AdWordsManagement.comThe truth about Google AdWords is that you don't want traffic, you want conversions.
AdWords Management in practiceHere's a chart showing the number of conversions one of my clients got in the period 1st November 2006 to 11th January 2007.
It shows how their conversion levels were dropping off steadily in November, partly as a result of the Google Slap when Google changed its pricing rules. I took over management of the account on 1st December 2006. At that time conversion numbers leveled off before showing an expected drop during the Christmas holiday period. Since then they have moved sharply upwards. Does this prove anything?That graph may look good, but does it prove anything? Actually it doesn't! You can often increase conversions simply by spending more with Google by increasing bid prices left, right and centre. So look at the graph below. It shows clearly how my client's conversion costs started to drop the day after I took over management of their AdWords account. Since then conversion costs have declined steadily and yet the number of conversions has risen dramatically. What you are seeing here overall is roughly a doubling of conversions and a 25% reduction in cost per conversion.
Financial Services AdWords Case StudyThe graph below
shows the behaviour of an AdWords account I took over on 12th November
2007. (the colour scheme has changed because Google changed the format
of its reports in 2007). My client operates in the financial services sector where some clicks cost over £10. You don't want to be spending that sort of money per click without getting it looked after carefully. Disappointingly, two "big name" Pay Per Click consulting firms had been running the account previously, one after the other, and neither had delivered the sales leads my client desperately needed so they were left with a team of sales staff twiddling their thumbs and getting edgy about the viability of the business. Let's face it, overheads don't go away when sales fall off a cliff... "Get those phones ringing again"I have to say I really felt for them because a business without sales leads is depressing and can't survive for long. So I worked hard the week I took control of the account until their 'phones started ringing again and web-based enquiries started to come on stream. As you can see, the number of sales leads started to climb fast. Again, however, it is vital to see this in the context of the cost of these leads: anyone can spend a fortune to place their ads in the top position - and pay through the nose for the privilege. But what about profitability? It is easy to increase conversion numbers simply by spending too much money... The chart below shows the cost per enquiry for the same client for the same period. The critical section of the graph is again from the 12th November onwards when I took control of the account. Note that the per-enquiry costs fell steadily but also note that when the conversion costs prior to that date looked "free", such as around 18th October, no enquiries were actually generated by the previous account managers. Google shows these as being zero cost whereas in fact on that particular day the client spent well over £100 - and got no sales leads at all.
Again what you see here is a dramatic increase in enquiry volumes coupled with a sharp reduction in the cost-per-enquiry figure. Here's the raw data.
So let me leave you with a question.
If there's even a small chance call me now. I'm on 01672 520 024. Alternatively, drop me an email and I'll be in touch with you soon.
PS Take a look at these new results for another client. I took control of the account on 17th June 2008. My client was after more conversions and was happy to pay a little more for them because each sale was highly profitable. In other words, he recognised that boosting return on investment was not his primary goal. He wanted greater profitability. As you can see, the number of conversions increased dramatically once I had started to optimise his AdWords account. In fact they went from an average of about 1 a day up to 14 and climbing. Would you like 14 times as much business? Call me.
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