Google Ads Freelancer at 16 - Progress Thread

[Rarehelge]

17.03.24

In the end of February, i started "learning" Google Ads. I quickly realized that i already knew enough to start cold outreach, so i did.

I sent out 10-20 cold-mails to businesses in my area, espescially those who didn't already use Google Ads. Tho, after a few days and about 100 mails sent, it was clear that they didn't want it. The few answers i got were "Google Ads doesn't work, it's a waste of money."

I don't blame them. It's impossible to make people believe it works if they think it doesn't. So i started targetting businesses who were alredy using Google Ads. This turned out much better, i got way more pleasant answers and people didn't seem to think i was a "scammer."

After only two days of sending mails to these businesses, i got my first customer. He said he had already tried multiple agencies without success and he wanted to give me a shot. So, i quickly started looking through his Google Ads account. The last few days have been hard, it's a bit overwhelming.

The client is a small plumber business with three employees. I expected an account spending 10-20$ a day on ads, but they were spending 100-150 a day. This really shock me, as i though their ads were pretty cheap.

Short Term Goals:
Figure out how to make my client better campaigns and make him profitable.
Start outreach again once first client is profitable and doing good.

Lessons learned so far:
Stop learning, start doing.
Make sure to target the right clients for your service.
Be willing to work for free/cheap for your first clients.

Thanks to @Timo. and @Andy Black, your assistance has helped a lot.

 

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[Andy Black]

Stop learning, start doing.

Yeah. We learn by doing.

Make sure to target the right clients for your service.

It's easier to sell to people who already see the value and who are already spending money.

Be willing to work for free/cheap for your first clients.

Indeed. Adding value first is a great way to get new business.

 

[Rarehelge]

Little update:

First client fired me, and rightly so. I did absolute horrors to their ad account. Trippled their CPC, halved impressions and CTR reduced by 3%. I will not beat myself down at this, I got to learn a lot by using their account. Thinking back now, I should have edited the clients pre existing campaigns to improve their impression share.

I will now return to cold outreach and try to get another client. I have really learned a lot by just getting access to an account for a week. Shows that actually doing is way better than "learning", by watching videos or reading.

 

[Bounce Back]

Little update:

First client fired me, and rightly so. I did absolute horrors to their ad account. Trippled their CPC, halved impressions and CTR reduced by 3%. I will not beat myself down at this, I got to learn a lot by using their account. Thinking back now, I should have edited the clients pre existing campaigns to improve their impression share.

I will now return to cold outreach and try to get another client. I have really learned a lot by just getting access to an account for a week. Shows that actually doing is way better than "learning", by watching videos or reading.

Might I recommend try to find a non-profit to help first? Not sure if its the same in your country but at least some point back Google gave free monthly ad spend credit to non-profits.

That way you are not learning with critical marketing budget of small businesses.

 

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[Andy Black]

Thinking back now, I should have edited the clients pre existing campaigns to improve their impression share.

I prefer to not edit their pre-existing campaigns if possible.

What if your edits make it worse? Can you "fall-back" to your previous position?

I prefer to create new campaigns to try and beat their current campaigns. They might canabalise each other so then I'd pause their campaigns and see how mine did compared to theirs. If they don't do well then I pause mine and unpause theirs, and go back to the drawing board.