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Having Google setup an Adwords campaign

by sconer
9 replies
  • PPC/SEM
    • |
Hey guys!

I have a small local contracting company, it's about 3 years old. Getting new clients is hard. My service area is about 60 towns/cities. The website gets some business, but not enough. SEO is very expensive for real SEO, anything cheap ends up hurting more than helping in the long run. So I have turned to PPC.

I tried setting up an Adwords Express campaign myself last year, but it just didn't get me any more calls.

I then had a "PPC Pro" with good references setup a campaign. After 1.5 months of him constantly adjusting things, I still didn't get any more calls than I was before.

So now I see that Google itself says they will help with the campaign if I agree to spend $10/day. Has anyone done this?
#adwords #campaign #google #setup
  • Profile picture of the author dburk
    Hi sconer,

    I have taken over accounts that were initially setup by Google reps, I was not impressed. Google reps are Google employees and only need to please their Google supervisors, they are not directly accountable to you the advertiser as their primary client. Setting up a campaign for optimum performance is a lot of work and typically you are not going to get that kind of dedication to the process from a salary based employee at Google.

    Sorry that you didn't have a better experience with your "PPC Pro", however don't give up on the idea of using an agency. Try to keep in mind that nearly half of all PPC pros are below average performers. So when you try out a pro, you have a nearly 50% chance of getting a below average PPC manager. You might need to try several different managers, or more, before you end up with an above average manager.

    Also consider this, only a very small number of AdWords agencies are among the elite agencies that consistently outperform other agencies. PPC advertising is based on a competitive auction, there is only one top ad slot per result page you need a pro that can outperform the competition, not just keep up with the pack. You are not looking for a typical, or average PPC manager, you need one of the elite to get the best performance.

    Here's a tip, Google did a study of those elite agencies that consistently outperform the competition, they discovered that they all use a marketing discipline that is often called Profit-Driven marketing. Most PPC managers do not practice Profit-Driven marketing so that is an easy way to differentiate between the also-ran verse the elite. Learn what profit-driven marketing is and ask your candidate managers questions that will help you spot whether they use profit-driven marketing, most do not. Most PPC managers are trained to do cost-center based marketing and they cannot compete with the elite PPC managers.
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    • Profile picture of the author sconer
      Thanks for all the information.

      It seems like what you are talking about is top notch PPC firms. Firms that large corporations would use.

      For me, I am only looking to spend a few hundred a month to get a dozen or two more calls for my small business.

      Has to be some middle ground, no?
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  • Profile picture of the author LucidWebMarketing
    Having been in same boat as Don, I agree with him. Have taken over accounts set up by Google myself and was not impressed.

    PPC firms come in all shapes and sizes. Some will take only large clients and some will take any. The size of business they work with has nothing to do with how good they are. I don't think Don's outfit is a large one and I know mine is not. Both are top notch and although it's nice to work with large corporations, our bread and butter is the small businesses. So you can find top notch PPC firms that will work with you.
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    • Profile picture of the author sconer
      Originally Posted by LucidWebMarketing View Post

      Having been in same boat as Don, I agree with him. Have taken over accounts set up by Google myself and was not impressed.

      PPC firms come in all shapes and sizes. Some will take only large clients and some will take any. The size of business they work with has nothing to do with how good they are. I don't think Don's outfit is a large one and I know mine is not. Both are top notch and although it's nice to work with large corporations, our bread and butter is the small businesses. So you can find top notch PPC firms that will work with you.
      I want to spend $10/day, $300/month on Adwords.

      What type of firm is going to setup a great campaign for a small percentage of that ad spend? And will the end result be better than what Google's own team will provide?
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      • Profile picture of the author dburk
        Originally Posted by sconer View Post

        I want to spend $10/day, $300/month on Adwords.

