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Andy Black Miyagi'd me to do it (aka How I am computerising my uncle)

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

Everyman

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This is my first thread (don't count introduction). It took me 6 years after finding the book (not the Bible, THE BOOK - TMF ) to start one. That's fast... Don't hit me. I needed a mission and vision statement. And a PowerPoint presentation. Not to mention business cards.

There is no *bonus at the end of the post. *But may prepare one for the end of this thread.

Anyway.

I will copy parts from other thread where I commented (Progress Thread - Andy Black Made Me Do It - AdWords).


The idea:

- it came from my client that wanted to be on the no 1 position for a keyword (which I did, well not too difficult with the posts here)

The knowledge - @Andy Black 's threads and brain (mainly the latter, although we haven't spoken voice-to-voice yet):

- I PMed Andy and he wrote back - "maybe you can try running it yourself"

- I built a clean, one-page website (thanks to Fox's thread GOLD - How to Learn Code, Start a Web Company, $15k+ per month within 9 months) for my uncle - local dentist - without his knowledge nor permission (...)

- I started a campaing (sounds big, doesn't it?) with 5E/day budget to see how it goes - (start date 6th of April)

The business:

- local dentist
- city approx. 1M population
- I didn't check the number of dentists per 100 people (0.25 so one arm and one leg per 100 people?)
- small business (2 people)
- extremely profitable once but due to growing competition... not that good these days (still a lot of money there).
- some of the above is ... well people should develop all the time, otherwise read above once more

I am an analyst from experience (we all are)... I just see things. Maybe not right.

I immediately started seeing patterns (and not dead people...). Having read some of Andy's posts I am getting up to speed but still a lot ahead of me. I am applying blindly at the moment but will change. Adjust.

Main findings:
- two main keywords/groups - [(profession + city)] x 2, profession can be called "this" and "that" (e.g. lift and elevator)
- one of them more formal and supposed to be used fewer times is actually more popular
- two almost exactly same ads, with keywords adjusted to the search term, bring completely different results (2.25% vs 0.7% CTR) - and they should be statistically the same
- I am limited by budget because the demand is huge, demand for clicking at the moment
- So is the competition...
- I am not afraid of the competition

Future plans:
- the site is one-page and doesn't have a contact form
- I haven't spoken to the dentist about it (family member) and want to know what the results are
- I hope for 'some' to prove this works and when it does I want to create a contact form so I see how often people use it, set an account so my dentist's assistant can answer the queries (they are behind with tablets there too... hence I am computerising)
- I will do the form anyway, if somebody is in pain then will call, not wait a few hours for a reply
- I was advised by other family member to wait because Easter = people not spending money on teeth, rather food and drinks and travel. They don't have time to go to a dentist. The plan is to run it for at least a month or two anyway
- Some family members usually skeptic about my ideas are positive and interested
- Some family members usually skeptic about my ideas are still skeptic.. Oh well

(*BONUS) I will try to update every now and then and after two months summarise. I am computer-literate so it may end up as a fancy set of graphs or nice table / software enhanced data.

Thanks for reading and your time here with me.
 
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Andy Black

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This is my first thread (don't count introduction). It took me 6 years after finding the book (not the Bible, THE BOOK - TMF ) to start one. That's fast... Don't hit me. I needed a mission and vision statement. And a PowerPoint presentation. Not to mention business cards.

There is no *bonus at the end of the post. *But may prepare one for the end of this thread.

Anyway.

I will copy parts from other thread where I commented (Progress Thread - Andy Black Made Me Do It - AdWords).


The idea:

- it came from my client that wanted to be on the no 1 position for a keyword (which I did, well not too difficult with the posts here)

The knowledge - @Andy Black 's threads and brain (mainly the latter, although we haven't spoken voice-to-voice yet):

- I PMed Andy and he wrote back - "maybe you can try running it yourself"

- I built a clean, one-page website (thanks to Fox's thread GOLD - How to Learn Code, Start a Web Company, $15k+ per month within 9 months) for my uncle - local dentist - without his knowledge nor permission (...)

