Now this goes against my normal instincts, because I figured a #1 listing is as good as any 'ad'.
At this point I've been proved wrong. I actually had my first $300 day (pure profit) using Google Adwords. For this profit I spent about $6.00.
Yep...about $6.00
I wish I could say Google Adwords aren't worth the money, but at this point I can't. I'm not a fan of spending money to make money, (maybe it's just me:>)
So...for all you unbelievers out there...give it a shot. I did, just for fun, and I'm becoming a true believer.
I'm sure I will get flamed for this post as being a 'mouthpiece' for Google. Not true. I only did it for fun...and it actually worked.
I'm thinking people who are looking to buy are clicking on the Adwords...while those looking to educate themselves are clicking the search results.
Strange, but I've been wrong before:>)
However, the return you experienced is unrealistic. It is more likely that someone will get a between 150% and 300% ROI through AdWords. But more is possible/rare.
Your market niche and "ability to convert" factor hugely into these estimates.
I'm thinking that, if you could pump up the AdWords volume to say, $600 returns $30,000, then more power to ya!
Absoultely correct from where I stand. It makes absolute sense. For information sites do SEO. For selling sites forget about all the compromises you have to make to make a page SE freindly and just go straight for Adwords!
As a browser, really if you are looking to buy something, you can do it far more efficently from Adwords...
Im hoping that if more realise this, the left side listings will become even more useful as an information search as people start to concentrate more on the right side and top for selling and commercial sites..
Your market niche and "ability to convert" factor hugely into these estimates.
Oh, I agree! I'm doing a market niche quite well.
In fact I used the 'absolute' feature:
[red widgets]
Conversion had been tough...till Adwords.
The other thing about Adwords? No worry about the dance...hehe.
I'm really sorry if my post sounds like a commercial for Adwords...I'm just amazed at it. And if I hadn't decided to splurge...I never would have known how cool this was!
Our consultant says that CPC will peek this year and start to drop off in 2004. I'm not sure I agree but as the old farmer says...make hay while the sun shines (does anyone know what that actually means?)
The point of the saying is that you are smart to seize the moment and get your work done when conditions are good, because you never know what tomorrow will bring.
Wow. I hope I get to say that last sentence much more in the future. :)
CPC is short term. It drives tons of traffic (or has the potential to) and sales (or has the potential to). As I stated in my first message - our consultant believes that CPC will run its course in about a year. I'm not sure I agree but it works gangbusters right now.
P.S. We've upped our CPC budget from 15K to 30K a month and I'm getting an assistant who is going to be spending a good 60% of their time maintaining our campaigns. This at a time when we've got a corporate wide head-count and budget cuts across the board.
Saying that it will run it's course is like the people who said that TV was just a fad and that advertising on it would just be a short term thing (and there were people who said that). Adwords and other CPC ads may evolve and become something different (think the original live timex commercials vs. any of today's commercials) but they won't go away.
Heck, banners never really work and they are still around years and years later. CPC ads have worked from the onset, and have continued to work for awhile now. All these SE that have finally found a viable way to make a profit through having CPC ads, will make very sure that CPC ads work now and in the future.
Glad AdWords worked for you, ScottM. If you put a price on your time, sounds like advertising is cheaper, easier, and works better than search engine optimization. :)
If you have the money, yes. I agree, PPC is a short term solution, but SEO should still be part of the mix.
I make back double what I put into adwords (and that's after I calculate labor and cost-of-goods). It ain't short term here.
I agree that SEO should be a part of a healthy mix but I will never again slave over optimizing a page for an organic search on a phrase that doesn't see all that much in the way of traffic.
Now, I can focus on the biggies and throw up a CPC for all the phrases that see traffic but just aren't worth the time to "fit" it into SEO. Maybe it is lazy, but last time I checked, lazy wasn't always stupid. :)
Adwords and other PPC providers are a good tool for the ambitious webmaster and as stated its all about the ROI. We used adwords from the start when it was CPM just as a thank you for the free traffic from the "real" results, it turns out that since the PPC model came in it works out better for us.
We find many advantadges is using adwords et al as compared to traditional SEO, in our specific case mainly because we can get traffic on keywords that we wouldn't normally target and in keeping out those who can't rank in the "real" results.
We sell widgets, wonderful widgets at a great price but the prospect of having a page on our site that targetted "cheap widgets" would hurt our brand. Adwords etc can help with that, we can still get the traffic without having to low ball the site.
>Wow. I hope I get to say that last sentence much more in the future.
Time-out GG :)
Adwords is good, I like them as a user and a webmaster but lets not beat up on the webmaster/SEO's too much, we still have our place. As much as G! has a drive to deliver good results [real and adwords, the clicker doesn't see the difference] webmaster/SEO's have the same drive to push their content to the target audiance. In some ways our responsibility is greater than your own, wheather for fun, profit or charity the ultimate aim of a publisher is to be read, webmaster/SEO's need to ensure that their content is available [i.e. ranks].
Adwords = Good
SEO = Good
"4 legs good, 2 legs better" never struck me as a winner. ;)
Imagine how big the queue would be at the local hi-fi store would be if someone announced that the owner of the store would pay you to visit the store..... but really that is what the model is based on.
Whenever we talk to existing PPC advertisers (regardless of whether it is Google, Overture, Espotting or whoever), they always talk of PPC as a "cost". Ultimately PPC is a cashflow issue for most companies. They buy the traffic one month and generate the revenue a little while later. Even in those scenarios there are credit terms available for some companies so the cashflow isn't even an issue.
Ultimately, if it's done well PPC/SEO/SEM/banners/e-mail marketing can all turn a healthy profit.
One thing that surprises me though is how many large organisations are bidding suicidal amounts of money for headline keywords. Ultimately, they will lose money on the day/week/month but may have deep enough pockets for it not to be an issue.
The week is over and I can say it looks as though I will have netted (as in 'take home a check') for over $1000.
I still have NOT spent my 'fun budget' of $100.
My wife is very happy, I'm happy, we're all happy.
Kinda cool:>)
