Google AdWords? Need Some Input Please!

[entrepreneur640]

Hey Everyone, I am a young entrepreneur who is always up for new ways of doing things. I have several operations and had a few questions that I could use the combined genius of everyone on this site. I would like to know everyone's opinions on Google AdWords. Has anyone used it? Is it worth it? Do you have any tips for being effective with it? I am currently trying to promote my Ambit Energy Business. I was thinking about designing two different ads (one for potential costumers and one for potential business partners/marketing consultants). Please respond to this post and share your experience.
If you want to see the sites I am trying to Promote and give me a few site specific pointers that would be appreciated. I will attach two different links for the sites. Thanks, I've said it before and I'll say it again, YoungEntrepreneur.com is the best forum I've ever witnessed for help and growth of a business!!

JoinAmbit.com - Home

www.chadholmes.whyambitworks.com


Thanks again everyone!

[borisfowler]

Google Adwords is effective if you are doing it correctly. However, have you looked into doing Facebook ads and more social media marketing. This can be significantly cheaper and much more effective if you invest the right amount of time into and learn how to engage followers and fans. You will see a large return on your engagement when you begin to generate traffic to your site through your ads.

[robgr]

Hi,

Ambit seems like a huge business...I've never been good at not selling my own product though. Adwords like the above commenter said needs to be done right and you have to understand something. Google Adwords are only meant to drive traffic to your site so they buy something. If you are just trying to get traffic to your site to check you out, things just won't turn, when someone comes to your site through an advertisement they are not connected to you in anyway and they are hyper aware of your marketing. So you're not making a friend, the best use of Adwords is to use clever keyword search terms (something that takes a lot of research and some knowledge of the tools) to get people to click through to a very targeted obvious sales page.

The best way to actually understand the plethora of guides and instructionals out there is to first sink $25 or $50 into the service and just sign up and try it. Put any add out there, doesn't matter...just give it a try so you understand what its like, what you see on how many people clicked through or did, how the money spending works.

Honestly, I'd rather get into the social media game, become known as an authority...have some unique pitch on energy....and gain fans who like you because of the value you provide...build an army of followers, then monetize them through selling your energy "offers" to them, or affiliate sales, etc.

[entrepreneur640]

Thanks for the GREAT responses! Does anyone else have anything to add? I will take all the advice I can get. I have been on the social media sites but am just looking for more exposure. Thanks again.

[borisfowler]

Going back to the social media stuff really quickly, I've been running a campaign for the past month or so and have been able to experience what works and what does not. It is important to remember that FB and Twitter cannot do anything for your business, in and of themselves. The best way to approach social media is to find the platform that is going to impact your business the most. By doing this, you are finding your niche in the SM world, and engaging people who want to be engaged. There are so many SM sites that finding the best one is difficult.

If you go onto Wikipedia and type in "social media sites" you will get a large list of sites with descriptions of what they are meant for.

h-t-t-p:// www .caycon .com / resources.php?g=11

[Desert_Star_Systems]

I use Adwords because it's relatively cheap and our market is small. If your customer base is small then expect your cost to be small, too. However, if you know a lot of people are searching for the words you will use then you better have a large budget. Adwords can get expensive!

However, I don't think I've ever click on an ad (in Adwords) for anything that I've search for. So I personally don't click on Ads...that's just me though. In my opinion your customer should be able to find your website using the same words they found your ad with and I would guess more than 95-98% of people would click on a website link from a regular search then an ad through the same search terms (just a guess).


As an example:

(One of...) My market is very small (electronic fish tags...for tracking migratory animals). The most "popular" search term I use is "fish tag" which is very general so I don't actually expect a lot of clicking. For example, last week my link was shown 550 times with only 2 clicks which cost me $2.19. None of these resulted in any sales but at least someone knows what we do...an inexpensive tool.

Alternatively the most related search term "archival tag" was search only 11 times last week which does make more sense. I got 0 clicks there. We are the 15th link in Google when searched under those terms. Alternatively we are mentioned in a Wiki article on the 6th link; none of our competitors use Wiki in any way. However, I do add links to both our websites and their websites along with how both technologies work (when available). Wiki is a very inexpensive way to get the word out, too (note: wiki is not a sales channel). If your data is bias then assume it will be removed!