AdWords dude saying hello

[tafy]

Andy could you please start an AMA (Ask Me Anything) for adwords?
I have a question about local search with adwords in crazy hard category where there's massive budgets

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Andy Black]

Andy could you please start an AMA (Ask Me Anything) for adwords?

Hi tafy, Thanks for the compliment there.

I'm not quite ready yet to do an AMA, for a few reasons:

1) I'm chipping away at my own forum and blog

2) I've a Q&A area for my paid forum members, so don't want to devalue that

3) A lot of questions might be saved if I posted a lot of my free content in here anyway


What I'll do instead of an AMA is start posting the best stuff from my blog in here, and answer queries relating to each post. That would be better than linking out to my blog all the time which isn't best manners in someone else's forum.

If people read it all and still have questions, I might do an AMA. I find that I create my best content answering questions anyway. I just don't want to answer the same questions all the time.

I have a question about local search with adwords in crazy hard category where there's massive budgets

Let's have a guess...

When you say "massive budgets", I presume you mean that you believe your competitors are spending without getting a positive ROI.

Obviously it happens... CEOs of big Law Firms might like to see themselves in position 1 above their competitors, even if it means they are paying an insane CPC. It's often an ego thing, but it also helps the Marketing Manager look good.

Also, a lot of businesses do that "branding" exercise where they just want to be seen. Direct response is alien to them, and yes, they have a "budget" that they need to spend to get a bigger budget next year.

(As an aside: I have a big enough client that keeps talking about "budgets" all the time. The closest I came to converting them into the direct response mindset was a presentation I did for them recently. I recorded a video version here.)

Another issue is that most bricks and mortars businesses don't have any tracking in place to work out their ROI on AdWords spend anyway, and they've outsourced their campaign management to agencies who gets a % of the AdWords spend as their revenue. Not really conducive to running profitably is it?

Right so. How would you compete against these massive, slow moving, "what's a landing page?", budget mentality giants?

... when you're an agile, aggressive, ROI driven, direct response attack dog?

(Is that a leading question?)

Find the weak underbelly in the market, and focus all your resources there.

So no more wide funnels. Go very very narrow. Make sure your ad CTR is better than theirs, and keep improving it. Use all the available weapons you can... sitelinks, call extensions, extended headlines, social extensions, reviews, etc.

Then, to afford to bid more, you're going to have to increase your EPC. (Cos if your CPC is higher than your EPC, then you're going to be negative ROI right?)

How do you increase your EPC? (Note that I called it RPC in the video linked to above because a bricks and mortars business calls it "Revenue", and not "Earnings".)

Increase your conversion rates for starters. If you get more conversions for the same spend, then your profits and margins are higher. Your CPA has also fallen, so you can push bids to get back up to your previous CPA.

And build a deeper funnel.

Turn buyers into repeat buyers (aka customers).

Make 'em happy so that they bring their friends and become referrers for you.

INCREASE AVERAGE VISITOR LIFE-TIME-VALUE.

BY ADDING VALUE.

Keep fixing leaks, and increasing LTV, and ratcheting open the traffic at the top of the funnel (pushing bids).


So in summary, forget wide and shallow funnels, and build narrow and deep ones instead.

Get profitable somewhere, then rinse and repeat.

And make sure you read the awesome thread by @limitup here.

 

[Andy Black]

Post 1 added: The Biggest Benefit of AdWords

 

[tafy]

Ok specifically I mean local search in regards to hotels

The big OTA pay big fat CPC rates to guarantee the top2 spots, any local hotel finds it seriously hard to beat that, also the conversions are terrible as they still book on the OTA.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Andy Black]

Ok specifically I mean local search in regards to hotels

The big OTA pay big fat CPC rates to guarantee the top2 spots, any local hotel finds it seriously hard to beat that, also the conversions are terrible as they still book on the OTA.

OTAs are easy to beat. Their ads are bland and formulaic. Write a better ad, use better sitelinks. Put the words from the search term into the ad headline. Use extended headlines.

Craft your ad with more love and attention.

 

[Berters]

Hey Andy! I too found you from a link to IMGrind on this forum - I had commented on your blog and emailed you (still in the middle of exams...should probably get off the forum and revise!)

Your blog posts and advice here is absolutely gold, really appreciate it. Need to get my adwords campaign going again when I'm free from academic stress in a couple of weeks, following some of your advice a bit closer!

