ppc management
The Case Against PPC Bid Stacking
About 8 years ago, I got a call from a prospect who wanted to hire me to manage his Google Ads. He told me, “I saw that article you wrote about bid stacking, and I could tell you know your Read more…
Adwords Management
When remarketing isn’t remarketing
Welcome to the latest instalment of “Why you can’t trust Google.” If I remember correctly, this is episode 7 of season 3. And, in this episode, we’ll discuss what Google’s secretly doing to your remarketing campaigns. You see, you probably Read more…
Adwords Management
Does this make me a hypocrite?
I have a confession … I don’t use Google Ads to promote my PPC management services.
Does this make me a hypocrite?
Well …
Let me tell you a story …
Years ago, I was a regular on an online business forum. That forum was teeming with self-anointed SEO “experts.”
As you can imagine, with so many SEOs touting their services, there were a lot of (more…)
Marketing
Business lesson from the Dark Prince of Comedy
A couple of days ago, I was listening to an interview with comedian Anthony Jeselnik – AKA the “Dark Prince of Comedy.”
Asked what advice he’d give young comedians, he said, “Find someone you want to be … then beat them.”
And that’s basically the same advice I’ve been giving to website owners: Find out who is (more…)
Adwords Management
About as popular as a drone at Gatwick
Ever gotten an incredibly low click rate? I mean less than 0.1%?
You might be thinking, “What the hell?” Maybe feeling a little unloved?
Well, don’t worry, it might not be such a big deal after all.
There are a couple of perfectly innocent reasons why this can happen …
Reason #1: Your ads are (more…)
Adwords Management
How to increase your Black Friday sales by 134%
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming up, I thought I’d share a nifty trick you can use to boost your PPC click rates.
It’s “countdown ads” and they look like this:Battersea Kayak Shack
www.example.com
20% off tandem kayaks!
Sale ends in 3 hours
20% off tandem kayaks!
Sale ends in 3 hours
That last bit is the countdown. You tell Google what time (more…)
Adwords Management
Beware the two-day marketing experts
Ever taken a course on Udemy?
Apparently, they can be pretty good. But one in particular caught my eye.
The title is, “Google AdWords Certification – Get Certified in Just 2 Days!”
That might sound like a pretty big promise … but it’s only just getting started …
The subheadline is, “Become Google AdWords Certified in Just 2 Days. Get Hired With Your Google AdWords Certification!”
That’s right, “get hired.”
You might be wondering, are there any catches?
Apparently not, as the bullets include:
* No Google Adwords Experience Required!
* No prerequisites or work experience required to take the exam or this course
That’s right, they’re taking complete newbies and teaching them how to pass Google’s AdWords exams … in just 48 hours.
You might think it’s a joke, but according to Udemy, 16,822 students (more…)
7 ways to use facebook targeting
As we’ve been hearing in the news, Facebook allows advertisers to target prospects in some fairly “interesting” ways.
But Facebook targeting isn’t just for politicians and Russian troll farms, it’s great for businesses, too.
Here are 7 different ways you could use it …
#1: Your own customers and subscribers
Facebook lets you upload customer email lists. Or, if you have a newsletter, you can upload your newsletter subscriber list.
(Technically, you can upload any list of email addresses – but that’s another issue.) (more…)
My take on the Cambridge Analytica story
There’s a big controversy right now about Cambridge Analytica and how they influenced the US presidential election and the Brexit referendum. Some even claiming they “hijacked” or “stole” the result.
Me? I’m not buying it.
While it looks like they broke Facebook’s data rules,
(A) Many of the things they’ve been accused of didn’t happen. They couldn’t have happened. They’re literally not possible within Facebook.
(B) And everything else they’ve been accused of, you could do without breaking Facebook’s rules. All you need is a big enough budget, big enough data set, and smart enough marketers.
(C) I’m not sure (more…)
PPC
The dirty secret about PPC qualifications
Let me tell you a story…
A prospect contacted me recently. He was using a PPC agency, but his ads weren’t profitable.
At one point during our conversation, he said to me, “The agency has all the relevant qualifications…”
I let him into a secret. And, today, I’m going to let you into the same secret: PPC “qualifications” are worthless.
I’ll explain … (more…)