We meet quite a lot of people who tell us that they've tried Google Adwords and it hasn't worked out for them. Google Adwords, in case you don't know, is paid, click-through advertising. You pick some search terms (say Plumber Aylesbury) and if anyone searches for that on Google then there's a chance an ad for your business (which you've written) will appear. If the searcher clicks on it and comes to your website, you pay.
Pretty often, when we look at the website of the person who's told us Adwords doesn't work, it's not very good. The thing is, it's really a three-step process:
- Get someone to click on your ad
- Impress them with your website
- Impress them personally when they get in touch
Blaming or criticising Adwords when your website isn't up to scratch - or is inconsistent with the kind of click-throughs that you're getting - is missing the point. It's like telling people to get lost when they phone up and then blaming Yellow Pages.
The further problem is that there are a ton of Adwords consultants in the market now, and some of them are so keen to get business that they'll encourage customers to launch into an Adwords campaign without making sure that steps 2 and 3 are going to work as well.
So, Adwords can work, but - as with any marketing - make sure that you're going to be able to successfully manage the whole process - clicks aren't worth anything in isolation.
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