 

[Andy Black]

Hey Andy! I too found you from a link to IMGrind on this forum - I had commented on your blog and emailed you (still in the middle of exams...should probably get off the forum and revise!)

Your blog posts and advice here is absolutely gold, really appreciate it. Need to get my adwords campaign going again when I'm free from academic stress in a couple of weeks, following some of your advice a bit closer!

Oh yes. I remember. Yeah, I wasn't going to tell you anything till after your exams so that you didn't get distracted. Hope the studying is going well and good luck with them exams!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Andy Black]

Post 2 added: Your Goal Is To INCREASE CPCs

Post 3 added: Launch & Learn

Post 4 added: Are You Only Buying Traffic?

 

[TedM]

Use extended headlines.

what does this mean?

 

[Andy Black]

Use extended headlines.

what does this mean?

Post 5 added: AdWords Sneaky Extended Headlines

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[craig1928]

Ireland ftw

 

[Andy Black]

Ireland ftw

Jesus... making me feel old. Had to Google ftw.

You'll be disappointed Craig. I'm an Englishman originally.

 

[craig1928]

s'all good man

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Andy Black]

Post 6 added: The Trick To Understanding AdWords

 

[Andy Black]

Post 7 added: Newbie Mistake #1 - Limited by Budgets

Post 8 added: Newbie Mistake #2 - Our Landing Pages Don't Convert!

 

[Andy Black]

Post 8 added: The Holy Trinity of Paid Search

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Andy Black]

I've just reread my intro from back in May-2014.

It's interesting to see how things have progressed.


# The value bombing commences

Within two weeks of joining I was dropping content from my blog into the forum and eventually created a master index thread here:

• Andy's AdWords Posts

# My goal

I've just written up how I was USING the forum for my own gains in this post:

• Fastlane Paradox

# Why I wasn't using TFLF as "lead gen"

Here's why I wasn't building a funnel to siphon people from TFLF to my own blog and list:

1) It's just damn rude.

2) It's just damn stupid.

Read this fella:

• Clarity of purpose

# Good things happen when your goal is to help more people

Wow... this thread choked me up.

It was totally unexpected, and I had no idea how far giving a little bit of attention goes.

What surprised me was how little my AdWords knowledge had to do with it - at a guess, probably 0% ?

• Congrats Andy Black

• The gift of attention

# What's YOUR takeaways?

What will you do differently now?

What will you do more of now?​

 

[JokerCrazyBeatz]

Im wanting to get started learning to use adwords but all these words and equations are a bit confusing (or maybe im a bit slow) could you @Andy Black pm me so i can maybe get a better break down on how to get started?

 

[Andy Black]

Im wanting to get started learning to use adwords but all these words and equations are a bit confusing (or maybe im a bit slow) could you @Andy Black pm me so i can maybe get a better break down on how to get started?

The best bet is to go through the posts linked to here. Good luck!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Andy Black]

Wow. I've just realised I've crept over 3,000 posts on TFLF since joining on 20-May-14 (a day after my 43rd birthday!)

Looking forward to learning and contributing.

Yep... I've learned a shed-load in the past two years - mostly mindset stuff about how our biggest obstacle is ourselves.

Once you've immersed yourself in this forum for a little while you start to absorb the thought patterns and ways of thinking from other members.

When you read a new post and can predict what the responses will be from other members, then you'll realise you've just experienced the most incredible mentoring.

When you can predict the mindset of a poster purely from the subject line of their post, then you know you've made incredible progress yourself.



This thread you're reading here is the first one I created. I started how I meant to continue - which is adding value first with no expectation of anything in return.

In return, I've received back way more than I could ever have expected. Not monetary gains, but mindset shifts and a realisation that "I am enough". I don't "need" anything. I can just be and do. I can just "Go".

I'm much less in my own way than I was 2 years ago.

And the journey is more fun and less stressful.



Thank you @MJ DeMarco for creating this amazing place. Every business is a reflection of their owner. This forum is a reflection of the values and work ethic of the owner. It's what attracts and keeps so many other amazing forum members.

Thank you everyone in this forum for making this my home online.

 

[Raedrum]

Lol... no thanks.

Paid search first, SEO a distant distant second. When you've worked out what search terms are bringing in the money, and how much each click costs, and how much a place on the organic results is worth for you, then you might want to bring in the SEO guns. I'd rather invest my time and money into increasing the conversion rates and average life-time-value (LTV) so that I can bid more.


Most people are attracted to the free clicks from SEO

... because they don't put a value on their time!


