What Is The Most Important Metric To View First Thing Every Day?

For many small business advertisers with very limited budgets, the most important metric  of your AdWords account to view everyday may very well be total cost. You know advertising with AdWords can have a great benefit, but unlimited money is not a luxury many of us have. It’s an ongoing process to try and get the best value for your advertising dollars, and can also be a bit of a  juggling act. Some days you may have to raise your bids and budget to maximize your exposure, some days you may have to reduce your bids and budgets to bring the costs in line. You won’t know where you stand today, this week,  or this month without keeping an eye on your budget.

Why Can Cost Be The Most Important Factor For Small Business?

The adwords system may accrue up to 30% more cost on any given day than your maximum daily budget. Depending on your  overall financial situation, a 30% increase in costs over several days or a week, could be an cause for great concern. Is that also the week payroll goes out, vendor bills come due, or a costly emergency pops up? Pausing all your advertising to temporarily reduce costs may drastically reduce sales, compounding the overall short term cash flow issue. If you check your budget and spend daily, you will be more likely to stay ahead of the game, and not have to stress over playing catch-up when you are already over budget.

When Should You Adjust Or Optimize Your Bids And Budgets?

While it’s important to know where you stand regarding your budget at least several times a week, it may be counter-productive to make too many changes, too quickly. If you’re 10% over budget, perhaps reduce your daily budget by %10 to keep costs inline, but think twice before drastically reducing your bid in the short term. Keep your impression share metrics in mind.

If you are losing more impression share due to budget than position, any reduction in budget will mean a decrease in overall traffic. Ads that show in a higher position typically have higher click through and conversion rates than ads that show in lower positions. Even if you lose some traffic, try to maintain as much relevant concerting traffic as you can with a reduced budget. You may get more clicks for the same daily budget in a lower position, but f those are not profitable clicks (lower conversion rate), you will continue to spiral further into the red. Why pay for “bad” traffic, no matter how much you get for your available budget?

Tips For Estimating What Your Daily Budget Should Be:

If you do have a conversion strategy in place, and a value formula, then you know whether or not your ad buy is profitable. The impression share metrics are crucial metrics to establishing how much more profit you could make, for how much more cost. If you are only reaching 50% of your potential impression share due to budget for a profitable campaign, how much more revenue could you earn by increasing the budget? There is a point of diminishing return, but typically that point is around the 90+% mark. If the more you spend the more you make, in the long run, try to find a way to move more resources into your advertising. Consider your ad buy an investment, not just a cost of doing business.

If you are reaching 100% of your available impression share with your current budget, but still losing a significant impression share due to rank, raising your bids alone may not be the most effective approach. Yes you are more likely to get clicks and conversions for ads which show in a higher position, but the point of diminishing return can be much more drastic when it comes to bids than budget. If your return per click is $.06, and your average cost per click is $.05, any increase in bid will erode your current profit margin.

The opposite can be true if you lower your bids too much. An average CPC of $.04 may reduce adrank to a point where you lose the more profitable position, to competitors with a higher overall ad rank. Spend more make more, spend less make less – as a rule – is not always true, but is always a possibility that should be considered. From the first thing in the morning, to the last thing at night, knowing where you stand regarding your costs and profits is the key to knowing what you should be spending on AdWords, at any given time.

Why can’t I see my ad? Like all things AdWords…it depends. As tempting as it may be to cite the lack of your ad appearing for a single live search as evidence of Google engaging in a conspiracy against you, there are a few things you may want to consider first.

To begin with, the Ad Preview Tool is the first place I would go to try and find out what is happening, and why. It is considered best practices by Google to use the preview tool instead of conducting a live search to see your ads. The primary reason given is “to avoid negatively impacting your ads performance”. Huh, what does that mean? Essentially, thousands of impressions with no clicks, will reduce click through rate, which is one measurement of “performance”. Odds are you are not searching thousands of times a day trying to see your ads, after all who has time for all that! Even if you use the preview tool, and your ad appears to be running, it’s only natural to want to conduct a live search for that keyword, and see the actual ad in the search results. The preview tool is just an estimate of what your ad will look like, and often the actual live ad is different.

