Best Way to Learn Facebook Ads and Google Ads

[Mike Thiel]

I have some basic knowledge, but this is not enough to deliver promised results in my agency ( generating x leads per x amount of time ), so I wanted to ask about the best source to learn both Facebook ads and Google ads, I have seen some courses in udemy and so on, but if someone knows, for instance, some developed forum in these topics, paid courses which actually are packed, ofc could be udemy course as well which I might missed etc

 

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

[StrikingViper69]

First step should be to refund the person you took money from.

 

[Mike Thiel]

First step should be to refund the person you took money from.

this is a 0% necessary response, don't reply if you have nothing to say

 

[amp0193]

@StrikingViper69 was blunt with his response, but I sympathize with the underlying implied question of “what are doing with an ads agency if you don’t know how to run ads well?”

We all gotta start somewhere though.

For Google Ads, I like the God Tier Ads course. Very thorough, and it’s current with recent changes with GA4.

For Facebook, I’ve been recommend by people a lot smarter than me the Foundr course How To Run Facebook Ads. I have not not yet gone through it myself though, so can’t vouch personally.

 

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

[Mike Thiel]

@StrikingViper69 was blunt with his response, but I sympathize with the underlying implied question of “what are doing with an ads agency if you don’t know how to run ads well?”

We all gotta start somewhere though.

For Google Ads, I like the God Tier Ads course. Very thorough, and it’s current with recent changes with GA4.

For Facebook, I’ve been recommend by people a lot smarter than me the Foundr course How To Run Facebook Ads. I have not not yet gone through it myself though, so can’t vouch personally.

well, I tried to copy my friend's agency project, but he made one crucial step differently from me - he charged the client 2k upfront and half of it spent on upwork to hire a pro media buyer and thus without issues could deliver.
On the other hand, I used 2weeks free trial technique to encourage the first customers - which worked really well but I hadn't the resources to cover pro media buyers so I had to do it myself ( both tiktok and fb ) tho couldn't deliver.
I know that at this point I should use my friend's tactic, but I prefer to learn ads myself and repeat my tactic that worked in the past, as that skill might serve me not only in making money in my agency but in diff industries/projects as well.

Thank you for the recommendations, I will look into them, by any chance do you know some other other courses in learning FB ads?

 

[Andy Black]

I posted this in a different thread.

It's often a case of setting expectations correctly.

You mistake wasn't that you couldn't create a great WordPress website. Your mistake was that you set the wrong expectations.

When I started with Google Ads I told people what I'd done for a friend and what I'd try for them.

I told them we wouldn't know what would happen till we loaded campaigns, but I'd run them on as low a budget as possible and see what happened in a month.

Prospects liked the sound of that and some signed up. 14 years later I still say that.

 

[Andy Black]

1) I recommend you pick either Facebook Ads or Google Ads and focus on getting results with that channel only. When/if you nail one channel then consider adding other channels.

2) I also recommend you don't make it your goal to "learn". Your goal is to get results for your clients.

3) If you're doing Google Ads for lead gen then maybe start here:

MARKETING - The Shortest Google Ads Tutorial Ever

It took me HOURS to create this. Let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions. Hope it helps! View: https://youtu.be/7z7kx3kJC4M EDIT: Once you're running watch these two short videos to make sense of the metrics...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

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

[Mike Thiel]

1) I recommend you pick either Facebook Ads or Google Ads and focus on getting results with that channel only. When/if you nail one channel then consider adding other channels.

2) I also recommend you don't make it your goal to "learn". Your goal is to get results for your clients.

3) If you're doing Google Ads for lead gen then maybe start here:

MARKETING - The Shortest Google Ads Tutorial Ever

It took me HOURS to create this. Let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions. Hope it helps! View: https://youtu.be/7z7kx3kJC4M EDIT: Once you're running watch these two short videos to make sense of the metrics...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

this is sth what I am currently thinking of - which channel is going to be better for me,
My niche is quite narrow - house renovations in the US market. ( TikTok performed horribly - even with UGC :0 )
I know Google has a bigger audience, but def needs more time to optimize, FB could be faster but in the long run, google might outperform it.
tbh, it's not an easy decision as to which one to choose
btw how Andy did you learn Google Ads? And also do you know some reliable FB courses?

 

[Andy Black]

this is sth what I am currently thinking of - which channel is going to be better for me,
My niche is quite narrow - house renovations in the US market. ( TikTok performed horribly - even with UGC :0 )
I know Google has a bigger audience, but def needs more time to optimize, FB could be faster but in the long run, google might outperform it.
tbh, it's not an easy decision as to which one to choose
btw how Andy did you learn Google Ads? And also do you know some reliable FB courses?

