Adwords

[EDS]

So we will be running a Adwords campaign and I seek input from those who are currently running campaigns. No need to reinvent the wheel. Hopefully I can catch a free ride (knowledge) from one of you...

About us...

We were not ranking well on google so we decided to use Adwords. We were on a tight budget and were paying between $10-15 per click. We blew through $2000 very quickly. It really hurt. We did not have a system in place to track conversions.

We are still O/O but have ambitions to grow. Our average ticket price is around $300 ($50 per area). We are #1 on google for PARTS of my service area. I am hitting 1/10 of our population in the Lower Mainland. I have an unlimited budget IF the ROI is decent (interest rates are crappy for saving)

I have some questions but so I have the context of the answers you give could you please answer these questions first if at all

How big is your company (1 truck 2trucks ect.)
Average ticket price for carpet
How long have you been running adwords (or adwords express)
Your SERP ranking
Population of service area
Your monthly budget
ROI

1)So what are the do's and don'ts of running a campaign? (very general)

2) If your number #1 on Google for "carpet cleaning (insert your city)" do you still run adwords for that city. What have been the results been?

3) Does seasonality effect your adwords campaign?

4) Do you run your campaign yourself or hire someone?

 

[Russ T.]

We run our own campaign.

AdWords is built with the intention of it being used by hacks like us.

I've had it turned off for months now.

I thought about turning it back on today but changed my mind. We ARE slow this time of year.

I used to be far more impressed with our ROI. Facebook is far better for us.

We focus on doing such an impressive job, that the customer will call us in the future and tell people about their experience.

Time has had its way. Probably 80% of our work is repeat or referral.

Word spreads fast on Facebook, even if it's happening in the background without us spending a dime or even realizing they are talking.

 

[EDS]

Thank you Russ!

 

[jcooper]

1)So what are the do's and don'ts of running a campaign? (very general)

Most important thing for us. Location targeting, think they might call it geo targeting. Only run ads in the areas you want to work. Makes no sense to pay 8 bucks a click if it's far away. We run ads ONLY in our town. Yelp(free) takes care of locations farther away.

2) If your number #1 on Google for "carpet cleaning (insert your city)" do you still run adwords for that city. What have been the results been?

Yes, the more times they see our name on the page more it works. Example - Google ad at top of page, yelp listing on page, google local listing and organic website listing. That's 4 times(at least) they see our info on first page.

3) Does seasonality effect your adwords campaign?

Of course! It's cold!

4) Do you run your campaign yourself or hire someone?

We(I) do everything myself, I would not pay someone. You tube videos will give a boatload of info. Learn the adwords system best you can. I'd imagine the reason you blew through the money was showing to many ads, too many locations.

Also, googles suggested(recommend) ad price is always more than it takes to be on first page or first. We only run ads if we can be first(top).

How long have you been running adwords (or adwords express)

Over 7 years

Your SERP ranking

#1

Population of service area

Suburbs, more than enough people.

 

[EDS]

Thank you Mr Cooper!

 

[Russ T.]

Google is available by phone, to help you get it set up and tweak it to work for you.

I've had to call a few times. It seemed like they were helpful and spoke fluent English in the beginning but the last call or 2 was different.

 

[WillS]

2,000$ on Facebook would have had your phone ringing all day everyday. Google has to many competitors on it clicking on your link to waste $15 of yours.

 

[EDS]

2,000$ on Facebook would have had your phone ringing all day everyday. Google has to many competitors on it clicking on your link to waste $15 of yours.

Yeah I was tracking ips and we had so many and google refused to refund the clicks.

 

[WillS]

I've clicked on competitors ads on google. Imagine that. What a waste of $15 p/click. Google says they can track if competitors are clicking on your ads. Lie. You can stay on a competitors site for 15 seconds after clicking on their ad and google charges them.

 

[Russ T.]

The clicks have to be unique in some way from what Google was telling me. Otherwise you could do that to your competition all day. It's in Google's best interest and obviously the interest of the Adwords owner to make it this way. I'm sure it's not perfect but there are some safeguards in place. They have to be.

There would be no shame in trying it on your competition taking your findings to Google. You could even have a friend do it to you, rather than messing with your competitions ads...

 

[WillS]

Unique IP addressss. Meaning you can click on your competitors ads only twice. One time while you're on Wi-Fi and one time while you go on your phone without Wi-Fi. But clicking on the same competitors at on your computer five times they will only recognize that one time.

 

[EDS]

Carpet cleaners being unethical....never. LOL

 

[WillS]

You should watch the movie "The Founder" that just came out. It's in good quality on 123movies. Feast or famine.

 

[WillS]

... and do I sit and click them everyday? No. Just when I'm searching our keywords to see where we are ranking. What is unethical, is the idiots in my area that are running the adword campaigns saying "$15 per room, whole house $69."

 

[Hoody]

Unique IP addressss. Meaning you can click on your competitors ads only twice. One time while you're on Wi-Fi and one time while you go on your phone without Wi-Fi. But clicking on the same competitors at on your computer five times they will only recognize that one time.

Or there is using a traffic bot with a VPN and script it to click your competitor's links and cycle to a new IP address each time..........

 

[WillS]

Or there is using a traffic bot with a VPN and script it to click your competitor's links and cycle to a new IP address each time..........

Funny I was gonna say download a free proxy and click away with as many IPs as you want. Just didn't want to go that far, but you did.

 

[Hoody]

I have a traffic bot and it is hooked to Hide My Ass VPN Pro. I use it to test out different traffic flows on tests sites. I don't have nearly the time to configure it for all of our clients to click on their competitor's ads. Plus I'm really not that big of a jerk(unless it's before my first cup of coffee).

 

[jcooper]

You should watch the movie "The Founder" that just came out. It's in good quality on 123movies. Feast or famine.

Hey, that's the one about the fellow that started Mcdonalds. Looked super cool.



I use adwords a lot, our"invalid click" rate is nothing crazy. Can't single isp numbers(to track) be from large areas?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IP_addresses_are_not_people


Clicking someone's ads just to waste their hard earned money is bs...