Google Ad-Words And SEO

Do any of you use Google Ad Words? Just got code for free £75 when £25 spent. Is it worth it or is it just another way to lighten your wallet? Maybe they're a waste of time any you think it's better to work on your organic search position?

Interested to learn your opinions.

Yes... I occasionally use it... And compaired to the cold callers that can get you on the 1st page it alot cheaper.. But before you go ahead and you activating it, do you home work. Because it will zap your money..

We used to use it, it did bring in work, but at a cost

There are cheaper ways of getting to the top if you do a bit of reading up

I agree with Rob.. There are cheaper ways.. But again homework is a must.. Dont be tempted with those than give you the sales technique, like motortrades (just google the name that will tell you why).. You could always ask before diving in, just to get an ipinion.

I'm sure they pay people to eat up your "free" £75, it goes in next to no time.

And then you can look forward to the 'Hi, we're calling regarding your google adwords' calls from random web companies trying to relieve you of more money

Avoid at all cost... I set a budget of £10 a day on words which were priced randomly from 10p to 50p at normal office hours .It sucked my money with absolutely no response. T he ads are posted all over the internet so you get clicked by people who have no knowledge or need of your service. I was able to track where and whom the "clickers" were with a massive 60% coming from the USA.Yet i had specifically set the target zone as bham and the west Midlands. Oh and yes there will be plenty of calls from people claiming to work with Google...actually they do work with Google just like i work with vauxhall (my van!) if you understand my point

That £100 you have got should last you a week by my reckoning

You can set adwords by budget, location and appearance times. We used it and set a budget of £7.00 per day in our area only and within 25 miles. Worked for us.

Mr G Courier Services said:

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Avoid at all cost... I set a budget of £10 a day on words I was able to track where and whom the "clickers" were with a massive 60% coming from the USA.Yet i had specifically set the target zone as bham and the west Midlands.

There is a Birmingham in the usa, so unless your absolutely specific on the area you covered, you would have attracted the yanks.

There are 2 different adword campaigns.. One for the ads and the other for keywords, I set my bugdet to £40 per month, which evens out to £2 pd, and as Tony has stated Im sure google have specialist clickers to zap your cash. £2 by the way only gets you 2 clicks per day.. Your adwords will be attracting those looking for work, so instant clicks there.

Anyway good luck.

We spent £20 a day... Its particularly good for out of hours and weekend work if you're up for it cos there ain't many out there who are about after 6pm or weekends.

And if it gets you just one account then it's worth it.

The downside is you will get a lot of eBayers who just don't get what sameday is about.

But i know quite a few of you don't mind this work so again, may be your thing, may not be.

There are lots of 'adwords' experts on the net but it all seems such a huge con.

Organic traffic always seems to produce better work. If you want to go down the adwords route why not post it on freelancer.co.uk (cheaper than UK prices)?

Organic is deffo the way if you know how.

I think it's a lot simpler than they make out, "they" just don't want you to know quite how simple.

The Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide is pretty much all you need to get decent organic search result ranking.

The main thing to remember for SEO is to create quality content. Well written, good English, great formatting and punctuation, good navigation and easy for users to find.

Ad Words may work for some people. We don't use them but I can see the point in some situations. Certainly your main focus should be organic search, without that you've got nothing.

MK Bikes said:

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I'm sure they pay people to eat up your "free" £75, it goes in next to no time.

If you're going to pay for Ad Words you must focus your efforts in narrowing down what you come up for to things that are very very specific. The main aim is to increase the chances that a clicker will become a buyer. If they're not a buyer you don't want them anyway, so don't spend the money.

It's been a while since I've played with Ad Words, but if I were a courier (lets say in Leicester) I'd be focusing on the handful of people that search for a 'Courier from Leicester to Birmingham' or similar, as you can be pretty confident that they're looking to be a customer for someone.

Then, you have to go to town on making your landing page super awesome so they don't click 'back'.

Just had a guy on phone telling me I could be on the first page of Lancashire for £99.00 +vat. I said have you done your homework, he said yes. I said, already on the first page, he said you're not. So I checked and I am.