I’m not making a very good case for using the preview tool am I? The biggest advantage I think the tool offers, and the reason why it is the first resource I use is because of the additional information the tool offers. When previewing a keyword, if and ad is not showing for that keyword, the tool will list some of the reasons why, such as…

Budget: If you have exceeded the campaign budget for that day, your ads will not show for keywords in that campaign. Even if you have some budget remaining for that day, it may not be enough budget to allow an ad to show. Let’s say you have $1.00 left in your campaign budget for that day, but your average cost per click for that campaign is $2.00. If you would have to pay more than $1.00 for a click, to earn an adrank high enough to show your ad on the first page of the search results, your ad may not show. This also applies to the monthly total spend of the campaign. Some days you may be over or under budget for your campaign. Over the course of the month, you will end up spending your daily budget X the number of days in the month. So if you still have budget available for that day, but you have gone over budget for the month, Google may stop showing your ads to get the total monthly budget in line.

Location: The location you are searching from when conducting a live search can be misleading. Even though Tom Sr. and I both live in the Portland Metropolitan area, Google doesn’t always see it that way. When Sr. is searching from far northeast Portland, Google may determine that he is actually searching from Vancouver, Washington. When I search from central southeast Portland, for some reason, the Google machine decides that I am actually in Troutdale, Oregon. If we are searching for a keyword, in a campaign targeted only to the city of Portland, either or neither of us may see an ad. Back to the preview tool I go.

Another advantage of the tool is the ability to select your location. The location targeting is still not perfect, and you do have to be mindful of the location you select. Using the Portland example, the location settings may default to the entire United States. If you enter in the keyword you want to preview, you will likely get a message saying that “Your ads are set to show only to users in the locations you’ve chosen”. If you are targeting only the city of Portland, selecting Oregon, or the Portland metropolitan are alone, will return the same result. You have to select the metropolitan area, and the specific city within that area to actually preview your local ads. If I only select the Portland metropolitan area, the preview tool defaults to the city of Albany, some 50-ish miles south of Portland. Why? Because the Portland metropolitan area as outlined in the campaign settings is the majority of the populated area in the state. Albany is closer to the geographic center of the metropolitan area, as per the campaign targeting area, than the city of Portland. It’s easy to get frustrated at the Google machine for thinking it’s smarter than you, it’s concerning when you start to wonder if it’s actually right.

Keyword Match Type: Match type may be more of an issue with the preview tool than with a live search, and is a complicated issue altogether. The bottom line is, if you are trying to view an ad for a keyword that you have added as a negative keyword, whether by accident or choice, you will never see an ad. Negative keywords are very important if you use broad or phrase match keywords, but must be used with care. Whether live searching or previewing a keyword, make absolutely certain that the keyword is the exact same keyword as one you are advertising on. Even with broad match, widget and widgets are two different keywords. Your adrank for one may be high enough to show an ad, but not for the other.

The issues with the preview tool are usually associated with “embedded match” keywords, which is a common tactic we employ at Thomas Creek Concepts. When we find a “winner” keyword, such as widget, we will often add the exact match of the keyword to a “top tier” campaign, and dedicate as much budget as necessary to maximize the return on that keyword. Then, we will use the broad or phrase match of that keyword in another campaign, with the exact negative of the keyword. The idea being to still advertise on “long tail” keywords closely related to widget, but with a limited budget, make sure as much of that budget as necessary is being spent on maximizing return on the most profitable keyword. We certainly believe it works, and is a common practice among many advertisers. If you do choose to employ this tactic, be prepared to see some “weird” error messages with the preview tool. “A negative keyword is preventing your ad from showing”, as an error message, may be followed by see X# of other keywords. When you click on those other keywords, you may see that in fact your ad is showing, for the exact match keyword, in another campaign.

