AdWords is the biggest thing to happen in advertising
since the introduction of television.
My name is David Burd. I’ve been in advertising for more than 25 years and I’ve never seen anything like Google’s pay-per-click service called AdWords. I use it myself to advertise my own business and I’ve become a big advocate. I’m telling everybody!
If you don’t know how it works, let me take a minute and explain why I’m so excited about this.
First of all, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad (hence the term, “pay-per-click”). Never before in the history of advertising have marketers had this opportunity! Imagine if you only paid for a newspaper ad if someone read it and responded. If no one looked at your ad it was free. Or imagine having a TV commercial and you only had to pay if someone saw your commercial and called you. An even better comparison is an ad in the Yellow Pages. You still have to pay for it, month after month, whether you get any calls or not.
AdWords has a huge advantage over other media simply because you don’t pay for it unless it works. But there’s more…
Suppose your newspaper ad didn’t get any new customers. Or your radio commercial failed to make your phone ring. Not only do you have to pay to run it again, but you've got to have a new ad made up. That can be costly, perhaps even as expensive as the media buy itself. On AdWords it costs nothing to create a new ad. Experiment! Try different approaches. Even different prices. It doesn’t cost a thing to create as many ad variations as you like.
You can’t compare AdWords to any other kind of media because of one key factor: Only people who are shopping for what you sell will see your ad. If you had a billboard in the middle of Times Square it would be seen by tens of thousands of people, right? But how many of them are actually looking to buy? Most of them will glance at it and keep on walking, if they even notice it at all. You could run a full-page ad in the New York Times (around $50,000 last time I checked) but most people reading the paper will flip right past that page because it doesn’t interest them. Simply put, AdWords ads are targeted – they reach ONLY people who are searching for something – since by definition they are using a search engine (Google) when they see your ad.
The closest thing to AdWords in the traditional media is the old standby, the Yellow Pages. Nobody reads it for fun. It’s not like an ad in a magazine that interrupts the article you’re reading, or a TV commercial in the middle of a show you’re watching. If somebody picks up the Yellow Pages, it’s for just one reason: To look up the merchant they want, whether it’s a plumber or a muffler shop, a shoe store or whatever. Directory advertising is specifically aimed at people who are looking to buy. However, consider the differences between a directory ad in the phone book and an AdWords ad on Google:
The Yellow Pages publishes annually. That means you’re locked in for a year with the same ad. AdWords allows you to change your ad as often as you like. You can announce special offers and sales, adjust prices, introduce new products – as often as needed. And what if you move or your phone number changes? With the Yellow Pages you’re stuck with outdated information until the new book comes out. AdWords (and your web site) can be changed as often as necessary.
You sign a one-year contract with the Yellow Pages. So you’re paying that monthly bill whether the ad is working or not. AdWords can be turned on and off at will. Going on vacation? Turn off your ad. Taking the weekend off? Turn your ad off. Too many customers? (Yes, it happens!) Turn off the ad until you catch up with the backlog of orders. For some advertisers, AdWords is like turning on a switch whenever you want more business. Furthermore, there’s no contract to sign. You’re not locked in for a year. Not even for a week!
The Yellow Pages charges extra for a box around your listing. You pay more for a bold listing. And if you buy a display ad with a picture in it, it’s very costly. Not to mention extra charges for a second color (essential if you want to stand out from all those other black-on-yellow ads). While AdWords doesn’t offer bold or color itself, it does link directly to your web site, which can be as colorful and exciting as you want to make it. Think about that. It costs nothing extra to have a full-color web site. (Have you ever seen one in black & white?)
Advertising in the Yellow Pages can be a huge expense if you need to be in more than one directory. If your business serves more than one county, or has customers statewide, you need to have an ad in each and every phone book. And if you do business nationwide, forget it! With AdWords, you can cover as small or as wide a geographic area as you like at no extra charge. You just pay for the clicks you get no matter where they come from. You can even exclude places that you don’t want to reach, such as areas where you have lots of competition.
I could go on and on about how terrific an advertising tool Google AdWords is. It’s a breakthrough, a revolution, a whole new way of looking at advertising. But there IS a downside.
Because of how flexible AdWords is, there are lots of little details that are easy to overlook. It’s not the easiest interface to work with. It’s confusing. I wouldn’t exactly call it “user-friendly.” That’s where I come into the picture.
I've been in advertising most of my career and I’ve been using AdWords for more than a year. I made a lot of mistakes at first, but by trial and error (mostly error) I learned my way around. Now I can confidently say I’ve gotten very good at using AdWords. I’ve even created a few tricks that I can use to help my clients. Things like geographical targeting to zero in on a specific region… refining your list of keywords to deliver the best results… knowing when to run your ad and when NOT to… adding negative keywords to avoid paying for traffic you don’t need. All of this expertise is coupled with 25 years of professional experience as a marketing strategist and an advertising copywriter.
This puts me in a unique position. I can write your ads, I can put together your Google AdWords campaign, and I can maintain it for you – looking in on a regular basis to make all those tweaks and adjustments in order to keep it working the way it should.
The biggest mistake people make with AdWords is this idea of “set it and forget it.” They think that once the campaign is set up they can just sit back and wait for business to pour in. Not so! I recommend a weekly check-up to see where your bids are, your ad position (how high up your ads appear) and to adjust your daily budget. If all this sounds complicated – it is!
That’s why I’ve started this business as an AdWords consultant. I can make it easy for you. I’ll set up your ad campaign and keep it running for you. I charge a modest set-up fee, plus a weekly (or monthly, if you prefer) maintenance fee. Call and let’s talk about it. I think you’ll find I’m very easy to work with. And your ads work, too. That's why I call my consulting business AdWords AdWorks.
Call 570-424-5245, weekdays between 9 and 5 Eastern time. After hours, use email.
I look forward to making your AdWords campaign a success!