Comments on: Is Google AdWords Advertising Itself Honestly?

By: Acai Max Cleanse

Acai Max Cleanse — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:27:32 +0000

yes, you can get started in few minutes but in order to make any good ROI with Adwords, you will need to play with it throughout the day. However, i can say the person with most ROI in Adwords advertising is Google itself :)

By: Mihai Ghita

Mihai Ghita — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 02:35:09 +0000

For me 'getting started' means 'start learning how to use the system'. Like getting into the car and starting the engine to go on a trip. Different from 'getting there' (arriving at the destination) which could happen a long time after getting started.

PS: Creating/slicing graphics and html are also external to Adwords :)

By: Cyber_mafia

Cyber_mafia — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:42:26 +0000

We might generate traffic and exposure but in terms of sales, we migh get a little disappointed.

By: Gab

Gab — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:10:19 +0000

“On topic, you're absolutely right. Google leads novices like business owners to believe that anyone can effectively manage an AdWords account with zero experience.”

That's my point. My buddy is having a pro manage AdWords for his dad, and he thinks it's so easy he could do it. I had him try to just create a campaign and he failed by leaving the content network on…

By: Gab

Gab — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:08:37 +0000

The examples you give, Mihai, are external to AdWords. They're assumed. You can't say the same about 'learning the system' – that in itself proves that you can't “get started” in 5 minutes. Because getting started means learning the system, which takes a loooooot of time.

By: Gab

Gab — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:06:21 +0000

I'm curious to survey SMB AdWords advertisers and see what their satisfaction rate is – I'm guessing it's not very high.

By: Andy Kuiper - SEO Vancouver

Andy Kuiper - SEO Vancouver — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 21:31:18 +0000

Hi Gab :-)
You're not supposed to be an intelligent small business owner (or the Son of one) ;-)
I am led to believe G prefers small business owners who stumble around choosing broad match “suggested” keywords while continuously raising their bids to 'compete' with other similarly confused small business owners… or, experienced PPC firms who have taken the time (and a lot of time that is btw) to keep up with the constant “upgrading”. G doesn't really offer support, as they recently laid most of their support staff off. I could go on and on – LOL – however I think your article does a great job of explaining the frustration many new (and current) users of AdWords share.

By: Mihai Ghita

Mihai Ghita — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 01:42:34 +0000

… and before you do everything you mentioned you need to learn how to use a computer. Get an internet connection. Electricity. Learn to write/speak a language. And have a card… Oh. forgot that you need a service/product to sell. So open a business as well…

You can continue like this forever. Truth is you can start in minutes and decide how much to spend.

Also true that if you want to pay 1c/click you get no clicks. And if you spend no time learning the system you might lose your budget. But this is common sense in my opinion.

By: jason ibarra

jason ibarra — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 21:49:10 +0000

Gab this is off topic, but I recommend throwing a hyperlink footer navigation on your dad's site along with converting the site map to html hyperlinks as well.

On topic, you're absolutely right. Google leads novices like business owners to believe that anyone can effectively manage an AdWords account with zero experience. What they usually end up doing is effectively burning a bunch of money and turning around and saying "I tried pay-per-click, it was just a waste of money".

And to think the default setting is to have the Content Network turned on AND it's preset to share the same bids as you use on search. I can't count the number of times we've had client managed accounts handed over to us with more than half the spend flying out the back door through the Content Network.

By: Frank Adams

Frank Adams — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 16:22:53 +0000

As always have been, advertising is hoping for best results. There is no guarantee of success especially on sales. We might generate traffic and exposure but in terms of sales, we migh get a little disappointed.