Where do these morons come from?

AJM sameday Couriers said:

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Just had a guy on phone telling me I could be on the first page of Lancashire for £99.00 +vat. I said have you done your homework, he said yes. I said, already on the first page, he said you're not. So I checked and I am.

Where do these morons come from?

First page for what search term? 'first page of Lancashire' doesn't make sense to me... Am I missing something?

First page for 'Sameday Couriers Lancashire'.

AJM sameday Couriers said:

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First page for 'Sameday Couriers Lancashire'.

Why don't you add your website to your profile? At a first glance I can't tell which is your site, and it's a free link back to your site.

Thanks will do.

You need to be careful not to get muddled up about where you are ranked in Google. Google is very complicated now and more and more they personalise your search results. E.g. If they know you visit your site a lot, they make bump it up the listings for you. Here's the result I get searching for 'Sameday Couriers Lancashire':

Website Admin said:

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AJM sameday Couriers said:

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Not too worried, I was above [name edited out as user's request] about an hour ago.

What's your website?

OK, I've got it. www.ajm-sameday-couriers.co.uk

AJM sameday Couriers said:

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Not too worried, I was above [name edited out as user's request] about an hour ago.

Right, I think you are on page 3. Read my longer post above again. Google customises your search results. What you see is not what everyone else sees. As I've never searched your search phrase before, and not been on any of those site for at least a year (might have been on[name edited out as user's request] once or twice ever), I'd imagine my results are fairly unbiased.

I'll give it a whirl in an app I have which ought to get an unbiased result.

Website Admin said:

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AJM sameday Couriers said:

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Not too worried, I was above [name edited out as user's request] about an hour ago.

I'll give it a whirl in an app I have which ought to get an unbiased result.

OK, App thinks you're 27th. Bottom of page 3. Got an iPhone/iPad? If so I can give you a link to the tool I use, it's not perfect but the best thing I've come across.

Isn't[name edited out as user's request]the infamous [name edited out as user's request] man?

RGM Courier Services said:

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Isn't [name edited out as user's request] the infamous [name edited out as user's request] man?

Yes he is.

Well well I am disappointed [name edited out as user's request] chasing eBay sellers on the internet. The last I remember he was knocking on board room doors of big companies and getting the work and doing well. How the mighty fall!

I have a quiet night and done more searches. He is everywhere: Cheshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and god knows where.

Somebody tell me what is going on with the boy this is not his style. He is scrapping the bottom of the barrel these days. I heard thing or two but what the hell is going on with the boy?

Barnsley Shipping said:

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He is scrapping the bottom of the barrel these days.

Is he? If he's getting loads of work one would assume he's subbing plenty out. Shiply/uShip do quite well effectively subbing out eBay work.

Barnsley Shipping said:

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Mr Admin he wont do anything that's not posh as far as I remember. He wont do cheap. He wont mix with folk like meI'm too common! He was posh and wore a city suit. He drove a Range Rover.He would have never done Ebay or shiply Things must have changed Things must be different now. Things must be very very bad down there I almost feel compelled to talk to him

What has he ever done to you?

Admin are right when he says that what you see on your lappy/computer isn't what everyone else is seeing so you may think you're on page one when you're not.

Your search history affects the results of what you put in, so it will always look better than reality

On top of that we have Google changing the rules on a regular basis so you have to try and keep ahead of the game

An all singing all dancing website from a couple of years back, won't necessarily be now

We can't all be on page one, there clearly isn't room, which is why there are a countless number of Companies out there offering their services for a fee (SEO's)

All of which you can do yourself if you have the time and inclination

I haven't, but I have put us on all the free listing sites, and although a small fee we have a listing on yell. Com as well

All a website is, at the end of the day, is an extention for your sales and marketing blumph

If you have a good one it tells a story, if you haven't got one or it's poor, then that too tell a story

It's all got a whole lot more complicated than back in the day when you were happy enough to have a listing in yellow pages, and maybe an ad in the local paper, but that's progress... Like it or not