I learned Google Ads by doing it.

Nowadays there's loads of YouTube videos to learn from, and online courses.

I did take a course by Dr Glenn Livingston that was pretty amazing. That was in 2009 or 2010.

It's all about the intent behind the search term.

Why does Google Ads need more time to optimise, and why do you think it has a bigger audience? Paid search is about getting in front of people doing searches.

 

[BizyDad]

I learned both by doing it for myself first. Then I offered it as a service.

 

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

[BlackMagician]

Will follow up on this tomorrow. Just commenting so that I remember replying here

 

[Mike Thiel]

I learned Google Ads by doing it.

Nowadays there's loads of YouTube videos to learn from, and online courses.

I did take a course by Dr Glenn Livingston that was pretty amazing. That was in 2009 or 2010.

It's all about the intent behind the search term.

Why does Google Ads need more time to optimise, and why do you think it has a bigger audience? Paid search is about getting in front of people doing searches.

More time means that during the first week of running ads probably won't get any leads on Google, while on FB it's feasible to see the results right away.
Cost per lead on Google in that niche usually is around $300 ( seen the results of others but can't say based on my own experience ) while on FB is cheaper - around $50-$100.
Tho the quality of the lead from Google can be better than the one from FB.
My landing pages are pretty high quality so the conversion is like 20%

 

[BizyDad]

Cost per lead on Google in that niche usually is around $300 ( seen the results of others but can't say based on my own experience ) while on FB is cheaper - around $50-$100.

I have 3 clients in this niche. I only do search engine marketing anymore. Currently my worst is running at $180 CPL this quarter, and my best is at $127.

All time numbers are significantly better, but rising interest rates and a slow down in RE have led to less home renovations overall.

 

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

[StrikingViper69]

this is a 0% necessary response, don't reply if you have nothing to say

You're selling something that you have no idea how to deliver. I think it was a very necessary response.

1. Refund the person you lied to
2. Learn how to do it
3. Sell your skills

You are never going to learn FB ads in time to provide real value to the person you stole from.

You can't afford to hire someone to do it.

It really sounds like the only solution is the three steps I outlined above.

 

[Mike Thiel]

I have 3 clients in this niche. I only do search engine marketing anymore. Currently my worst is running at $180 CPL this quarter, and my best is at $127.

All time numbers are significantly better, but rising interest rates and a slow down in RE have led to less home renovations overall.

that's a very good number! def could skew my current perception
how many leads in total can you get per month for one client? and how many of them convert into real clients ( per month )?

 

[BizyDad]

how many leads in total can you get per month for one client?

Can I and do I are two different questions. Either way, it really depends on the budget. There are also several ways to measure the totality of the market opportunity once you have ads started.

how many of them convert into real clients ( per month )?

Not my job to track this. Enough that my clients have been with me between 2-6 years. Sales cycle is long though. And closing percentages vary greatly across the different companies and different services being sold.

Stop worrying about benchmarks. It doesn't matter what some random guy in Phoenix AZ is able to do, especially if your clients aren't in Phx AZ. You results will naturally be different if you are running ads in Detroit, vs El Paso, vs London.

Get in there, get results, then get better results next month. My campaigns are pretty mature by now and I know what works for these clients.

If I started something brand new, it might very well start at $300/lead

 

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

[Mike Thiel]

You're selling something that you have no idea how to deliver. I think it was a very necessary response.

1. Refund the person you lied to
2. Learn how to do it
3. Sell your skills

You are never going to learn FB ads in time to provide real value to the person you stole from.

You can't afford to hire someone to do it.

It really sounds like the only solution is the three steps I outlined above.

my mate, you still didn't provide any value here - but you have your chance now by mentioning your favorite courses from Google or FB.
To this day I have contact with my clients as thanks to me they made some money - but NOT WHAT WAS PROMISED IN THE OFFER, so there is no sense in refunding anything, but I felt accountable for under-deliver and decided to stop it.

 

[BizyDad]

my mate, you still didn't provide any value here - but you have your chance now by mentioning your favorite courses from Google or FB.
To this day I have contact with my clients as thanks to me they made some money - but NOT WHAT WAS PROMISED IN THE OFFER, so there is no sense in refunding anything, but I felt accountable for under-deliver and decided to stop it.

Since you keep bringing it up, you know, the rest of us would like YOU to start providing more value too.

People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones...

 

[Mike Thiel]

View attachment 52216

Since you keep bringing it up, you know, the rest of us would like YOU to start providing more value too.

