Facebook/Google Advertising

[Alchemist Technologies]

I am thinking about spending some money on ppc advertising. I have had a look at Google Adwords, Yahoo & Facebook.

Does anyone currently advertise in this way? If so do you have any tips on the best ones and how much success you've had with them.

Thanks


Pam Gilmour
www.alchtech.co.uk
twitter - AlchemistTech
Facebook

 

[Mike Lewis]

Pam,

I tried Google AdWords once. I got many hundreds of clicks, and I depleted my budget within a couple of weeks, but it didn't lead to any sales.

That said, everything depends on the keywords you select, and also the nature of your business. I would think that a specialised niche business, with very distinct and specific keywords, would do better than one that's advertising in a more general market.

Remember, also, that getting the clicks isn't the end goal. You need to be sure your website can successfully convert the clicks to sales.

Hope this helps. I'd be interested in hearing what others think.

Mike

 

[Adventurelife]

If your product/service sells on the net and not many do not these days, PPC works.

In fact I would go as far to say as with the exception of WOM and top 10 organic listings it is the best marketing available. Why ? Nothing else can be measured like it can and changed as quick as it can.

For marketing research and testing it is unmatched.

Downside is that it is and skill that is becoming harder and harder and unless you get it right you will burn money.

This guy Steve Gibson is one of the best around at it

 

[Employment Law Services]

Hi Pam......really like your website btw!

A quick look at the keywords you're likely targeting based on your homepage content would suggest you'll need to spend quite a lot of money.

Almost every keyword is highly competitive so you would need to have a really high bid price if you want to guarantee page one for you ads.....I'm guessing you'd need to set your max bid price to at least £8-£10........i.e. everytime someone clicks on one of your ads it'll cost you up to £10.

In my experience facebook is better suited to businesses targeting consumers opposed to businesses.

LinkedIn also offer advertising but be careful - unlike Google they don't offer a pre=pay plan so you could very easily and very quickly rack up a huge advertising bill.

Don't know what your budget is or what your objectives are but there may be alternative ways of generating site traffic / leads that would prove to be more cost effective.

Have a look at Approved Index or Free Index.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Pam,

Just to add to my earlier comment ...

I would guess that you'd do better with Google ads if you stipulate they are to appear in search results only (as opposed to web pages).

When you're browsing web pages, you've probably noticed adverts that are vaguely interesting, and you click on them, perhaps more out of curiosity than anything else. You might not have the slightest interest in purchasing the product.

Every time someone does that to your advert, it costs you money.

On the other hand, when you search in Google for a particular product or service, chances are you are doing so with at least the possibility of buying. If you see adverts for the product alongside the normal search results, your click is going to be worth much more to the vendor. Those are the clicks that are worth paying for.

At least, that would be my guess. It's not based on personal experience.

Mike

 

[Scottish Business Owner]

I'm still trying adwords for SBF purely as a test. The initial results are pretty rubbish. Over 1,000 impressions and one click! Probably more down to me than anything else and to be honest was just a test as I dont think it's a model SBF could sustain given that the site is free.

Facebook never tried but given the demographic of it would probably agree with Gary to a certain extent in that it's suited more to B2C.

I'll also second Peter's recommendation of Steve Gibson who is a top guy and really knows his stuff.

I would suggest you maybe get someone like Steve to run a test campaign for you in the hope that you might find longer tail keywords that cost less but convert well. Alot of the time it's not simply just looking for the main headline terms.

In terms of yahoo I dont even know if anyone has ever really tried it. I'm not sure what it's market share is over here.

Mike also rightly points out that you can really hone in with Google adwords to only get your ads showing where you want them to.

Another company I would also recommend is Attacat. Tim Barlow is a member on here so he would also be worth contacting

 

[Alchemist Technologies]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts - they have been very useful. I think I am going to maybe give ppc a miss for the moment and and really focus on improving my page ranking with Google.


Pam Gilmour
www.alchtech.co.uk
twitter - AlchemistTech
Facebook

 

[Mike Lewis]

Pam,

That makes good sense.

Mike

 

[Mike Lewis]

I dont think it's a model SBF could sustain given that the site is free.

Yes, that must be right.

The only way you would recoup the cost of the click is if it led to a click on one of SBF's adverts that itself paid more than you paid for your click (if you see what I mean). Given that you are splitting your income with the advertising network, it's unlikely to happen.

I suppose you could argue that every time someone visits the forum, it helps make the forum that much better known, and that must be good, even if it doesn't directly generate any income. But I would think there are more cost-effective ways of spreading the news about SBF (which I'm sure you are aware of).

Mike

 

[SOTRC]

I tried Google adwords using a free vochure which they sent and found that the amount ran down fairly quick with nothing in return.

I haven't tried advertising with FaceBook, but have set up a FaceBook page

 

[abs]

I spent a small fortune on Google Adwords and got nothing out of it. When I started to explain to someone from Google who telephoned me today that I didn't think the budget could stand any more, she hung up on me!

Theresia