Google Ads
Google Ads, managed properly.
Somebody searching “plumber Blenheim” at eleven at night has already decided to buy. Google Ads puts your business in front of that exact search, at the exact moment it happens, if the account behind it is actually looked after rather than switched on and left.
What it actually is
Google Ads shows your business above the normal search results for the exact words someone typed. It is the opposite of Facebook or Instagram: nobody is interrupted, because they were already looking. That makes each click dearer, and it also makes each click far more likely to turn into an enquiry, because the person clicking told you what they wanted before you spent a cent.
How it runs
Set up so a result can be traced back to a keyword
Conversion tracking goes on the site before the account goes live, so an enquiry can be traced back to the search that produced it. Without this, every later decision about what to keep running and what to cut is a guess dressed up as a strategy.
Keeping the budget away from searches that were never going to buy
A meaningful share of what most Google Ads accounts spend goes on searches that look related but were never buying intent: someone researching, someone looking for a job, someone after a free version of what you sell. Building and maintaining the list of what to exclude is unglamorous and it is most of where a badly run account leaks money.
Making sure the page matches the promise
An ad that promises “same-day callout” landing on a home page with no mention of it loses the click a second time, after you already paid for it once. The page has to answer the exact thing the ad promised.
The fortnight after launch, not the launch
Anybody can turn a campaign on. The work that actually changes the result happens in the weeks after, reading what is and is not converting and reallocating the budget toward what is.
What it costs
Google Ads is set up and managed as part of the Start Advertising package: $999 + GST to set up, then $499 + GST a month to run it. Ad spend itself is paid by you, direct to Google, and is never handled by C.E.A Smith. Full detail on the pricing page.
What happens first
Every conversation starts with the free Acquisition Review: whether people are actually searching for what you sell, in your area, before anything is proposed or built.
Who this is not for
If nobody searches for what you sell, Google Ads has nothing to show up against. A genuinely new idea, or something people do not yet know they want, needs Facebook and Instagram first, where you can interrupt rather than wait to be searched for.
If enquiries already go unanswered for days, spending more to generate them first is the wrong order. That gets fixed on the leads and follow-up side before the ad spend goes up.
Questions
Before you ask.
- How much should I spend on Google Ads?
- There is no single right number, and anyone who quotes you one before looking at your business is guessing. It depends on what a customer is worth to you and how many people search for what you sell in your area. The Acquisition Review looks at that specifically, before anything is proposed.
- Do I own the Google Ads account?
- Yes. The ad account and the data in it are yours and stay in your name. If you ever stop, you keep every campaign and every conversion record and simply stop paying the management fee.
- What if I'm already running Google Ads and it isn't working?
- The existing account gets reviewed as part of the Acquisition Review before anything is changed. Most underperforming accounts have one or two specific, fixable causes rather than needing to be rebuilt from nothing.
- How long before it starts producing enquiries?
- Search ads can start showing, and producing clicks, within days of going live, because they only appear to people already searching. Whether those clicks are turning into worthwhile enquiries takes longer to know, usually a few weeks of real data.
Not sure if search is your channel?
The Acquisition Review answers that before anybody suggests spending anything.