Ask HN: How to not get burned with Adwords and PPC?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3513275

by starter • 14 years ago

4 14 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Hi Hackers, Anyone here with PPC experience?

I started a website hosting product website and now have an approximate conversion rate of 5% that I plan to milk using adwords. Is it a good idea to test the waters with dirt cheap bids? The last thing I need it to get burned by automatic bidding!

creativeone3• 14 years ago

If you have the time to review your accounts performance on a daily basis, do not do automatic bidding.

Competition is very high for website hosting, so what you'll need to do is create a long tail of keywords with the keyword tool.

AdWords can be very bloody, but it is very important at the beginning to get good data on your ads and keywords. Make sure your conversion codes are working too. You'll have a big spend in the beginning because you dont have a good Quality Score. Its a game of patience, and don't go broke! But keep in mind for the first few weeks your cost per acquisition will probably be twice as high as it will be after that.

Your cost per day chart should look something like this at the start. -- - - -- -- --- -- ---- --- -- --- ---- ------

creativeone3• 14 years ago

I made an edit and my text chart got ruined!

starter5• 14 years ago

Its cool. I hear your point!

starter5• 14 years ago

Yes, Competition + Adwords means 2 bloody battles to win. One thing I'll do because of your advice is my own bidding. At least I won't get burned that way - Thanks!

So, you say good data, conversion codes and getting to a good Quality Score is where my game of patience will be tested. I won't go broke and I'll keep the acquisition costs in mind.

Thanks for your feedback!

ig12• 14 years ago

Pick up a good book on adwords. Getting little bits of advice here and there isn't a substitute for understanding adwords and the strategies that work.

trin_• 14 years ago

any specific recommendations?

ig12• 14 years ago

I've recommended Winning Results with Google AdWords, Second Edition by Andrew Goodman in the past although it's getting a bit dated (although still has useful info).

I've seen lots of people recommend the Brad Geddes book and Perry Marshal book as well, have a flick through all three and see which works best for you.

starter5• 14 years ago

Tell me this: How much time spent on education vs experience is worth it? I want to specialize in serving my customers with great data services, not tracking them down. Is reading into this worth my time? Why shouldn't I just hire someone who knows how to do this well?

chris_dcosta2• 14 years ago

Every online business faces the same issues. You have to have very deep pockets to play PPC that's a given.

You can test the water fairly cheaply by literally monitoring. There's plenty of advice out there on what rates to bid at, but don't expect huge uplift in conversions. It's notoriuously difficult to get high returns and what you currently get is way above the accepted norm.

I'm currently building an app to address exactly this difficulty although its chicken and egg - I will still need the high level of visibility for the promise to be realised. The advantage I have is that I only have to raise my app's user base and B2C client's such as yourself would automatically benefit without having to do anything.

Should be nice when I launch it...

creativeone3• 14 years ago

Can you explain more about your app?

chris_dcosta2• 14 years ago

It's an aggregator of sorts, but with a twist. There's a game-like trading platform, which aims to be the revenue stream.

Doing it this way means that PPC or advertising is irrelevant, and therefore the businesses wanting the visibility get it without the cost.

helen842000• 14 years ago

I think the important aspect is having highly relevant keywords.

When clicks cost money you need to filter down to the most likely to convert users.

Google often tries to push 100's of keyword ideas on you in order to get your CTR up. That's when you're paying for empty clicks.

If you only get 10 clicks per day but 9 of those convert - that's way better than having 33 clicks that day but still having only those 9 convert.

starter5• 14 years ago

High relevance, got it! I'll look into pruning that long list of keywords they pushed. I thought 8-9 clicks was a bad sign but I see now that It might be the best start.

Thanks for your time.

Ask HN: How to not get burned with Adwords and PPC?

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