One thing Google has continued to do throughout its history is to make its products easier and easier for the common man to use. In theory, this sounds great. Anybody can start up an AdWords advertising campaign and immediately be on an even space with even the biggest companies.
But you need to get one thing straight – Google hasn’t become one of the biggest companies in the world, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, without knowing how to maximize its profit.
Yes, Google has made it easier than ever to get started promoting your business and website online. But the problem for you, Mr. Small Business Man, is that the deck is STILL stacked slightly against you. Here’s how.
Google has dumbed down its keyword research data. There was a time (very recently, in fact) when the Google Keyword Planner was a great tool for keyword research. Now, certainly, it is still useful. But Google seems to have blurred the data considerably for small budget advertisers. When you run keyword reports now, you will see average traffic in very wide ranges, such as 1,000 to 10,000. That is a big range. There is a big difference between 1 thousand potential customers and 10 thousand. It is my understanding that large budget advertisers see much more accurate data.
I don’t like that.
Another thing that Google is doing now that it is not advantageous to small business advertisers is its continued push toward automation. Google wants you to tell it what your main goals are and then let it set all of your keyword bids for you based on those goals. If you have a big budget, this can work out for you because you can afford to blow though a few thousand dollars without it being any big deal.
But the small advertiser can’t afford to do that.
A small business with a limited advertising budget will do much better letting a human being set up its campaign for it. Google tends to crank keyword bids up REAL high to make sure they are at the top of search results. Then as data is generated, it will adjust those bids to a more reasonable level. That process happens much quicker if you have a big budget from the start.
The small company with a smaller budget will have problems because it won’t generate data fast enough. It is very likely that you could have an automated keyword bit set at $50, even though you only want to pay a maximum of $5. Chances are slim that you will actually have to pay the whole $50, BUT IT COULD HAPPEN! That is the problem with Google automation. It’s smart…but it still doesn’t think in human common sense terms. Starting out, with no historical data, Google is just not that smart!
The solution? Work with a paid search management company that has human beings managing the campaigns! Don’t take chances. Maximize your return on investment…with common sense!
Contact Work Media if you need help using Google AdWords or other paid platforms for your marketing.