It's also much harder to work out the ROI for SEO because you don't see the cost-per-click. So you're tempted to keep doing something that isn't working and should have been shot a long while ago.

And if you think about the data that you can buy with AdWords, and so fast, that you can buy impressions using a crappy landing page and decide that the idea isn't worth persuing, then you'll realise that the biggest benefit of paid search is the market intelligence you gather, not the traffic you're buying. (Go read this post: Are You Only Buying Traffic?)

SEO takes so bleeding long.

Sooo, with all due respect, bollix to SEO.

I think this is the reason why I began to do websites a year ago and never really bother about SEO. Not knowing exactly why but I had the feeling that this will be a waste of time. Now I know why thank to you ^^ I'll do a little SEO and a lot of SEA. This way I have control and can see where I go from the data I will collect.

For people wondering how I get local businesses as clients (which I don't have many of by the way):

I don't consider myself an expert at face to face sales by any means, but off the top of my head...

Search Engine Marketing is all about being found by the people already looking for you. They are the easiest to sell to.

Once I started taking my own medicine and only taking inbound leads (word of mouth referrals, people finding me on LinkedIn), then everything fell into place.

Forget "selling"... it's all about helping them. If you focus on what they want, and not on what you want, then they see that and you're pushing against an open door.

Oh, and I know my website looks crap, but that's not the point. I only want to deal with people who are interested in the content, not the prettiness of the site. I will eventually beautify it, but it's not a high enough priority for me at the moment.

I am always open to meet businesses for a coffee. They buy me lunch, I waffle. It helps me to hone my stories.

I like telling stories. People remember stories, and I always tell the story about my brother-in-law.

I'm crap at closing, but I think that's mostly because I'm not really chasing the sale. If they're interested, they will circle back. If they aren't interested, I don't want to waste my time.

You *really* need to make sure you're not wasting your time on the wrong prospects.

Find out as quickly as you can whether they see the value in what you do, or the cost.

If the conversation is all about costs, then run. They will NEVER change, and they will always be squeezing you.

If their eyes light up because you provide exactly what they have been looking for, then you're in business (if you want it).

It's just then a case of working out HOW to align both your interests.

I've ended up going down the flat monthly rate route because that's how they mostly want to pay, and it's easiest for both parties.

Most small businesses have zero tracking, and most have a "budget" mentality rather than an "ROI" mentality.

"Let your customer pay you however they want to" was a line I read somewhere.

At the end of the day, a flat rate, % of PPC costs, pay-per-lead, pay-per-sale, % of profits, etc are all just different ways HOW to do the same thing.

Also, you're going to spend a lot of time dealing with them, so trust your gut, and only work with people you enjoy the company of.

(The reality is that I like producing content, and coaching and training. So rather than run campaigns for small businesses, I'd rather create some sort of info product and/or subscription based coaching site that helps them to get better themselves. If I can get to 50% creating content/coaching and 50% managing campaigns, then I'll be happy.)

I sure waste a sh*** load of time trying to convince people to buy me things instead of placing myself in front of people who want something I can offer. Worst is that I had hints but didn't see it, too me-focused. Listening to your interviews make me do progress about that and my results have already augmented.

Wow. I've just realised I've crept over 3,000 posts on TFLF since joining on 20-May-14 (a day after my 43rd birthday!)




Yep... I've learned a shed-load in the past two years - mostly mindset stuff about how our biggest obstacle is ourselves.

Once you've immersed yourself in this forum for a little while you start to absorb the thought patterns and ways of thinking from other members.

When you read a new post and can predict what the responses will be from other members, then you'll realise you've just experienced the most incredible mentoring.

When you can predict the mindset of a poster purely from the subject line of their post, then you know you've made incredible progress yourself.



This thread you're reading here is the first one I created. I started how I meant to continue - which is adding value first with no expectation of anything in return.

In return, I've received back way more than I could ever have expected. Not monetary gains, but mindset shifts and a realisation that "I am enough". I don't "need" anything. I can just be and do. I can just "Go".

I'm much less in my own way than I was 2 years ago.

And the journey is more fun and less stressful.



Thank you @MJ DeMarco for creating this amazing place. Every business is a reflection of their owner. This forum is a reflection of the values and work ethic of the owner. It's what attracts and keeps so many other amazing forum members.

Thank you everyone in this forum for making this my home online.

I'm experiencing that too, this is nice and comfort me in the idea that I'm in the right path.

EDIT: yes I'm digging up all your past posts hehehe