There is another aspect of keyword match type throughout your account that can cause confusion. With broad or phrase match keywords, without a well thought out negative keyword strategy, there is always the possibility of keyword impression poaching. Yet another terrible example – If you have the keyword widget in one campaign or adgroup, and the keyword blue widgets in another, a search for blue widgets may return a result for the ad associated with the campaign or adgroup for the keyword widget. What is the best way to avoid keyword poaching? Well, this is another reason why we believe in the effectiveness of embedded match. If the keyword is important enough to merit a specific ad, it is important enough to insure that the exact match of that keyword is isolated and controlled. Whether previewing or live searching, make sure you are using the exact same variation of the keyword you  have added to your account.

Ad Delivery Method: This, like embedded match, is another complicated and potentially confusing aspect of AdWords, that could be preventing your ads from showing. The default setting for all campaigns is standard, which means: The Google machine will try to show your ads throughout the day evenly, regardless of your daily budget. If your budget is $20/day, and each click costs $5.00, if you get three clicks early in the day, Google may stop showing your ad for hours at a time. If you are searching or previewing during this time, you may not see your ads. The easy solution is to just spend more money. But, let’s be honest, if you had more money to spend, you would not be limited to a $20/day budget.

If you have a conversion strategy, and a value formula for those conversions, assuming you have a profitable return on investment for your advertising, accelerated ad delivery may be an option to consider. This is more for those who have the budget to spend on keywords they know generate a profit, than those just beginning that optimization process. Accelerated delivery allows your ads to show as quickly as possible for as many matching queries as possible throughout the day.

The Google Machine is outsmarting you: Don’t take it personally! This is arguably the greatest benefit of using AdWords. If you do routinely conduct a live search for specific keywords to see your ads, when signed in to your Google profile -  and, or, using a browser which does not clear all cookies every time you close it, the Google machine knows that you are not going to click on your ad. Eventually, the Google machine will quit showing you something you don’t want to see. Do you ever, have you ever, by accident or choice, clicked on your competitors ads? If so, what you’re telling the Google-bot 5000 is that the only paid ads you want to see are from your competitors. That does not mean that your customers are telling Google the same thing. Whether searching or previewing a keyword, regardless of the results, try to take it in context with the data, in the AdWords interface. Are you more concerned that your customers see your ads, or that you do?

If you do decide to hire someone to manage your AdWords account, know which goal is most important to you, and make that clear to the account manager.  A good account manger will always try to do what earns their client the highest return on investment. If what you want is to see your ad, for a specific keyword, when you search from a specific area, for X amount a day in ad buy, a good account manager will try to accomplish those goals, and still try to earn their client the highest return on investment possible. You may tire of hearing all those pesky questions about sales, customer lifetime value, and return on ad buy, but it’s in our nature. If it was not profitable for you to see a certain ad, for a certain keyword, for the amount of money it costs to do so, in a certain area, would you still want to?

If you have selected accelerated delivery, you have ample budget available, are previewing or searching for the exact keyword you are advertising on, in the specific area you are targeting, and still don’t see your ad, the reason has to be…well, it depends.

By, Tom Hale, Jr.

What is Google AdWords?

AdWords is Google’s Pay Per Click advertising program. It allows you to display ads on the Google search engine results pages, and the Google Display Network. Ads may appear above, or on the side of the organic search results. Or as image, video, or text ads on various placements in the Google Display Network. AdWords also allows you to place ads on Google partner sites such as Youtube. Pay per click advertising means: You only pay when someone actually clicks on your advertisement. Unlike traditional media, you do not pay to have your ad seen or heard, you only pay when a potential customer responds to that ad. The AdWords interface makes it very easy to track every penny spent on advertising, and verify what value those costs are worth.

Can I use AdWords, will it work for my business?

