Google Adwords and online advertising

[Chugach3DGuy]

Once in a while I'll get a coupon in the mail for $100 worth of free Google Adwords. Does anyone already do this with Google, and what is your experience? Is it worth the cost? Does it work to attract one kind of client or project over another?

What about advertising online in general? Do you avoid certain sites or swear by others? Do you do anything specific for your business, and how is it working for you?

Every client I have has been referred to me through word of mouth, but I'm curious about online advertising and would like to create more of an online presence and awareness.

 

[Alaska cameradude]

I've got these a few times as well, as I have a website and have listed myself with
google and a couple other search engines. This is my real quick take on it. It appears
to me to be a 'sign up and we'll continue billing you unless you cancel' type of deal. The
first $100 are free as they give you the $100 coupon or card, but after that, they bill you.
My guess, is that like many of these types of 'deals' they are counting on the 'hassle'
factor or you forgetting or whatever to be able to bill you at least for a couple months.
And many times with these things, it is tough to cancel, I've 'taken advantage' of a
free internet offer like this in the past, and when I called to cancel, I was on hold for
a couple hours as they probably hoped I would hang up. It wasn't easy to cancel, that was
for sure. Now I may be wrong, and maybe they make it easy to cancel, the ones I get
have a website to go to to sign up, you could always go there and try it......I am
usually a little skeptical about these things, maybe more so than I should be.

 

[Frenchdub]

The Adwords works by you loading credit to your account... you get the number of ad publications per day you pre define until all your credit is used up. Once this happens you get messages 'You need to add Credit to your Account'... if you don't it gets suspended. You can at any moment suspend your account.
Personally I feel unless you have a budget for this and a site that will really benefit by their system it is a quick way to run up bills on which you see very little return. Or at least you need to spend a fair amount before you see anything for your return.
I too got one of their cards with free credits, but it gives you very little and is just a way to get you to spend more.
I guess websites relying soley on online sales might get benefit from this type of advertising... for my part the jury's still out..
cheers
Gareth
France

 

[grinner]

I have nothing but good things to say about adwords. Affordable, and I was able to list the sites I wanted to target. You may wanna look into facebook as well. As with many other ad services, you list the price per click you want to pay. This is how the time and frequency of your ad is dictated. Facebook's cookie and tag use targets those interested for you. Pretty cool.

 

[Frenchdub]

Yep I did Facebook too and it ran up bills even faster...
As yet I'm not sure as to the added value on my line of business with these forms of ads...How do you quantify your return??
Cheers
Gareth

 

[Chugach3DGuy]

I am
usually a little skeptical about these things...

Yeah, I'm a little skeptical too- although I think it's because I don't fully understand how it works and fits in to the ever-changing "big picture".

...I feel unless you have a budget for this and a site that will really benefit by their system it is a quick way to run up bills on which you see very little return. Or at least you need to spend a fair amount before you see anything for your return...

This is one of the things that makes me not so sure about it. I don't want to throw money away at something that's not going to provide a reasonable ROI- hence the discussion here. There are a few local production businesses in my area that do the sponsored links and text ads with Google, but I'm not sure if they're working or worth the effort and cost. I've read and heard that Google Ads can be an excellent choice for selling specific products like a DVD or something. I'm not so sure how well they would work for the standard services I provide like production or editing, graphics, CD/DVD duplication and whatnot.

I have nothing but good things to say about adwords.

How do you specifically use Google and Facebook? Do you look for clients interested in video production or do you use it sell a product you've produced and packaged like a DVD? Is this kind of service something that requires a substantial investment to see a decent return? Do you have the ability to track where all your ads are seen, and do you have access to demographic information about who is clicking on your ads?

 

[Corey]

I also received an adwords $100 promo coupon and figured I'd give it a shot. I went through the sign up process but found it to be a deal where they get all of your billing info upfront and then charge you when the 100 bucks runs out. I decided to opt out while still unsure if it was even an advertising method that would benefit me. After getting a call from a pushy salesman from Google trying to get me to sign back up, I am glad I got out of it before I was roped in. I, too, am curious to see if anybody successfully uses this to drum up new sources of business.

 

[Alaska cameradude]

I also received an adwords $100 promo coupon and figured I'd give it a shot. I went through the sign up process but found it to be a deal where they get all of your billing info upfront and then charge you when the 100 bucks runs out. I decided to opt out while still unsure if it was even an advertising method that would benefit me. After getting a call from a pushy salesman from Google trying to get me to sign back up, I am glad I got out of it before I was roped in. I, too, am curious to see if anybody successfully uses this to drum up new sources of business.

That is EXACTLY what I figured. Get your billing info upfront and then charge you when
your 'freebie' ran out, if you didn't cancel in time. That's why I am always skeptical of
these 'freebies'. Course, maybe they would work for some people, I don't know.

 

[grinner]

How do you specifically use Google and Facebook? Do you look for clients interested in video production or do you use it sell a product you've produced and packaged like a DVD? Is this kind of service something that requires a substantial investment to see a decent return? Do you have the ability to track where all your ads are seen, and do you have access to demographic information about who is clicking on your ads?

The great thing is it doesn't have to cost much. You set the price you want to pay and ya get what ya pay for. I use em to advertise one of my shows, not my video services. It allows me to get the show in front of those I want it in front of... viewers, potential advertisers, and programmers I want to pitch to. You have full handles over where you advertise with adwords. You can set tags for your facebook ads so they go the most prominent clickers.

 

[Chugach3DGuy]

Okay, it sounds kind of like what I was thinking. It's not really advantageous then to market your video production business as a whole. It's better to advertise for a very specific item...

 

[grinner]

I think some have results advertising video services on sites like mandy but if just throwing random stones with it, it's quite the money waster, imo. People with budgets know where to go for video services and those without budgets will only interupt you while you are trying to work.

 

[Ashia01]

It means quite simply that the ads which appear on your site will be relevant to your content. So let’s say for example that your website is about tropical fish. The Google ads will then be related to tropical fish in some way. And because of the information that you give to Google, they will also display adverts that are relevant to your area.