hard you try through ranks, clicks and visits no sales materialized. AdWords give this notion an immediate face – you may indeed not be held accountable for sales – but just the same and in hindsight – a company doesn’t normallyhire you to “not help” in the regard – thus we had better get use to the idea and start advising them on what they need to know.
Value Added Opportunities
The use of AdWords in SEO strategies also allows additional and future opportunities that may or may not be apparent today, but should you chose not to incorporate AdWords in your strategies now – you will be way behind the eight ball when Google expands its circle of influence. As such your clients are farther behind. Being PROACTIVE works!
Two such opportunities:
Froogle – inclusion only through using AdWords, and
AdSense – inclusion only through using AdWords
How will these pan out for you? As an Opportunity or a Conspiracy? 🙂 The ball is in your court – what will you do?
Rodney is an independent contractor in eMarketing, search engine optimization and an accomplished strategic planner who brings 22 years of experience in information technology and data analysis interpretation. Rodney has 14 years experience in the fields of project management, electronics, adult facilitation, and marketing in the tourism and culture, forestry and agriculture and education sectors.
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