Google Ads

Has anyone used google ads? It looks decent enough but I'd like some reviews from you guys here before I jump.

They're great... no committment, set a budget and sit back.. that's it. No reason not to use it, if you're looking to improve your site traffic.

That's what I was thinking. I like the set budget idea, and I'm fairly confidant in my work. I guess what I'm worried about is: do people actually notice the ads? When looking for a wedding photographer, do they just go down the main list or actually look at the sides?

I don't have any experience using their service but I will agree that they are probably a good way of moving some traffic to your site.

I can say that when I Google something I rarely ever look at the sidebar ads and normally only pay attention to about the first 10-12 links. You raise an interesting comment about if people actually look at those ads off to the side.

They can be quite expensive for what they bring in. This month, I got about 175 visitor directly from the google ads, but that costed me 80$. (no sale, no good lead, mostly curious surfer)

I got more lead/visiter per bucks advertising in Facebook (actual advertising, same thing, set up a budget etc)

I tried to get into the mindset of a consumer (marketing tactics seldom work on me and I pretty much always ignore paid placements) and used them for a period but they didn't do a lick of good. Organic search results are better, IMHO.

My site is flash, but I have used meta data and the home page text to get my site out there. It seems to be working but I am still on page 10ish I think when you search "Syracuse Photographer" in google.

I've also been networking with other sites, placing my link on multiple other sites.

The more traffic my site gets, I assume the higher my rank will go?

I'm also trying to get google analytics on my site, but Blu is actually being incredibly slow for once (I haven't had any problems with them until this one little thing, so don't jump on them again like they are the worst thing ever, lol).

It's worked for us in the past (I represent several businesses) but we haven't done much with them lately.

Jon.

Jon Foster wrote in post #8496974
It's worked for us in the past...

Jon.

Of those that worked, were they photography related? And if so, what sector (wedding, portrait, scenic, etc.)?

Actually, the ad campaigns that worked were for a upstart movie review site and some proprietary software companies.

Jon.

Jon Foster wrote in post #8502835
Actually, the ad campaigns that worked were for a upstart movie review site and some proprietary software companies.

Jon.

Thanks. Appreciate the reply. It was helpful in making a decision.