Anyone can begin an AdWords account for their website and business. Will it work…well, like all things AdWords the answer is – it depends. AdWords is a tool, and like all tools is most effective in the hands of a skilled user. AdWords is not a minimum investment, maximum return proposition. It takes time to learn and is constantly changing. AdWords education is an ongoing process. Even when you think you’ve got it all figured out, seeing things from another perspective inevitably leads you to question your own assumptions.

Before you decide to begin an AdWords campaign, the best thing you can do is take time to read through the help documentation. If you decide that AdWords may be too time consuming for you to manage alone, knowing the basics before you hire someone else to manage your account is in your best interest. How else will you know if you are getting a good value for the fee charged? Whether you decide to hire someone to manage your account or not, the first step to beginning an account is to establish your advertising goals. What do you want a user to do when they see your ad? Click through to the website and make a purchase, sign up for a service, newsletter, or fill out a contact form? Know what you want to accomplish ahead of time, and the approach to accomplishing your goals will be much clearer.

Why should I use AdWords?

Google is the #1 search results provider in the world. Even if you prefer to use another search engine yourself, the odds are that more of your potential customers are using Google than any other search engine. Some may feel that advertising in general is a waste of money for a small business, or that they just don’t have the money to advertise. If every dollar you spent resulted in two dollars profit – not net revenue, but gross profit – would that change your opinion or position in regards to the advertising budget? With AdWords such results are not guaranteed, and to achieve any sustainable profitability takes time and effort.

There may be no substitute when it comes to customer loyalty for word of mouth, but Google knows a lot more people. With the roll out of Google+, establishing a presence on Google can reach more customers who have people in their circles who recommend your business. The exposure of the #1 search provider in the world, and the loyalty that comes from a trusted recommendation.

But, I’ve got someone who does that Google stuff for me already. They posted links and added some keywords on my homepage. Why do I need to pay for people to click on an ad?

Search engine optimization for unpaid organic listings, is different from search engine marketing for paid results using AdWords. Yes, with as much time and effort AdWords requires to be profitable, SEO effort could be just as profitable, with no actual PPC charges. However, with Google’s search results – paid listings will show above and beside organic unpaid listings. With all the options and formats available for AdWords ads, those top position ads can crowd the organic listings down further on the page. This could be a real potential issue for brand terms search results. You may rank first organically for your website name, but your competitors can bid on your domain as an advertised keyword.

How would you feel if a loyal returning customer Googled your website name – to find your phone number, double check your hours, etc. – saw an ad for your competitor above your organic results, is engaged by the message, and ends up being a loyal returning customer for your competition? Angry at Google for allowing competitors to advertise on your brand terms? Remember, that is Google’s business model -  “If you build it they will come”. Google built the content by providing search results more relevant and engaging than their competitors – the product. AdWords, is the mechanism to monetize that product. Your competitors can advertise on your brand keywords, and you can do the same right back. If it costs you literally one or two cents per click, is it worth it to guarantee your customers will remain your customers, after they do a search for your website?

I have an AdWords account, but I don’t understand what my AdWords are!

The lexicon associated with AdWords takes time to learn, and if the definitions of the terms in the help documentation are still unclear, really understanding how it all works will be even more difficult. AdWords, is just the name of the program. Each advertiser will have their own account. Within the account, there can be multiple campaigns. Within each campaign there can be multiple adgroups. Keywords, placements, topics, and audiences, are all different ways to target your ads to users, within the adgroup. Your ads are the only piece of your AdWords account, any user will ever see. It has always helped me to think of an AdWords account as a pyramid, with account at the top, and ads at the bottom.

Account: When you sign into your account, the default page is the home tab. This is a very broad overview of your account, and really lacks the detail necessary to provide any insight. The green tabs at the top of the page – Home, Opportunities, Reporting and Tools, Billing, and My Account – Are the various sections of the account. The campaigns tab is where you will actually manage the content of the account.

