OctOPUS Blog- Google Adwords – I want insertions not Clicks.

Pay-per-click has its uses.  When introducing something or making changes and wanting to test its effect on a volume of traffic it often fulfils a need.  However for the most part it is a waste of time and more importantly money.

I run a number of sites in the printer supplies business – albums paper graphics software etc – OPUSalbums.com , u-printit.co.uk, photo4.biz and  printalot.org

In particular with OPUSalbums I have a policy of investing heavily in traffic generating techniques -  SEO, directories, Twitter, Facebook, very frequent blogs, networking, link exchanging etc.  The result is a good Google rating and a very satisfactory number of visits.

Up till a month or so ago I had been spending some £150 a month on PPC – YSM and Google Adwords.  First of all I dropped YSM because I was paying far too much per click.  Then I reviewed Google.

Traffic was good – about 130 clicks per day.  – but then I analysed the sales from these – almost zero.  PPC was attracting browsers not buyers.  I guess when people want something they google it, select the site that looks interesting based on the text, then go further and buy.  If they see a PPC ad which looks interesting they click, you pay – but they don’t buy – they were not in the market anyway.

So my first thought was to can PPC altogether.  Then I thought.  Whenever I saw my site coming up in page position 1,2..5, say, there was nearly always an Adwords ad on the right hand column.  So these ads reinforce the message in the search page.  Hey, let’s change the wording of the Adwords ad to create a warm feeling about the company or product but not to provoke an action. 

The results have been good.  My PPC costs have decreased 80%.  Initially I lost about 120 clicks a day.  But the click rate has steadily increased: I’m now down only about 40 from what it was two months ago.  And business has benefitted.

In short make Google Ads institutional.

©Daniel Roberts – May 2009