People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones...

you're right about it - but on the other hand, it's like "You have fewer likes so my answer won't be elaborate" never mind, no time for that,
to sum this up: taking some courses online + experimenting with one channel ( FB or Google ) should be the way to go

 

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

[Andy Black]

On selling before you're an expert...

There's ways of framing it so you're being fully transparent, AND so the business owner likes what they hear.

Indeed, I was on a call with someone yesterday explaining about how we'd setup Google Ads campaigns with a low daily spend and learn in the first month whether it's going to work for him. Funnily enough it was for home renovations, in Canada. He liked the sound of it and asked me to send an invoice. (He's not paid yet so I don't class him as a client... which reminds me I should email him to check he got the invoice.)

You can frame it so you're learning with them whether it will work or not, and that your goal is for it to work so well over the coming months that you partner together for years to come.

These might help:

A chat with @xShepherdx:

MARKETING - A chat about selling marketing services

@xShepherdx posted last week about his frustrations hiring a marketing freelancer. We've never spoken but I offered to hop on a call and chat about it. If you watch then please add your notes and I'll add them to this opening post. What's your takeaways? What will you do different going...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

A video from years ago:

HOT! - MINDSET - You don't need to be an expert

You don't need to be an expert People typically underestimate the value they can add. Often they feel they need to be an expert to help someone. That's not the case. In this video I talk about how I got started in my current business, before I'd even heard of AdWords. (Transcription below.)

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[Andy Black]

If I started something brand new, it might very well start at $300/lea

Ah maaan. Now I feel stupid for asking. What's lea?

 

[BlackMagician]

to sum this up: taking some courses online + experimenting with one channel ( FB or Google ) should be the way to go

So you wanna learn Ads, you wanna bring leads to clients and you wanna earn some money?

I hear you. Before you dive into any channel(fb/Google), learn 2 difference:

Knowledge of dashboard
Knowledge of advertising

If you hop on Udemy, get some course, you will learn dashboard knowledge. You will learn about audience, adset, setup campaign, setup pixel, technical, tactics to bring results etc.

These are just DASHBOARD knowledge. They don't bring MUCH results. Mind you, these knowledge are needed but it's not what brings leads, sales and revenue for your client and you.

Then there is knowledge of advertising.
Learn THAT.

You want guidance on learning this skill, finding leads, serving clients and bringing results?

Here it's is:
Step 1: Read Ogilvy on advertising, Cashvertising, Influence, Breakthrough advertising.

Step 2: Sit and hand write Ads you will find in those books and Gary halbert

Step 3: Read Russell Branson books, Alex Hormozi $100m Leads

Step 4: Create a full funnel from ads to lead form for this client of yours

STEP 5: Millionaire.


Ok ok, I know that's dramatically paraphrased but you got the gist of it.

After you complete the above, now go and take a course from Adskills folks about Facebook ads.

Focus on Facebook first.

Do these and I will share the next steps after them.

Mind you, I learned all these in 3 months, while working in an agency and that's the fastest way of learning if you want to.

 

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

[BizyDad]

Ah maaan. Now I feel stupid for asking. What's lea?

that's a typo. Lead.

 

[circleme]

It's often a case of setting expectations correctly.

I'm no longer a freelancer in the SEM game. I have focused on SEO most of the time but had a few SEA/Google Ads gigs as well. A while ago, I reviewed my time freelancing: What did I do well, what did I do wrong? The hardest part in performance marketing services, be it social media, SEO, SEA, email marketing, display ads, etc., in my opinion, is setting the right expectations. I mean, that is really crazy to me, as one of the most common scenarios in SEO as well as SEO was a CEO calling me after 2 weeks. Well, can we already tell how many leads we generate? The fuq? No, we can't. We need data; we need to iterate on the data; we need to improve on a constant basis, and our number one goal is to break even. After that, we try to make $2 out of $1, then $5 out of $1, and so on.

BUT I think that a lot of bro marketers, as MJ calls them, are playing with expectations in this field a lot. What I mean by that is that they will talk to clients like, "Well, don't worry at all; we will get you an ROI of 500% after 4 weeks with SEO." Well, they will get paid to do the work for the 4 weeks, and then they move on. I had the "pleasure" to "repair" the poor work of bro marketers for my client more than once, and it seriously sucks—big time!

Setting expectations is really key in anything that has to do with performance services.

 

[Doctor Sleep]

You cannot just "learn" ads.
The best option is experience..more money you spend more experience you'll gain.

 

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

[Mike Thiel]

So you wanna learn Ads, you wanna bring leads to clients and you wanna earn some money?