- I started a campaing (sounds big, doesn't it?) with 5E/day budget to see how it goes - (start date 6th of April)

The business:

- local dentist
- city approx. 1M population
- I didn't check the number of dentists per 100 people (0.25 so one arm and one leg per 100 people?)
- small business (2 people)
- extremely profitable once but due to growing competition... not that good these days (still a lot of money there).
- some of the above is ... well people should develop all the time, otherwise read above once more

I am an analyst from experience (we all are)... I just see things. Maybe not right.

I immediately started seeing patterns (and not dead people...). Having read some of Andy's posts I am getting up to speed but still a lot ahead of me. I am applying blindly at the moment but will change. Adjust.

Main findings:
- two main keywords/groups - [(profession + city)] x 2, profession can be called "this" and "that" (e.g. lift and elevator)
- one of them more formal and supposed to be used fewer times is actually more popular
- two almost exactly same ads, with keywords adjusted to the search term, bring completely different results (2.25% vs 0.7% CTR) - and they should be statistically the same
- I am limited by budget because the demand is huge, demand for clicking at the moment
- So is the competition...
- I am not afraid of the competition

Future plans:
- the site is one-page and doesn't have a contact form
- I haven't spoken to the dentist about it (family member) and want to know what the results are
- I hope for 'some' to prove this works and when it does I want to create a contact form so I see how often people use it, set an account so my dentist's assistant can answer the queries (they are behind with tablets there too... hence I am computerising)
- I will do the form anyway, if somebody is in pain then will call, not wait a few hours for a reply
- I was advised by other family member to wait because Easter = people not spending money on teeth, rather food and drinks and travel. They don't have time to go to a dentist. The plan is to run it for at least a month or two anyway
- Some family members usually skeptic about my ideas are positive and interested
- Some family members usually skeptic about my ideas are still skeptic.. Oh well

(*BONUS) I will try to update every now and then and after two months summarise. I am computer-literate so it may end up as a fancy set of graphs or nice table / software enhanced data.

Thanks for reading and your time here with me.
Ha! I've got a lot to answer for...

For context, @Everyman was wondering how to get convince someone to run an AdWords campaign for their business. I wondered if he could just do it. (Is that about right @Everyman?)
 

Everyman

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Ha! I've got a lot to answer for...

For context, @Everyman was wondering how to get convince someone to run an AdWords campaign for their business. I wondered if he could just do it. (Is that about right @Everyman?)

Yes. Although the background of the first client was different - I went there to 'sell a website'. And came out with this idea.

Yet, @Andy Black it's your story where you started the conversation with showing your future client their business at the top position on google search.
 

Everyman

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Quick update.

Both ads had 'almost' the same wording. I mentioned before that in comparison they had 2.25% vs 0.7% CTR. The 0.7% add had "text + city, borough... etc..." and the 2.25% had "text ... + , borough, city... etc..." - as you can see at first glance rather unimportant but when you look at the CTR it's huge.

I changed it so the 0.7% ad maches the 2.25% ad in wording exactly apart from the keywords. Now it's 1.13%... I had no idea...

Second change - I am limited by budget until I discuss my options because the market is bigger. At the moment I can easily spend 15E per day (now only 3E) so 450E a month but what's the point if nobody answers the phone/tends to prospects. While some of you have spent 15k E / day and my amount is petite. It may (and I will make) have a gigantic difference for the owner of the business. If he is not attracting customers through this channel.

Second change was actually about excluding areas. I narrowed the search to certain boroughs/areas/districts because I was gathering traffic from distant places. I don't think people will travel for 30 mins - 1hr when they have someone around the corner...

More to come...
 
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Last edited:

Everyman

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Meanwhile I spoke to a friend. He has 10k USD per month to spend on AdWords. Few years ago I would pee my pants and said "yes yes yes"...

I don't want to do it. I want to focus on what I am doing right now. And his idea also overlaps with selling "self-development". I like progress. I don't like "self-development" business.

