Friday, March 28, 2008

Do you need an AdWords Expert?

Do you need an AdWords Expert?

Only you are able to answer that question. There are four points to consider:

What is your knowledge of AdWords?

What is the size of your business?

What are your available resources?

What are your plans?

What is your own knowledge of AdWords? If you are highly proficient both technically and linguistically, feel that you know AdWords inside out, and have a proven successful track record, hire only if you think they can increase profitability of your campaigns more than you can yourself. Alternatively, if you have the budget, it could be a useful and an interesting experience to hire a pro for a couple of months to compare results with. This yardstick can be quite an eye-opener, just keep in mind the accompanying context of ebb and flow of the economy and seasons.

If you are a small business on a small budget – find a company or an expert who is willing to take on your account on a monthly basis, and work with them for a few months to evaluate the results.

If you are a midsize/large business, definitely hire an expert. Analyze Return on Investment (ROI) after a few months of AdWords campaigns to make a decision on whether to increase or reduce the allocated budget. Aim for an annual contract to save money in the long run.

AdWords accepts credit cards or money transfers. Money transfers are great but cumbersome. Poorly orchestrated campaign could (and most likely would) cause unforeseen charges to your credit card, gobbling up ‘available credit’ and lowering your credit rating in the process. Having an expert managing your campaign significantly reduces that possibility. A number of companies will manage your account with their money, should there be a judgement error causing a ‘run-away’ campaign – no skin off your back.

If you foresee a long-term affaire - de - coeur with AdWords it is especially important to predetermine your course of action. Whichever path you decide to pursue comes at an invariable cost. You can have somebody within a company trained for this job (Expenses: cost of training, cost of errors, time). You can hire an expert (Expenses: time to find the expert, cost of services). You can learn to do it yourself (Expenses: cost of errors, time).

The points above are just a few things to consider. Nobody knows your business like you do. Google is simply a toy or a tool.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Google

On average there is a mint new article about Google per hour. Its stocks are falling. It launches new products. It helps the homeless. Software giants combine forces to remain competitive in the face of the monster adversary. It uses questionable, but efficient tactics to promote its applications to business clients. It is about to add a Health division to its existing ones. There is no other company, topic, or persona which consistently generates an equal amount of interest and speculation. It had quietly crept into our vocabulary: ‘google it’ is a commonly used expression, no other search engine’s name became synonymous with ‘search’. Google is currently attempting to offer a simple and cheap solution to online advertising, making it easy for advertisers to exhibit intricate marketing campaigns that include search, mobile and video ads. The technical side is easy. Wither or not advertising on Google will reduce advertising costs and will increase revenue, or will turn out a money-eating machine is the question. It is up to the advertising specialists. Google was designed with a mission in mind: to organize world’s information. Its approach to the advertisement is consisted with its mission; it takes great pains to deliver the correct target audience in the correct geographic locations. Those who are capable of using this awesome, simple, yet mind-bogglingly sophisticated system to their client’s advantage are ahead. Those who are waiting for the rulebook, for concrete explanations why Google is good (or not), and for the perfect scenario are inevitably falling behind. Progress evolves rapidly; check Google News in thirty minutes - there are bound to be fresh updates, opinions, developments or analysis. World’s biggest search engine does not rest, nor is it slowing down.