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How do you spend your AdWords dollars?

by Masterminding
8 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Pardon my curiosity here, but I just have to know (and maybe I'll write a research piece about it for on my blog):

How much do YOU spend on AdWords a month?

To be a little bit more specific: how do you divide your AdWords spend? Do you put all your money into the Search network, 25% into the Display network, 100% into retargeting (display network) or what?

And is there also a divide in terms of countries or sites where you spend X % on country A or site A and a different amount on B?

Don't worry, you don't have to give me reasons and thus reveal sensitive info about your business that competitors could use against you I'm just interested to know how you divide your spend.

Take me for example: I do Search Network and I do retargeting, but for 5 different sites. Total spend is around $3,000. I spend 80% of the money on 2 of the 5 sites and for each site around 75% on Search and 25% on retargeting. But what are you doing?

Looking forward to seeing some numbers
#adwords #dollars #spend
  • Profile picture of the author Lucid
    You can't generalize because every campaign is different. Not all products or services are right for a display or remarketing campaign. Most of the campaigns I manage don't have a display campaign.

    For example, I one client I have sells generator parts. A display campaign doesn't make sense for him nor does a remarketing campaign because when your generator fails, you want to fix it ASAP and you buy the needed parts right away. People will search when they need it so 100% of his budget is for a search campaign.

    A landscaping company on the other hand might want to remind people this time of year to give them a call. So they might want to put 40% to a targeted display campaign but stop it in two months until next year. They might want a retargeting campaign too, also for a short period.
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    • Profile picture of the author Masterminding
      Originally Posted by Lucid View Post

      You can't generalize because every campaign is different. Not all products or services are right for a display or remarketing campaign. Most of the campaigns I manage don't have a display campaign.

      For example, I one client I have sells generator parts. A display campaign doesn't make sense for him nor does a remarketing campaign because when your generator fails, you want to fix it ASAP and you buy the needed parts right away. People will search when they need it so 100% of his budget is for a search campaign.

      A landscaping company on the other hand might want to remind people this time of year to give them a call. So they might want to put 40% to a targeted display campaign but stop it in two months until next year. They might want a retargeting campaign too, also for a short period.
      I can't help but think that if you sell generator parts, then it would be a very good idea to get people back to your site if they don't buy through retargeting. Because, yes, even with the stuff that's needed sort of urgently not everyone buys this instant and some consider it a couple days. Plus, not everyone probably buys it because they need it but to have a back up in the future.

      The point being: both retargeting and the display network COULD make sense, but you'll never know until you try them. And, sometimes, they only make sense during a certain period and at other times they don't make sense at all. So, you are right in saying it's not right to generalize, but it isn't right to consider retargeting or the display network to be impossible because you say so. I've followed a lot of "best practices" in the past and let me tell you: they are generalizations as well. Don't hate on it until you tried it because one thing may work in market A but not in market B and vice versa.

      Anyways, let me ask a question then for people who do NOT use retargeting and the display network in general: what's your average budget for a campaign and an ad group? And do you use ad scheduling to make the most of this budget?

      Again, no need to share the market... just the numbers.
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      “He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared” – Sun Tzu

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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Guest
    I spend around $30,000 a month but like Lucid says all the campaigns I run are different and dependent on product type and payout levels.

    As long as it returns a 100% ROI I am happy.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lucid
    I agree that you should test. Always test. In my example, if people haven't bought from you, they've bought from a competitor because they were looking for that part and need it right away. Remarketing to them doesn't make sense. You learn that from experience, data (from the client in this case, many years worth) and yes, testing.

    Don't forget too that I manage client accounts and I have to listen to them and do what they want, with input from me on what I believe should be done. But in the end, they're the client and it's their money being spent.

    I never said I hated the display network. I said it's not for everyone. I'll use it when it makes sense. I might run a test to find out, sometimes the client says to test it even if I tell them they shouldn't.

    As for your new question, it won't help knowing. Again because every campaign is different. Does it help you knowing that McDonald is spending $1 million this month and Joe down the street spends $500 selling furniture? Interesting information but it does not help YOU in any way.

    I don't use ad scheduling. You just don't know when people will be searching, middle of afternoon or middle of the night, that might result in a sale.
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    • Profile picture of the author Masterminding
      Originally Posted by Lucid View Post

      I agree that you should test. Always test. In my example, if people haven't bought from you, they've bought from a competitor because they were looking for that part and need it right away. Remarketing to them doesn't make sense. You learn that from experience, data (from the client in this case, many years worth) and yes, testing.

      Don't forget too that I manage client accounts and I have to listen to them and do what they want, with input from me on what I believe should be done. But in the end, they're the client and it's their money being spent.

      I never said I hated the display network. I said it's not for everyone. I'll use it when it makes sense. I might run a test to find out, sometimes the client says to test it even if I tell them they shouldn't.

      As for your new question, it won't help knowing. Again because every campaign is different. Does it help you knowing that McDonald is spending $1 million this month and Joe down the street spends $500 selling furniture? Interesting information but it does not help YOU in any way.

      I don't use ad scheduling. You just don't know when people will be searching, middle of afternoon or middle of the night, that might result in a sale.
      Excellent points my friend. Always be testing. It sounded for a second like your opinion was to do this or that, but now I see you base decision off of data (which should always be the case).

      I wasn't looking to help myself by the way, merely curious to see if it was possible to make like a market research piece which reveals average spend, average section it was spent on, etc. Definitely think you're right in terms of comparing your bizz with another bizz and attaching conclusions to it, because what works for A doesn't work for B. Totally agree.
      Signature

      “He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared” – Sun Tzu

      Check out the Motriz Marketing blog for a funny yet informative, brutally honest look at the IM world in general and SEO in particular.

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  • Profile picture of the author davidsu
    Banned
    I spend around $1000- $5000/ month, and 100% it goes to Google Display Network.

    You could get bargain price from Display Network with the same quality traffic you get from the Search Network.
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  • Profile picture of the author graham09
    It's true that every campaign is different from other and it should be wise to treat them differently. I use display network when I need to increase my client's visibility. It helps me a lot to leave the impression of my client's brand name on people's mind. I prefer search network to spend more money as people use Google to search businesses, but it never happens like you are browsing a website and you suddenly see an add and you click it, no it never happens to me.
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    • Profile picture of the author Masterminding
      Originally Posted by graham09 View Post

      It's true that every campaign is different from other and it should be wise to treat them differently. I use display network when I need to increase my client's visibility. It helps me a lot to leave the impression of my client's brand name on people's mind. I prefer search network to spend more money as people use Google to search businesses, but it never happens like you are browsing a website and you suddenly see an add and you click it, no it never happens to me.
      I have to agree with you on that one, but aren't we biased? I mean, we've seen tons of AdChoices ads and AdSense ads that we can immediately recognize them while the Average Joe probably wouldn't.
      Signature

      “He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared” – Sun Tzu

      Check out the Motriz Marketing blog for a funny yet informative, brutally honest look at the IM world in general and SEO in particular.

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