My dilemna is this:
1. My boss wants to spend no more than $40 per day on his adwords budget. Not a problem.
2. I just found that during the last two days, we did not even spend anywhere near $40 in clickthroughs. Ok, so I conclude that I need to create more targeted ads. No problem there.
3. I kept his budget down to $40 per day, but since we have not even spent $40 in the last two days and I am creating more targeted ads, Google suggests a budget of $90 per day, do you think I can increase the budget to $90 per day and if I monitor the Google Adwords stats carefully several times per day, still keep it down to $40 per day?
I realize this may seem ludricrous to some people, but I want to get our money's worth on Adwords and really target the ads while keeping his budget down. Increasing to $90 per day is the only way I can see accomplishing this.
FYI: I really want to use Adwords as a good marketing tool and to increase sales (I know that's typical for everyone here). Our field has products ranging from $500 to $20,000. So, if I can get him just one sale from this, maybe he would agree to just keep the adwords budget at $90 per day. I can easily go to $200 per day budget.
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Bruce
Their estimations are usually on the *very* conservative side.
FYI our 'Budget' is $450 per day but our VERY consistent average spending is approximately $100-$130 per day.
(your mileage may vary, but I gather that a multiple of 3-4 is pretty common)
If so, then I can set a daily budget of well over $150 per day and maybe through the statistics that I have seen, he will spend a good $40 per day?
I know you said nothing can predict the future. So, I am not hold you to any of your answers. So, don't worry about that, but please tell me if this may be the case. (I take full responsiblity for anything he spends LOL)
But (like you) we sell a service costing thousands so we are willling to spend a few hundred per conversion.
Our traffic is *very* consistant. Yours might or might not be. You'll have to make the call yourself.
Just analize the numbers. If your ad is getting 20% delivery then it is reasonable to assume that 100% delivery would mean 5x the current spend.
But it is a risk.
Nothing ventured - nothing gained.
p.s. I don't think the multiple is the same for everyone, so use with caution.
[edited by: nyet at 3:16 pm (utc) on June 4, 2004]
Mine gave me a ROI scale to meet:
Bad ROI - You are Fired
So-So ROI - You Stay.
Good ROI - You get a Raise.
(he gave me 3 months grace)
No specific 'budget' (within reason)
I say this because it is entirely possible that, if there is a spike in traffic, then your higher-than-comfortable budget can be reached. I have seen this happen dozens of times.
A spike can occur, say, if there is news coverage of your product or service. A good example was a 1000% increase in traffic for some advertisers, over a few days, for a keyword which was the name of a magazine which featured a provocative picture Britney Spears on the cover.
Instead I would work on bringing my account up to the point where I was using my full budget everyday - by adding additional targeted keywords, creating additional targeted Ad Groups, and so forth.
AWA
Within 6 months.
Bad ROI: No Raise - Maybe get fired
So-So ROI: Possible raise, but I get to keep my job.
Good ROI: I get a raise (and I reward myself with more self-esteem to blow my already swelled head up :)
-just kidding...
By the way, I just may put a photo of Britney Spears on our web site. LOL
You said "Instead I would work on bringing my account up to the point where I was using my full budget everyday - by adding additional targeted keywords, creating additional targeted Ad Groups, and so forth. "
That is exactly what I did and it was Google, not me, that suggested to raise the daily budget to $90. So, I am doing that on Google's suggestions. I added better targeted keywords and created 2 more targeted ad groups, and then my cost per day figure went up to $85.
Now, I respect what you are suggesting, but should I listen to google or my boss? Also, if we get at least one conversion every day, I don't think my boss will care about the 125% increase in the daily budget. What do you think?
Also, if we get at least one conversion every day, I don't think my boss will care about the 125% increase in the daily budget. What do you think?
I think maybe you should put that to your boss. If he is making more money he would be daft to say no.
How much is 1 pound in US dollars?
paper bills? or Susan B. Anthony's?
: )
While daily budget rules how a lot of traditional advertisers spend, PPC concerns both budget and visitors.
Look at the market, how many searches are done, and then set a reasonable goal of the % of that traffic you want for yourself.
Often, when a company is stuck for how much to spend, we look at:
1. Total budget spend
2. How much traffic they wish,
3. How much very targeted traffic they want,
4. How much kinda targeted/break even ROI/branding/risky traffic they want.
5. There is more, but I'm only on my 2nd cup of coffee.
Then we can break all of the various types of traffic into budgeting efforts - and of course, remember to track all the ads/keywords to see what is actualy providing what bottom line/ROI.
A note about the previous posts daily budget comments:
I've seen people think they can quadruble their daily budget and not spend it all due to posts like these, actually end up spending that entire budget. While its often useful to up your daily budget over what is suggested - be prepared to pay it just in case.
I set some campaigns at about 5x what I want to spend, which means I'm guaranteed every high-ROI impression. As long as you monitor it regularly, you can always turn it down.
In the end, if you spend more than your budget, you're going to generate more profit anyway, so as long as you can afford it, it's not something to worry about too much.
To all of the above I would add that I would not suggest setting my budget any higher that I truly wished to pay, if sticking within the budget is of primary concern.
I say this because it is entirely possible that, if there is a spike in traffic, then your higher-than-comfortable budget can be reached. I have seen this happen dozens of times.
AWA, it sounds like a great feature for Adwords would be to have a choice for how to serve ads under a budget. Have two options one to run the ads straight until the budget is gone and another for the current spaced out serving method. This would allow people to set a real fixed budget yet change it so they still show up on all searches in the casaes where the Google estimator and reality don't agree.
