How I lost 550$ to Google

[parkerscott]

OK. Carry on with the self-pity then.

k den

 

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[firmwear]

Looks like I will just have to chalk this up as a loss. There goes an entire months pay. Thank you google for making it exceptionally easy to set up an account, offer 100$ for an adwords campaign, and making a test campaign an actual campaign.

Google hooked you with a free coupon and ended up taking their pound of flesh. They taught you a good lesson and you will think twice before accepting gifts from strangers (or from anybody else you know, for that matter), right?

I am glad to hear you are settling the debt, it is the best thing to do. However, it still smarts, does it not?

It probably sounds like people are dropping by to rub salt in your wounds and maybe you are right, but maybe your perception is a little off right now.

You should just take a break from the internet for a day or two. Do not dwell on this, get a little exercise, put it behind you, &c.

Take care.

 

[Kaizen]

Parkerscott.

The campaign didn't pay for itself financially, but for $550 you must have had a fair number of clicks.

Clicks means data on your market - CPA, search volume is now possible to see through impression share which is more accurate than Google keyword estimates, you can see what search queries / ad text / CTA drove traffic (no longer possible for organic search) etc.

What I'm say is, can you gain some value from the data? It would be a shame to not pull at least some value from this mistake...

 

[parkerscott]

Parkerscott.

The campaign didn't pay for itself financially, but for $550 you must have had a fair number of clicks.

Clicks means data on your market - CPA, search volume is now possible to see through impression share which is more accurate than Google keyword estimates, you can see what search queries / ad text / CTA drove traffic (no longer possible for organic search) etc.

What I'm say is, can you gain some value from the data? It would be a shame to not pull at least some value from this mistake...

No as soon as I found out I was being charged I called google to have them delete the account. From the time I started the account to the time I deleted it, I had no idea what was going on or the numbers involved or anything. I didnt see any spikes in traffic as a result of a poorly crafted campaign either.

 

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[CarrieW]

Parkerscott.

The campaign didn't pay for itself financially, but for $550 you must have had a fair number of clicks.

Clicks means data on your market - CPA, search volume is now possible to see through impression share which is more accurate than Google keyword estimates, you can see what search queries / ad text / CTA drove traffic (no longer possible for organic search) etc.

What I'm say is, can you gain some value from the data? It would be a shame to not pull at least some value from this mistake...

awesome post! rep +

I would take what he said and go over all the data like he suggests. you just may get something out of it (other than an expensive lesson)

 

[Nosferatu]

I'm with @JimClark on this one...

Google Adwords is a great resource if used properly.

Knowing the things i know about traffic, i'd keep the adwords account.

better luck next time!

 

[3things]

To help anyone else not do what the OP did, remember that adwords [search] is live from the moment you give it keywords, enter a bid and make an ad [display will be similarly almost instant on text ads, but a little bit more of a delay].

The search network is automatedly insta-approved so unless you know this and pause the campaign immediately, your ads will be showing literally within 5 minutes, and will carry on spending the budget you set every day until you pause. If you're not sure or just playing around, pause your campaign and work on it while it's paused!

OP, we've all done shit like that - aside from my own costly adwords balls-up mentioned earlier in the thread, I made another one on a large display ad platform. Again, late at night, falling asleep...I woke up hours later with my laptop still sitting on me to find i set my bid at $32/click, instead of...$0.32c.

D'OH! Luckily that time i got away light, that ad had just 15 clicks. The other ads i had running in various separate accounts had already done about 5,000 clicks each that day...so could have been a lot, lot worse! Still annoying and embarrassing at the time though.

We all make mistakes, it's part of life and part of business. I made a few [some expensive ones] in the years of running online ads I've done. The key is to learn from them, take what you can out of it and be more careful next time.

 

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[Emanuel]

$550 will not make you rich or poor. Don't worry about them. You can easily make them back if you forget about them.

Look on the bright side. It cost you $550, but you won't make the same mistake ever again and you'll certainly be more careful and double check everything related to automatic payments from now on. Perhaps this same mistake or a similar one could have cost you 100 times as much later on. You learned your lesson early on and you'll prevent a bigger mistake from happening in the future.

