Free: Any trade members want to experiment with Google Ads?

[Poly]

Anybody fancy experimenting with Google Adwords? I have a voucher here for £75 of free adwords for any NEW google adwords subsciber. I've dabbled with Adwords in the dayjob and they definitely increase traffic to your site, and with careful management can increase sales.

The "tricks" seem to be (1) making sure you are paying for the right keywords. So you probably don't want "every" body who types "rib" into google. (2) avoid using phrases which you already score very highly on "organic" google search, unless your competitors have good ads which are appearing in the "sponsored links" above you. (3) make sure you have good and appropriate "landing pages" for your ads. So if your ad is specifically for the Standard Horizon 1500E radio, take them direct to that product page, not your home page. The better quality the landing page the less you have to pay to get near the top of the ads list. (4) make sure it is obvious how you check out / but from wherever people land.

Even if you don't want to use Adwords going forward then it can be a useful exercise if you are trying to do Search Engine Optimisation of your site (for organic search) as the Adwords data tells you what people are actually searching for using your keywords etc.

So because I already have an adwords account this £75 voucher is no use to me, but happy to pass on to the first trade member who responds.

[Boats&Outboards]

Yes please... Pm me with the details you require

Thank you very much

[Channel Ribs]

I think you will find it interesting Peter

Not sure if you have seen our ad appear on here at all? It would be interesting to get anyone's feedback.

It does seem that the ads (the ones I get anyway) are more related to my recent searches than to RIBs.

[Boats&Outboards]

Originally Posted by Channel Ribs

I think you will find it interesting Peter

Not sure if you have seen our ad appear on here at all? It would be interesting to get anyone's feedback.

It does seem that the ads (the ones I get anyway) are more related to my recent searches than to RIBs.

Cheers, I only use the site via the iPad app so I don't really get to see any ads.

To be honest It's not something I've considered before and have very limited knowledge of how it all works so we will see what happens, I'll keep you posted.

Website looks great by the way!

Peter

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by Channel Ribs

I think you will find it interesting Peter

Not sure if you have seen our ad appear on here at all? It would be interesting to get anyone's feedback.

It does seem that the ads (the ones I get anyway) are more related to my recent searches than to RIBs.

I've seen yours appear on quite a few occasions.

[Bigmuz7]

I know I aint a trayd Membir .. but I too have done the adwords thang .. and Ive suspended my account at the moment. Ive found they shifted the methods around recently by which sites get indexed or displayed .. and I'm waiting for this to settle before I go back in.

Whilst its true to say it definately increased traffic in the past, it isnt always local traffic, in fact it wasnt often local traffic, and so it wasnt really creating real 'worth' per se .

Ofcourse it all depends on the structure of your business and where you have operations throughout the country .. just saying yes.. it gives a feel good factor once you've learned how to use it, but that doesent necessarily convert into pounds in your till .. and in any event .. because they moved the goal posts on how their own system works (which is a bit naughty) I'll wait to see whether its worth starting up again .. this was a 'not for profit' post and not a thread Hyjack either .. just that they insist getting your focus is the key and that is very much the case, but working that out is hard enough, and once youve just done it .. they move the goal posts .. cynical me ? nooo ?

[Poly]

Muz,

You can certainly restrict the ads geographically (so e.g. they only show to "UK" IP addresses) but I think you can also localise that more than this. I've never had to focus on those issues so don't know the details - but its worth making sure its set up right, as you don't want to be paying for clicks from overseas if it is not useful.

Goal tracking is certainly important to get the most out of it, so you end up with buyers not tyre kickers. When I first played with Adwords I found an increase in traffic but not necessarily a huge increase in sales (although our tracking was very primitive so there may have been some). More recently we've had a guy with a better understanding of the system and more time to spend on it - and he runs multiple campaigns so he can see what is working and what is not and then turns off ineffective campaigns (or reworks them). He also then uses the knowledge we gain to try and get up the organic search rankings so we can reduce the ad spend or redirect it elsewhere.

But certainly, from what I can see selling advertising is much easier than buying it and getting value from it - but that applies to all mediums!

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by Boats&Outboards

Website looks great by the way!

Cheers still more work to be done, but getting there. I am told it needs to be more trendy, but at my age that could mean anything.

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

I've seen yours appear on quite a few occasions.

Cool, what did you think of it?