Campaigns: This tab is where you will find the sub-section grey tabs for all the adgroups, keywords, ads, and every aspect of your account. Each campaign can have different settings regarding networks, devices, language and location targeting, and daily budget. When you begin your account, if you follow the help documentation to a “T”, you will have only one campaign, with one adgroup, one keyword in that adgroup, and one ad for that keyword in that adgroup. You will also be opted into the search and display networks by default. In this case, it’s hard to be able to view the interface in such a way as to distinguish between the different levels of your account. If you keep the visual of a pyramid in mind while viewing the different tabs, the structure will become clearer.

Adgroups: Each adgroup contains keywords, and ads. The adgroup level is where you set your bid for what you are willing to pay for a click on an ad, when the user query matches the keyword. All of this happens within the adgroup. Again, if you are just beginning, the account wide data will only be for one ad, one keyword, one adgroup, etc. If you have two keywords for example, and want to show a different ad for each keyword, then you could create two adgroups. One for each keyword, with the “right” ad for each keyword. Your ads will only be shown when the settings of the campaign are met, up to the campaign daily budget. If you set your campaign to Portland only, with a budget of $50/day, then your adgroups will only show ads for keywords which match the search query, for users in the Portland area, as long as you have daily budget available.

Keywords: This may seem strange, but do not think of keywords as actual words. Try thinking of them more like computer code. For example, widget is not the same as widgets. The user intent when searching for the singular version of a word vs. the plural may be completely different. Widget may indicate a user is in need of one hard to find, or very specific specialty product. Widgets could mean the user is interested in buying bulk product for resale. User intent is the most fundamental challenge of choosing which keywords to use to target your ads. As the business owner and industry expert, you may know widget is the technically correct term to use for gears, or cogs. But, do not assume your customers will have that same knowledge. That’s why they want to find you, right? It is rare that the initial keywords you choose will prove to be the most profitable keywords. It takes time and investigation to determine what words your target market market searches on to find businesses which offer your products or services. What do you call that long piece of furniture in your living room – a couch, sofa, or davenport maybe?

Ads: Ads are the most important aspect of your account. Regardless of which keywords triggers your ad, the ad is the only part of your account a user will ever see and interact with. As the foundation of the pyramid, the better your ads perform, the better your account performs. Every other level of data in the account relies on the data associated with the ads. Finding out what ad text resonates with your audience is a never ending process. Change your message too often, and you may never be able to establish what or who you are to your audience. Don’t change the text often enough, and users may find your message stale and outdated. Being at the bottom of the pyramid, it’s easy to overlook the ad statistics. Writing ad copy can be the most difficult aspect of managing an account. I never feel self conscious when I create a new campaign, but always feel apprehensive when writing a new ad. Thousands, even millions of people may see that ad. Including the client and the competition. But, you have to start somewhere. What is the theme of your site or business, have you already found a message or slogan that resonates with your customers? What is the message of your competition, and what is different about your business? Just as with keywords, it’s rare that your first ad will prove to be your best ad over time.

By, Tom Hale, Jr.

1 – Depends on Circumstances
2 – Depends on Circumstances
3 – Depends on Circumstances
4 – Depends on Circumstances
5 – Depends on Circumstances
6 – Depends on Circumstances
7 – Depends on Circumstances
8 – Depends on Circumstances
9 – Depends on Circumstances
10 – Depends on Circumstances

Is this flippant? or critically precise and accurate?

The experienced know.

Learn more about our AdWords Services

-Tom Hale

Recently I have focused my primary reporting for clients into a simple shared spreadsheet that I call an “AdWords Value Formula”.

I work with small businesses for the most part, where owners, managers, and staff wear many hats. Simple reporting counts for a lot with such folks, because time is the limiting factor.

A simply calculated profit and loss statement when it comes to AdWords is an excellent piece of information for any business.

Sometimes the hardest part is making the first assumptions. Those assumptions, while necessary, can also be somewhat inaccurate. You have to start somewhere.

Defining a “conversion” can be its own exercise; but for this example a conversion is defined as an online sale. In this case each sale is worth an average of $50 retail. A cost factor might include cost of goods sold, labor, etc., figured as you will. In this case I am assuming a 50% cost factor.