 

[parkerscott]

To help anyone else not do what the OP did, remember that adwords [search] is live from the moment you give it keywords, enter a bid and make an ad [display will be similarly almost instant on text ads, but a little bit more of a delay].

The search network is automatedly insta-approved so unless you know this and pause the campaign immediately, your ads will be showing literally within 5 minutes, and will carry on spending the budget you set every day until you pause. If you're not sure or just playing around, pause your campaign and work on it while it's paused!

OP, we've all done shit like that - aside from my own costly adwords balls-up mentioned earlier in the thread, I made another one on a large display ad platform. Again, late at night, falling asleep...I woke up hours later with my laptop still sitting on me to find i set my bid at $32/click, instead of...$0.32c.

D'OH! Luckily that time i got away light, that ad had just 15 clicks. The other ads i had running in various separate accounts had already done about 5,000 clicks each that day...so could have been a lot, lot worse! Still annoying and embarrassing at the time though.

We all make mistakes, it's part of life and part of business. I made a few [some expensive ones] in the years of running online ads I've done. The key is to learn from them, take what you can out of it and be more careful next time.

Thank you so much for this! I had no idea that it instantly approved, and I left the site for months not knowing this.

 

[Deleted21961]

Thank you so much for this! I had no idea that it instantly approved, and I left the site for months not knowing this.

So, basically, you lost 550$ and still didn't read terms of service and Google rules, waiting for someone else to tell you how it works?
Seriously.

 

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[parkerscott]

So, basically, you lost 550$ and still didn't read terms of service and Google rules, waiting for someone else to tell you how it works?
Seriously.

I don't have time to read every 50 page TOS agreement every time I see one. Please go. You have nothing to contribute other than your marvelous hindsight. You are the hero this world deserves.

 

[Deleted21961]

I don't have time to read every 50 page TOS agreement every time I see one. Please go. You have nothing to contribute other than your marvelous hindsight. You are the hero this world deserves.

Yeah, I will go. But that's great you told everyone, that you have no time for doing this and that and expect others to do it for you in their own time!

 

[CarrieW]

Yeah, I will go. But that's great you told everyone, that you have no time for doing this and that and expect others to do it for you in their own time!

dude you seriously read every tos you check? I am very anal about shit like this.(and in the past I read every word) but now I scan.

did you come here to offer help to people? or to learn? are you just naturally adept at being a douche?

whatever it is. you are making some bad impressions for yourself here. might want to consider that...

 

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[parkerscott]

Apparently you can read a TOS agreement, but you cant read the original post. I didn't ask anyone how adwords worked or ask anyone to read over the agreement. Im not having anyone do the work for me. 3things shared his information because he wanted to, and I thank him for that.

 

[Deleted21961]

dude you seriously read every tos you check? I am very anal about shit like this.(and in the past I read every word) but now I scan.

did you come here to offer help to people? or to learn? are you just naturally adept at being a douche?

whatever it is. you are making some bad impressions for yourself here. might want to consider that...

Just experimenting with human behaviour.

 

[CarrieW]

Just experimenting with human behaviour.

well when you F*ck with people don't be surprised when you get a reaction. and don't be mad when its not what you expected.

heres some human behavior. people react to being picked at. keep picking. you will get a reaction...

@MJ DeMarco @Runum

 

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[Deleted21961]

well when you F*ck with people don't be surprised when you get a reaction. and don't be mad when its not what you expected.

heres some human behavior. people react to being picked at. keep picking. you will get a reaction...

@MJ DeMarco @Runum

And who said am surprised or mad?

 

[Runum]

Just experimenting with human behaviour.

I am asking you nicely to refrain from conducting your human behavior experiments on this forum.

 

[Deleted21961]

I am asking you nicely to refrain from conducting your human behavior experiments on this forum.

No problem! Have learned a lot, though.

 

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[CarrieW]

And who said am surprised or mad?

I didn't say you were... it was future tense... once the consequences have occurred get back with me. and I didn't say you would be. it was more of a you could be