AdWords Standard Beats AdWords Express

I had a client who wanted to promote a new service in Manhattan, New York but wanted to spend $200 to $300 for clicks for a 30 day period. The price of her service is about $900 a pop. She wanted to move back into an old AdWords Express program to try to generate some buzz.

Sounds like you should be able to quickly and efficiently do this right? But what kind of quality of clicks would you get with AdWords Express.

Here’s a concrete example.

Google Partner Badge
McCord Web Services is a Google Partner.

In AdWords Express we would enter one version of ad text and about 10 or so keywords we want to have the activity focus on.  Let’s say the service was permanent eyebrow tattoos. Once we entered in our keyword set, Google would use broad match variations, synonyms, plurals, similar words and even parts of our keyword we wanted ads to show on.

So, even if we really only wanted to show ads on permanent eyebrows, or permanent eyebrow tattoos, Google would show ads on eyebrows, eyebrow makeup, eyebrow powder, eyebrow tweasers. As an AdWord Standard Expert User, I consider this type of non-targeted advertising not worth the clicks that this type of program may generate. But, to get general makeup interested consumer traffic AdWords Express might be okay.

However, when you combine all this with the fact you may have to pay $1.25 to $3.75 a click, you will want to be pickier about who may see your ads so as to not blow through your AdWords budget and not end up with any real prospects.

From my viewpoint, there is simply no replacement for using the Standard AdWords program. Set up and management costs may be higher, but the results are “golden” in comparison.

Google Gets Serious About Mobile in New Announcement

Smartphones are here to stay make sure your website is mobile friendly.
Smartphones are here to stay make sure your website is mobile-friendly.

Just this past week Google announced that it was ramping up its organic sorting algorithm to enhance placement for mobile-friendly websites. The flip side of that is that sites that are not mobile-friendly will be getting pushed down in the listings.

Google did not a big caveat… If the site that is not mobile-friendly is the most relevant to the search query , it, the not mobile-friendly site may still be preferentially shown.

In lay terms, this announcement means that Google is totally jacked up on mobile and it is big business for them based on search trends and user demographics. Google has simply stated that having a mobile-friendly website is now no longer an after thought, but the new way to do business on the web.

What I know is that when Google says something, you’ve just got to listen. With many of our clients having over 50% of their website traffic from smartphones and more than 50% of AdWords clicks coming in from mobile devices, you’ve got to embrace the mobile experience. It is here to stay.

Mobile Spells the Death of Google

Nancy McCord
Nancy McCord – Point of View for Today.

I read an article with interest this last week that laid out a very compelling case for the death of search engines.  You can read the full article called “Is Search, As We Know It, Dying?”

The key takeaway that I have seen on my own is that the increased used of mobile devices is turning the regular world of search upside down. Consider on Google AdWords – activity in mobile means increased website traffic, more clicks, but does not translate into more conversions.

As mobile activity has increased in Google AdWords, computer activity has decreased and with it conversions, time on page, and the bounce rate has increased.

Google and Bing continue to scramble to make search meaningful for smartphone users by introducing interactive maps with ads but users are looking for other resources via apps to get the information they want.

Just consider how searches for hotels, venues, and restaurants has changed. Trip Advisor is a great example of how a mobile app is replacing traditional search for smartphone users.

Just yesterday I needed a round tablecloth, I did not search on Google, but rather started my search directly on Amazon.com.

With Google and Bing getting pressure to keep their search audience and websites like Amazon and mobile apps like Trip Advisor stepping in to provide targeted quality search results, we may be seeing the demise of traditional search engines in the next three to five years and maybe even sooner.

For more about me, Nancy McCord, and McCord Web Services, please visit our website at www.McCordWeb.com.

 

Easy Collaboration with Google Drive.

Nancy McCord
Nancy McCord – our resident expert on all things digital.

Written instructions to match our Try It Friday video on Google Drive collaboration.

To get started you’ll want to have a Google account and download Google Drive. https://www.google.com/drive/download/. Then follow the steps to install Google Drive. On installation, Google will add a link to Google Drive in your File Tree accessed through Windows Explorer.

You can also visit and view all Google Drive files online as well.

To start collaboration, load a file or photos into a folder in your Google Drive on your desktop that you want to share. Then go to your Google Drive account online.

Right click on the folder or file and then add an email address (must also be a Google account) to share the file. Give this new person rights to edit or just view the files.

The person you are sharing with will receive and email invitation. If they have Google Drive, this new file will now appear in their shared folder in Google Drive. If they do not have Google Drive, they will want to download the application as well unless they only want online access.

Once they accept to view the file for you to see any change they make and for them to see the file on their desktop offline, they need to drag the shared folder or file into their own “My Drive” folder in Google Drive.

Once that important step is done, any change they make you will be able to see. Plus by adding it to their own My Drive folder, now the file is downloaded to their own file tree and into the Google Drive folder on their desktop.

It’s super fast and easy to collaborate on files.

What could you do with Google Drive collaboration?

  1. Collaborate with teams.
  2. Share photos with college students away from home.
  3. Share files and folders with family members.
  4. Share files, photos, and folders with friends.
  5. Plan your next family reunion and keep everyone in the loop.

Watch the video: http://www.mccordweb.com/video/index.php