It might look something like this in narrative form:

-Data shows 10 conversions for a particular time frame accredited to AdWords.

-Assuming the $50 average sale, retail sales accredited to AdWords should be $500. Apply a 50% cost factor for this generic example and you have $250 dollars.

-Data shows your AdWords ad buy for that same time frame was $100. Subtract the ad buy from the after cost factor ($250) and you now have $150.

-Next subtract any AdWords management fee (such as me!), or appropriate value of labor if your AdWords Management is done in house. Let’s say you paid $20 for AdWords management/labor during that period. Subtract that number from $150 for a total of $130. This will be your net “profit” within the current accuracy of our assumptions

These calculations can be represented easily in a spreadsheet. Call it ROI (Return on Investment), or ROAS (Return on Advertising Spend), or simply Red vs Black. A formula like this is as common in the world of larger corporations as it may be rare in the larger small business world.

When each of these calculations is tailored to the individual endeavor or client they create a big bang for the time it takes to take a look at the data. Also AdWords optimization efforts can then focus on profit as the primary metric and serve as a common language between parties.

I end where knowing the value of your AdWords buy begins. Use good metrics to do more measuring and less assuming. The rest is just doing a little math.

AdWords Value Formulas love AdWords Conversion Tracking and Google Analytics, especially Ecommerce!

-Tom Hale
AdWords Specialist
Thomas Creek Concepts

This is in response to comments in the thread by Todd Mintz and related article, also by Todd.

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Todd I couldn’t agree more that ideally you would have a unique landing page for each exact Keyword string. As behavioral targeting and the privacy wars heat up we may even be talking about a unique landing page path for each visitor, maybe even each visit.

But in my world of micro-business, service professionals, and e-cottage entrepreneurs that ideal is very much a pipe dream due to resources, i.e. time/money.

Also, as you note in your article, I have seem some real disasters from people that create landing pages designed to “force” visitors into taking particular actions by limiting the navigation choices. The results can be extraordinarily high bounce rates and a bad experience for the visitor, bad juju all the way around.

So for my client base I would temper the “PPC landing pages should be radically different from the rest of your site” to something a little more philosophical.

Like; If there isn’t a current website page that is acceptable as a beginning landing page, we have a real problem with the website and content in general. If we do have pages that “suffice”, then what are we doing, within the scope of resources, to move from suffice, to better than that, maybe good, even great

But overall Todd, you are as usual, right on the money. Be targeted, and be clever in navigation choices. Help the visitor as much as you can to stay focused on fulfilling whatever quest began with their Search Engine query.

That is worth saying again:

Help the visitor as much as you can to stay focused on fulfilling whatever quest began with their Search Engine query.

Without them feeling herded and bullied.

This is done with analysis, creativity, empathy, and time/money: not cookie-cutter dynamic insertion formulas, keyword overkill, or SEO tricks.

-T

Tom Hale
Internet Strategist – AdWords Specialist

http://ThomasCreekConcepts.com/

http://forum.sempdx.org/

PPC management/service/consulting business models vary, but seems to me they fall into variations of these three models.

Flat Fee
Per Hour
Performance

Here are basic pros/cons of these models from my perspective.

Flat Fee:
Pros – easy to understand, easy to administrate.
Cons – some clients subsidize others, each client situation can be drastically different even if ad buys are similar.

Per Hour:
Pros – the client gets what they pay for, the experts time. Time consuming clients aren’t subsidized by less time consuming clients.
Cons – billing can fluctuate, constant negotiation of current fee amount based on time allotment.

Performance:
Pros – All consumers like results based compensation. They pay only when they win.
Cons – In the Paid Search biz, so many factors, out of the control of the PPC manager, can affect results. Managers can burn a lot of time for which they are not reimbursed, due to factors out of their control.

I have always worked under a strict Per Hour model, time is money. With the estimated amount of fee/time required based on a percentage of ad buy.
But the administration of a strict Per Hour model is, to be brief, a big pain. All food for thought for anyone in this biz making some adjustments for ’08.

