Thread: Pros/Cons: Google Adwords

I have been thinking about using google adwords for my business (both professional dance and teaching) but am a little confused on the manual vs automatic bidding.

Also - do you feel that it has helped you with your professional business?

Tell me your happy - and not so happy - experiences with adwords

I used it to advertise my classes and found it really expensive. Also didn't seem to get new students from it. ,m:: But I would be interested to hear what other dancers' experiences have been.

Originally Posted by bintbeled

I used it to advertise my classes and found it really expensive. Also didn't seem to get new students from it. ,m:: But I would be interested to hear what other dancers' experiences have been.

Much the same... I tried a one time special they had, and didn't get any students from it. It would have been too expensive for my small business budget.

However, I have had more response from doing a google business listing. Just a simple listing (FREE!), with basic biz info (address, phone, website, class times, etc...) and asked folks to leave comments/reviews about my biz. It worked way better than the Adwords that I paid for!

I'd like to know if someone has had a more positive experience with Adwords.

Amy Renee

Nope, the same as everyone else. I had it for about five months and decided it was a waste of money. No extra work from it and it cost more than I had expected.

I don't think people take much notice of advertising. It might drive one or two people to your site but then they'll carry on browsing. Getting your site high up the google rankings is the thing that really works and adwords doesn't help with that.

this is what I wanted to know! Thank you so much. I think I will place my efforts & $$ on other methods

I've been fairly happy with it. I don't really understand how it can be too expensive or cost more than you expect when you set your own budget?

I sometimes set my budget at $1 a day, so I never spend more than $30 a month.

Other times I spend more per day but limit the time, running ads for 2 weeks before the beginning of a session with a budget of $5 per day, for instance, and then not running ads again for 6 weeks until the next session is starting.

Also, I pay per click, so if my ad isn't effective at generating traffic to my site, it's free.

I'm very specific in my keywords. If the name of my town isn't in the search phrase, I don't want my ad to run.

Also, I'm on Google Places. That's free, and I do get some traffic from it. I've offered a coupon there for 2 years and have NEVER had anyone redeem it, so I don't know how effective it is at generating sales. But I do get traffic.

I much prefer facebook ads. I can see real tangible results in terms of the number of people joining my facebook pages. How that converts into sales is something else entirely, but I'm not selling regular classes. I'm selling an event. So it's a different market.

Thank you. I am still doing research and need to pull together some more ideas. Your suggestions are helpful - thank you.