Ad Words

[OliverB]

Does anyone use Google AdWords or Facebook Ads?

I'm looking to spend a bit of money on both of these options and was wondering if they are any good? I don't want to pump too much money into these, but enough to get my name out there and increase my site traffic.

Any views would be helpful or alternatives.

Thanks

[Toyegraphics]

HI Oliver,

i did use Google ad-words for a week or two, however, i never actually paid for it... i used the voucher i got from my web host.

personally, i never got much business from it.. so i wouldn't use it again but if you have a voucher, its worth a go, not like it's costing you anything!!?

Pete

[IS-James]

I have quite a few clients who use Adwords and it can work very well. But it is very dependant on the industry you are in. Some industries are very saturated on Adwords with the cost per click driven through the roof. Web hosting is one of these I am sad to say, with costs of £10+ per click!

In my experience Adwords works better when you are solving a problem for the person searching. Whether that is a product they are looking for or a service they urgently need. Opposed to a company they would want to have an ongoing relationship with, which is likely to be chosen more based on recommendations and a longer consultation process.

What business are you in, and what geographic area are you targeting?

[Minuteman Press]

We use it and do get business, though of course organic is where it's at.
We are slowly reducing Adword spend.

[Tim Pennington]

if anything go for facebook ads. you only pay for clicks you get, no bullshit.

but tbh, if you want to be noticed further than someone searching for your name, improve your content. code correctly and semantically, make sure you don't repeat yourself on the pages, have links at the bottom of your pages as you do at the top, etc etc etc.

[kithappens]

My advice is if you don't have experience of ad-words don't go throwing money at it, learn it first or you will waste a lot of money and get no return.

Don't get me wrong it's a great way of generating instant traffic, but believe me 80% of people using adwords are probably losing money, it's a fine art to get it right.

So worth looking at, but either research it thoroughly, I would recommend Perry Marshall's google adwords guide, or employ a professional, believe me this will save you time and money and is worth the investment.

I now have a very good understanding of adwords, and I do offer these services to some of my clients, but I still typically perfer organic search engine optimisation, and I assess each clients target merket before agreeing to do adwords work, as someone else pointed out in an earlier post it doesn't necessarily work for all industries.

[Wacomgirl]

I use adwords but usually get promotion vouchers...
however Google from time to time review accounts and right now my account is being review which is annoying as my ads dont show....

[JMCDesigner]

I've heard adwords is better for business to business

[Katedesign]

We used adwords for about a year but stopped it as
1) the guy who was supposedly looking after it , wasn't and left
2) it didn't really bring in much business

I redesigned and coded our website and we rising organically far better than before.

Adwords works if someone is willing to spend time on it. Check your website and look at it from an SEO point of view.

[Minuteman Press]

9% of unique visits via search engines originate from Adwords for us.

But, it really depends upon the profile of your target market.

Try to be region / product specific and you may find that cost per click is lower.

Position in adword ranking is not purely down to price, it's also related to click through rate.