Adwords.Google...Any Thoughts?

asnider

Was that a while ago? Analytics has come a long way. You can see entry pages, exit pages, time spent on each page, the path visitors took to get to the pages, browser & computer info, referring sites, keywords used, search engines used, and much more. What tracking software do you use?

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Adam Snider
Opus Magnum Software - Creators of EZJOB
Construction Software Reviews & Articles

CatAlii

I agree with what the other posters have said about the effectivity of Google AdWords depending on how you set up your campaign. We run one simple campaign with about 10 key words in a 25 mile radius around our two target areas and have had excellent success. I would say that 98% of the people who contact us are serious buyers who are ready to build and interested in the exact services we offer. We've signed every job that we've gone out to see since we started the campaign a couple of months ago. And no, we're definitely not underbidding our competition - we get the 'You're more expensive than the other contractors we've spoken with but you're the only one who knows about x,y,z' or they say they didn't get a good vibe with the other contractor or the other contractors didn't return calls and get back to them with a proposal when they said they would, etc. The 2% that aren't legitimate buyers are the scam artists from Nigeria offering to invest $2 million if we send them a courier fee of $257.

I think our AdWord success is based on the fact that we use our campaign to target customers who are interested in one specific thing. We seem to be reaching the exact demographic we had hoped to reach.

I think AdWords are a great bang for your buck just make sure you consider who your target market is and what they might be searching for when they are looking for a contractor.

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Cathy

Michalak Construction / MCC on Facebook / MCC on Twitter / MCC on Google+

carlsore

There has been lots of feedback in this thread.

First Off... You can never go wrong putting your products and services in front of the people who are actively looking for you at any specific moment in time. It's Basically Gold.

Grumpy has given a great piece of simple advice below... That is key for an internet marketing strategy for a contractor.

Build your website and have your SEO done for the most prominent phrases that someone may search for. Use adwords as a supplemental form of traffic once you're rankings are acheived. For adwords you can setup specific landing pages for each of your keywords. I call this "micro-targetting" and it will help raise your quality scores, lowering your cost per click and increase your ads position.

The phone number to reach Google Adwords is 1-866-2-Google, Have your 10 digit account ID# ready to go.

Adwords, Yahoo, AOL, MSN are probably productive for the lead retailers. Their organic search rankings are responsible for much more though. Don't rule out print advertising either... They do this too. Lead Generators have traffic running from many different streams at any given time. So should a contractor.

I would caution those that want to pay Google to set the campaign up for you. They are in the business of making money off your advertising... Think about that!.. I have been hired to fix and re-organize several campaigns that Google ad reps created.

As for tracking... Google has their conversion tracking system built right into Adwords. The easiest way for a contractor to implement this is as follows.

1. Setup a newsletter subscription or Request an estimate form.
2. Add the Google conversion code to your "confirmation page" (the page a visitor would go to after requesting an estimate or call back etc...

You're Done!

When you login to your adwords backoffice it will break down which keywords are converting and what the cost per lead is. This is extremely effective at trimming up your budget and helps you get rid of the dead keywords that accrue clicks and cost you money, yet deliver no sales in return. Their system integrates easily with Google Analytics.

My last snippet of info - If you are serious about learning how to do Adwords properly without hiring someone to do it for you invest in some of Perry Marshalls material. You can google him and you'll find him immediately. His book "The Definitive Guide To Google Adwords" is probably the most complete and direct guide for adwords.

For the $49.00 he charges it's money well spent... You'll save the $49.00 in click charges easily.

Hope this helps!
Carl Sorensen

Falcone

We keep improving our AdWords campaign a little at a time. Google has tons of helpful information if you spend some time on the site.

Last week we had 12 clicks for a total cost of $38.
Four people who set up appointments said they found us through Google.
Two of those jobs came through.

asnider

I think the stats say that 90% of all internet searches go through google. There simply isn't any way around using them for internet marketing.

They have started doing some funky things, like disabling keywords until you up the bid. This has happened to me a few times now and it gets pretty frustrating, especially since my keywords are already outrageous in price. (construction accounting software....$14 a click!)

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Adam Snider
Opus Magnum Software - Creators of EZJOB
Construction Software Reviews & Articles

Sportioli

I've recently started with adwords. So far not much happening with it.

Time will tell though, and I've seen others here speak highly of it. It's like anything else, I'll probably get what I put into it back out.

I did dump my lead services though, as I do think they were getting the leads from PPC be it adwords or one of the other services.

Is anyone using the yahoo PPC service? Or any of the others?

asnider

I use Yahoo as well, but I'm thinking about canceling it. I get a bunch of clicks, but it's always one and done folks, so it almost feels like yahoo is a scam.....can't be sure though.

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Adam Snider
Opus Magnum Software - Creators of EZJOB
Construction Software Reviews & Articles