farmboy - 2:29 pm on Apr 3, 2009 (gmt 0)

You should not have to hire a professional just to do basic things, like edit (change) your ad and change your budget.

FWIW, I have an AdWords account and I have ran ads for a short period a few times. I had read enough about the AdWords interface that after actually using it myself, I was a bit paranoid that I was paying way too much and getting way too little exposure.

I have placed some print ads in trade magazines for my small business. Even though I was a little fish to these magazines, the advertising department there helped me with little things that got more exposure for less money. It's as if their approach was that if I received a good value for my advertising dollar and the time & effort to advertise with them, I would stay around and be a long-term customer, which is true. I didn't get that impression with AdWords.

If I decided to advertise with AdWords again and decided to use a professional's assistance, it wouldn't so much be to do basic things like edit ads. Instead, it would be to have someone to tell me about that little tweak or change I need to get clicks for $0.50 instead of $5.

Sure, I could devote a lot of time to testing and reading everything I could get my hands on and thus learn the ins and outs of AdWords, but I can't justify that from a time perspective. My time has a value and advertising is just one task of many that needs to be completed each week.

In the past I have recommended AdWords to other small business owners, but I no longer do that. The radio and print ad people, for example, make it so much easier and faster to advertise in their venues. And with them, you don't need to make daily trips to blogs and forums to have some comfort that you're not missing out on something important.

FarmBoy