The thoughts of any clients, prospects, collaborators, competitors, or just passers-by, would be appreciated.

Related Post:

AdWords Specialist?

Popular Posts:

Unintentional AdWords Evil
Strategic Truth

-T

Tom Hale
Internet Strategist – AdWords Specialist

http://ThomasCreekConcepts.com/

http://forum.sempdx.org/

And it just so happens, I recently addressed some of the features of my practice in a recent Client Newsletter. So here is that info, with a few revisions for blogability.

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The question I want to address, is one that I am sure most, if not all of you (my clients), have asked at some time. What do I get from Tom Hale? What’s the value?

I think this is a different question than “what do I get from AdWords”. Related, but different nonetheless.

Ultimately both AdWords, and I, will be judged by your cost/profit calculations. As it should be; although I would like to point out that AdWords advertising alone doesn’t generate a lead or close a sale, a website or a person does that. Still, if you aren’t making money, or are not on the road to making money, accomplishing your goal, etc, – then what good is the advertising. So let’s state the obvious, the bottom line metric is always bucks in the bank.

How you measure value along the way can be trickier. It takes work, and smarts, to get those bucks in them there banks. No “get rich quick with AdWords” crap served up here thank you. The AdWords jungle is fiercely competitive.

Now with AdWords you also get a tangible of sorts, in that the traffic going to your website can be easily measured and verified. The Quality of the traffic, as we all know, is a little trickier. But still at the end of the day you paid for so many clicks/visits and it cost you so many dollars.

But what about me? What do you get from me? How do I help you not just survive, but hopefully thrive.

I’ll try and break it down a little;
Into three categories, plus.

Communication
I communicate with you, the vendor (Google), and your technical people. For those eager to learn – education, coaching, consulting, all fall in this category.

And as you know, part of my approach entails getting to know you and your business; because my work has a much better chance of success if we are on the same page as far as goals, message, target market, and the like. Also every client situation is unique, if for no other reason than each client has a different website. Therefore the traffic you are paying for may react differently when it lands on your website, than it will when landing on some different website

If the communication channels are open, so much the better for finding your “unique” key to success.

Hands on Management
This is the obvious one I guess: building ad groups and campaigns, wrangling keywords, budgets, and bids, etc. etc. I have a hunch this is what most of you would consider my job description.

Believe me though, the magic isn’t in the mechanics.

Expert Analysis and Strategy
This is the one that is hard for some clients to appreciate. It is far less tangible. I can spend a lot of time scratching my head and pulling my chin while pouring over data, analyzing the kw-ad-landing page-result matrix, just flat out attacking problems with my gray matter.

Some such sessions are more productive than others, but this is also where the breakthroughs come, the leaps forward. Analysis is the secret sauce that can make it all work, or makes it all work better.

Plus, like many professions, but probably even more intensely in this field, there is an incredible amount of continuing education that goes into staying ahead of the competition. My competition (others bidding on AdWords), is your competition. Your profit hinges on my expertise giving you the edge over others, whether they be professionals or do-it-yourself types like many of you once were.

You blink, and before you know it, the strategies and tools with which you once generated profit are obsolete. And I am talking just about the world of AdWords, let alone the broader fields of search and internet marketing.

I can’t bill clients individually for continuing education, but the time I spend reading, going to seminars, conferences, and such, does result in value for my clients nonetheless. It takes time and money to be an up-to-date expert. That has to be built into the value equation.

In fact, what all three of these things, plus, have in common is time, they all take time. So that is what you get: to twist an old maxim – your money buys my time.

So you say, “fine Hale, wrap it up will you. Who says you are an expert anyway?”.

Hard to answer, without sounding like a blow hard.
But I attempted to so, in a previous post. Follow the Love.

AdWords Link Love

Oh yeah, there is that Certification from Google thing also.
Qualified Google Advertising Professional

Tom Hale,  AdWords Specialist