Hello All,

I started using google adwords last November and I thought it was great! It generated a lot of jobs for me and the cost was reasonable. Now, google adwords is creating the opposite effect. It is costing more than what it is generating. So, I have stopped using it.

Has anyone else encountered this? What may I be doing wrong?

Thanks for your thoughts.

It takes work.

If you are busy out doing what we do, You shouldnt have time to mess with it...Leave that to someone who does it...Remember the ol saying, Hard to beat someone at their own game...same goes for internet..

...and alot of thinking.

lol...you got that right DaveK...

Coondog,

Folks have always advised using it with a low budget to start with and not a ton of words, this helps but building a good strong
campaign to me really takes not only figuring out the keywords or phrases that folks are using to search for you and your services
but finding out those that are being searched that will cost you but not result in any work.

Sounds complicated but it isn't all that bad in my opinion.

I'll make a couple of examples.

For pigeon work a good combo might be "pigeon removal" while a bad combo even though offered by google may be "pigeon spike."

This is an example of something I lost some cash on as I took googles advice early on and thought sure those words would likely
be people searching for help, however the folks searching for spikes are nearly always looking for where to buy them, hardly ever
who can install them.

Another example just generically is bat.

Baseball bat will cost you a ton of hits (no pun intended) however combining bat with the other terms that fit what you offer will result
in good hits.

***

If you are being crushed by crappy hits, take a strong look at what is being clicked, what words, what combo of words, etc....

I don't know what your budgets are daily, etc... but there are some common sense tips to cut down on non producing hits, like cutting down the time they are visible, targeting your geographic area more tightly using the radius of advertising tools in the system.

To me google was made for folks who want to DIY their ads, not that you can't hire out or that there is anything wrong with that, but if you know your company, know your area and spend at least a couple of hours a week on the computer evaluating your ads you can and will
get results.

The first thing to figure out is where are the hits costing you money coming from and figure out if those combos or words should be dropped or edited.

Justin

Don't get everyone thinking, now....Justin.

There's no problem with me ever thinking.

I gleaned as much info from here when I was starting to use adwords as I did
from some specific books I bought (another tip, buy a book or two, plenty to
choose from and they at least give the ABC's of using adwords).

Gotta give a little back every now and again!

I have learned more than I practice, however I've banked the tips and tricks
in my "hard drive" and every now and again I find someone who can use a
file or two!