I won't do it but am thinking of asking him to mentor someone. He has built a profitable business out of nothing and has so much experience to share, but it worries me he is moving towards these "Tony Robbins" style guys that sell "positive-thinking" books.......
 

Everyman

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Small update - still here

I narrowed down the campaign to one district which my uncle said is too big anyway. He needs one/two estates to target. Will see what can be done. And CTR is around 10% (9.8% I think). I don't know if it's good or bad. I had other campaign, pretty odd industry, with around 10% too which I thought was high.
 

Everyman

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I don't have too much time now - I am working daily on two projects.

One is this.

I adjusted quite a few things. Tweaked here and there.

I woke up to 50% CTR on one term/keyword group (two word search term?) and 30% CTR overall. AND I AM PAYING 40-60% LESS FOR THESE BETTER QUALIFIED LEADS. MONEY IS BEING FLUSHED DOWN THE TOILET THERE.

Btw I changed the second main keyword group (two word search term?) in the meantime - changed the website to more congruent with the ad - It had zero results for a few days. Instantly got a click and 20% CTR which I think will go higher.
 
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Last edited:

Everyman

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F*&$£* I don't know if it matters.

My uncle's business hours affect the CTR, don't know if that hurts or what... When my dentist is opened in the morning the CTR is around 15-50%. When it opens in the afternoon is .... close to 0% or not more than 5%......... The service is limited to some hours but the assistant is open to answer calls before or after hours.... Weird how it works when people see that the business opens at 2pm and won't call because is 8am now..... So obvious though! But when I change the business hours people will expect to have their appointment now, not later.

I can 'cook the books' to have an excellent CTR but I don't know. I have enough clicks there even when CTR is lower than 10%... Maybe narrowing down will still work notwithstanding the 'numbers'. The important is GET THEM TO CALL.

Am I chaotic today. Hope it will serve some here.

I wouldn't have got so much insight into any of this without setting this dummy account and testing...
 

Andy Black

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F*&$£* I don't know if it matters.

My uncle's business hours affect the CTR, don't know if that hurts or what... When my dentist is opened in the morning the CTR is around 15-50%. When it opens in the afternoon is .... close to 0% or not more than 5%......... The service is limited to some hours but the assistant is open to answer calls before or after hours.... Weird how it works when people see that the business opens at 2pm and won't call because is 8am now..... So obvious though! But when I change the business hours people will expect to have their appointment now, not later.

I can 'cook the books' to have an excellent CTR but I don't know. I have enough clicks there even when CTR is lower than 10%... Maybe narrowing down will still work notwithstanding the 'numbers'. The important is GET THEM TO CALL.

Am I chaotic today. Hope it will serve some here.

I wouldn't have got so much insight into any of this without setting this dummy account and testing...
Set a schedule so ads only show when someone will answer the phone?
 

Everyman

Get To The Choppa!
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Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
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Dec 31, 2015
328
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Set a schedule so ads only show when someone will answer the phone?

Thanks Andy. Nice to know you spend time reading this although I think it's pretty basic (and probably boring) for you. I should have added this thought there so I didn't sound like a complete retard. I am thinking about it, will probably do.

1. Today again 27% CTR and opened 9am-1pm (same on Wed - approx. 17%).
2. Yesterday - 5% hahaha - opened 2pm-7pm, and the clicks started at 2pm.

Business google says e.g. - open 2pm-7pm
But the assistant can answer 8am-8pm
People click only during business hours - that's what the extension will show - and don't know they can click before 2pm on that day. I want them to click in the morning because they can even when we open at 2pm...
 
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Last edited:

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
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EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
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May 20, 2014
18,563
68,689
Ireland
At a guess, you're not getting enough data to draw conclusions. (If you don't know what I mean, just Google for "statistical significance".)
 

Everyman

Get To The Choppa!
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At a guess, you're not getting enough data to draw conclusions. (If you don't know what I mean, just Google for "statistical significance".)

Thanks Andy. Yes I probably should cool off and wait to see. You are really kind with your help.
 

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