        What type of firm is going to setup a great campaign for a small percentage of that ad spend? And will the end result be better than what Google's own team will provide?
        Hi sconer,

        Many PPC agencies will accept clients that spend as little $500 a month. So, if you can dig just a little bit deeper ,you can have you choice of many PPC agencies.There are many agencies that will accept even the $10 per day ad spend, however the issue might be that their minimum fees will be nearly as much as your total ad spend. Still, that might be a good strategy if you goal is to grow your business. As your ad spend increases you will still be paying the same minimum fee until your ad spend reaches the point that it merits a higher fee.

        If your intent is to keep your business small, not going much beyond current level of market share, then you might be better off, investing the time to learn how to manage your own campaigns. It will be an investment in time and other resources, but it may allow you to afford to maintain your current size for a longer period of time.
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        • Profile picture of the author sconer
          I would rather stay small.

          Also, I would rather stay away from learning how to do it myself. I learned how to do SEO and web design myself. And after hundreds of hours spent on that, I realized that I was a bottom level, half assed web designer and SEOer that should have been spending those hours on my own profession.

          So that's why I was wondering if the Google team could setup a decent campaign. Are you guys really telling me that they can't setup a better campaign than a complete beginner teaching himself as he goes?
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          • Profile picture of the author dburk
            Originally Posted by sconer View Post

            I would rather stay small.

            Also, I would rather stay away from learning how to do it myself. I learned how to do SEO and web design myself. And after hundreds of hours spent on that, I realized that I was a bottom level, half assed web designer and SEOer that should have been spending those hours on my own profession.

            So that's why I was wondering if the Google team could setup a decent campaign. Are you guys really telling me that they can't setup a better campaign than a complete beginner teaching himself as he goes?
            Hi sconer,

            Yes, the Google team can setup a decent campaign, and they can also setup a terrible campaign, and I have seen examples of both within the same account. However, the Google team is not going to actively manage your account. Google will setup a campaign for you, but it is you that must manage it. That task is left to you and the days of set-and-forget PPC campaigns are long past.

            Google provides courses and training for you to learn how to manage your own account. They also provide tools to automatically optimize bidding, however those will not work for you because they require a relatively high volume of clicks and conversions, which will not be practical on the small ad spend budget you have in mind. If you do not want to learn how to manage your own account, Google recommends that you hire a Google Partner agency to actively manage your account for you.

            The Google rep assigned to setup your campaign is not incentivized, in any way, to make your campaigns better than any of your competitors. Your competitors are also their customers too. More importantly, the Google rep does not know what marketing strategy you have in mind, and is not likely to setup your account to match your strategy, if you even have one. Your account structure should always be based on a specific strategy for best performance.

            Marketing is like a game of strategy, where you are competing with real money. PPC advertising is a competition among advertisers. In most niches 90% or more of the sales revenue go to the top 3 ad slots only. If you fail to optimize your campaign better than most of your competitors you will lose. In today's market a decent account setup with no active campaign management is not even going to come close to being successful.

            Actively managing a campaign is a lot of work and requires highly specialized knowledge. You need someone that knows what they are doing and has "skin in the game". Only you, or someone paid by you, will have a financial incentive to actively manage your account and win.

            The inescapable fact is that marketing and advertising is hard work and it is very competitive. You must be willing to do the work yourself, or pay someone to do it for you. Your competitors are not going to let you have a free ride.
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            * Get Results - Outsource Your PPC Management |
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  • Profile picture of the author LucidWebMarketing
    In my mind, you run the same risk with Google that you would with a PPC professional. No guarantee that the Google rep assigned you get would create a decent campaign.

    The problem is that Google will not actively manage your campaigns. That is not their business. You need to do that. It is after all a self-serve service. A PPC campaign needs to be nurtured, not just set up, even if that set up is great.

    Since you don't want to learn and manage your campaign yourself, which I completely understand, your only option is to hire a professional. The trick is finding the right one for you, one that will help your business.
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  • Profile picture of the author sconer
    That makes sense, thanks for the info guys.

    Finding a pro is the problem, in this world people who have never done it before call themselves a pro, get clients, then come here asking how to do it lol...

    So I guess I'll have to go with other avenues. I was hoping that Google would get their act in order and give customers like me a way to put PPC ads up without needing super specialists setting it up and maintaining it. Maybe one day.
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