I hear you. Before you dive into any channel(fb/Google), learn 2 difference:

Knowledge of dashboard
Knowledge of advertising

If you hop on Udemy, get some course, you will learn dashboard knowledge. You will learn about audience, adset, setup campaign, setup pixel, technical, tactics to bring results etc.

These are just DASHBOARD knowledge. They don't bring MUCH results. Mind you, these knowledge are needed but it's not what brings leads, sales and revenue for your client and you.

Then there is knowledge of advertising.
Learn THAT.

You want guidance on learning this skill, finding leads, serving clients and bringing results?

Here it's is:
Step 1: Read Ogilvy on advertising, Cashvertising, Influence, Breakthrough advertising.

Step 2: Sit and hand write Ads you will find in those books and Gary halbert

Step 3: Read Russell Branson books, Alex Hormozi $100m Leads

Step 4: Create a full funnel from ads to lead form for this client of yours

STEP 5: Millionaire.


Ok ok, I know that's dramatically paraphrased but you got the gist of it.

After you complete the above, now go and take a course from Adskills folks about Facebook ads.

Focus on Facebook first.

Do these and I will share the next steps after them.

Mind you, I learned all these in 3 months, while working in an agency and that's the fastest way of learning if you want to.

highly appreciate your response, it's concise and straight to the point.

to shed more light on my situation - I am quite familiar with the dashboard as at the end of the day I provided "some" results but it wasn't enough, luckily for my clients it was a free trial in most cases.
As the results weren't enough I def need to upgrade my level ( whether it's a copy or graphic in the ad creative, ) so I will focus mostly on the advertising skillset ( FB ) + run through maybe two Udemy courses just to feel confident again.
The course that you mentioned at the end (course from Adskills folks about Facebook ads ) you mean that one:
AdSkills | Free ?
what do you think about being part of paid discord groups or watching youtube guys in the agency industry?

 

[Mike Thiel]

You cannot just "learn" ads.
The best option is experience..more money you spend more experience you'll gain.

true, but I am spending my client's money, so I want to make the best use of it

 

[Mike Thiel]

On selling before you're an expert...

There's ways of framing it so you're being fully transparent, AND so the business owner likes what they hear.

Indeed, I was on a call with someone yesterday explaining about how we'd setup Google Ads campaigns with a low daily spend and learn in the first month whether it's going to work for him. Funnily enough it was for home renovations, in Canada. He liked the sound of it and asked me to send an invoice. (He's not paid yet so I don't class him as a client... which reminds me I should email him to check he got the invoice.)

You can frame it so you're learning with them whether it will work or not, and that your goal is for it to work so well over the coming months that you partner together for years to come.

These might help:

A chat with @xShepherdx:

MARKETING - A chat about selling marketing services

@xShepherdx posted last week about his frustrations hiring a marketing freelancer. We've never spoken but I offered to hop on a call and chat about it. If you watch then please add your notes and I'll add them to this opening post. What's your takeaways? What will you do different going...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

A video from years ago:

HOT! - MINDSET - You don't need to be an expert

You don't need to be an expert People typically underestimate the value they can add. Often they feel they need to be an expert to help someone. That's not the case. In this video I talk about how I got started in my current business, before I'd even heard of AdWords. (Transcription below.)

www.thefastlaneforum.com

appreciate that insight Andy yes selling process is crucial, but delivering the results might be superior
have you ever thought of swapping Google for FB?

 

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

[Andy Black]

appreciate that insight Andy yes selling process is crucial, but delivering the results might be superior
have you ever thought of swapping Google for FB?

Results is what they're after at the end of the day. If you can't deliver them then the engagement will eventually end.

Most business owners appreciate you can't always gurantee results, so showing your process often helps. I find many business owners are suspicious of grand guarantees too.

Erm no, I won't swap Google for Facebook. Google's easy. To me Google (search) is straight lines and social media is circles. I'm more a straight line guy.They searched for "plumber chicago" and I know what they want. They searched "plumber jobs chicago" and I know what they want too, and it's not the same as the first searcher. In fact, I just need to get those two to talk to each other.

Also, I've been doing Google Ads since 2009 and lots of people know that's what I do. It would be silly of me to step off my high ground and go compete with people who've been doing Facebook Ads for a decade or more.

 

[BizyDad]

have you ever thought of swapping Google for FB?

Also, I've been doing Google Ads since 2009 and lots of people know that's what I do. It would be silly of me to step off my high ground and go compete with people who've been doing Facebook Ads for a decade or more.

I did feel this was akin to asking MJ to title his next book Wealthy Papa, Impoverished Papa.