Have you promoted your audio business with Google ads and how has it gone for you?

dav nagle

I am interested in April in taking up google ads and was wondering since I have seen so many studios using them what the return is like?

PaulBrewer

Google Ads is a bit like an Advertising Race.

We started it a couple of years ago and got good results by being quite high up in the Results Table.

However, now to maintain that same high position we must spend 4 or 5 time what we were, so we don't ...

dav nagle

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Google Ads is a bit like an Advertising Race.

We started it a couple of years ago and got good results by being quite high up in the Results Table.

However, now to maintain that same high position we must spend 4 or 5 time what we were, so we don't ...

Thanks Paul I'll give it a try for a few months and see what happens, I take it you can set a cap on the ads yeah?

PaulBrewer

dav nagle wrote: »

Thanks Paul I'll give it a try for a few months and see what happens, I take it you can set a cap on the ads yeah?

Yes, as a total and as a 'per click' price.

Neurojazz

There's also another angle to bear in mind with adwords - is that you target just a certain area (even counties) and that you can customize the adds to only appear on others websites/forums - (these are cheaper) - rather than the full on cost of direct searches through google.

The benefit being is that you raise the profile and the 'name' your trying to promote gets seen over and over again. The idea being that you run a bigger campaign after that profile raising one to make your main link ring bells with your searcher.

I've turned google inside out by the way, feel free to ask anything

dav nagle

Neurojazz wrote: »

There's also another angle to bear in mind with adwords - is that you target just a certain area (even counties) and that you can customize the adds to only appear on others websites/forums - (these are cheaper) - rather than the full on cost of direct searches through google.

The benefit being is that you raise the profile and the 'name' your trying to promote gets seen over and over again. The idea being that you run a bigger campaign after that profile raising one to make your main link ring bells with your searcher.

I've turned google inside out by the way, feel free to ask anything

Very interesting, I like the idea of picking each target area! What kind of price would one need to spend per month to make an impact?

Neurojazz

When you go into the google webmaster tools you'll be able to create the campaign and choose/make some keywords you want to pick out - you'll be given an estimated PPC (price per click) and then the estimated clicks for those words...

For example, lets say you put 'studio, dublin, guitar tuition' as your keywords, the google engine comes back and says .2cents per click will get you listing first in the list of google searches with 22 click on average per month. This is a valauable tool for estimating the traffic and business for that chosen area/keywords and if it's worth putting in the cash.

So, you'll need keywords and the location/catchment area you want to nail/dominate and go from there... even i can go get a quote/estimate for you from google, but i'd need the exact list of keywords you want google to pick up for you - so think like a band/guitar learner and what words they'd use to type into google to look for your services.

Neurojazz

A good general rule would be 1/2% of actual clicks will be a 'sale'

dav nagle

Neurojazz wrote: »

A good general rule would be 1/2% of actual clicks will be a 'sale'

And how much does a click cost?

Neurojazz

Depends on the reasearch that google does when you set up the campaign tailored to your requirements - anything from .002 - $5 a click ($5 would be a bank for example)

dav nagle

Neurojazz wrote: »

Depends on the reasearch that google does when you set up the campaign tailored to your requirements - anything from .002 - $5 a click ($5 would be a bank for example)

So it's more expensive advertising a well know business that has lots of cash like a bank as opposed to say a flower shop, just interested thats all?

Neurojazz

Yep... certain combinations are lethal... i looked at 'mp3+trance' and it's a a buck a click... different sectors have different values.

you'd probably find that a little flower shop would be competing with interflora, so not that cheap either - whereas your sector is a bit more specialized so would be dirt cheap

frobisher

One of the tricks with advertising is either to be seen by everyone in a short period or be seen in the same place for a long period. For you Dav I'd say that the latter is more powerful and economic. Get your targeting very niche specific and try spread your presence over as long a time as your budget will allow.

Neurojazz

Yep, make sure your webmaster understands exactly what you need done - Adwords work like a dream when setup well, you can also get some of that income back with placing adwords carefully and tastefully on your landing page to give surfers an option of 'getting out' of your site, this help pays for some of the clicks - some people don't like them on site, but for some surfers it's a case of 'discovering' new sites, so they click deeper until they find something they are looking for...

Rockshamrover

So you only pay for each click on your website?

Neurojazz

You pay for each valid click that leads to your website. Google place the adverts either in the search results in google (at the top and left hand side) - or on other sites that are running adverts for google.

If someone clicks an advert from google directly you pay the full click price - if they click an advert on someone elses site the cost is much smaller - BUT, you need a webmaster to ban/clean up sites you don't want your advert appearing on - eventually it become focused where you want it too appear.

It's good value if used in the right way - I read well into google SEO (search engine optimization) and put it into practice in a few areas (one of which is music), the difference in sales were incredible once i had tuned it.

I was spending $25 a week on adverts and made about 17k in 3 months gross for selling tat.

Google really does plug your business into the web.

Rockshamrover

That's really interesting. How were your sales before you used this service?

Neurojazz

Crap, then number of hits went through the roof - just from memory i think i hit about 30k hits before i shut shop (was selling a certain item that had limited supply, so had set up a temporary business to sell it)

If you have anything you can sell, get it on the web and have a go...

Also, i was using paypal only - if you have a good bank and get all the credit card side sorted you could be looking at 5% of hits buying rather than paypals 2%.

Rockshamrover

That's great information to have, thanks.

I'm not in a position to sell anything just yet but this definitely looks like a great route.