Google Adwords

« **on:** February 22, 2007, 07:27:19 pm »

Hi All

Do Google Adwords work for us in this Industry?

and how do they work.

Cheers

Neil

« **Reply #1 on:** February 22, 2007, 08:17:06 pm »

Adwords will work if people are using google to search for carpet cleaners - simple as that.
Now, I can't speak for everyone, but if I was looking for a cleaner then google would not be my first port of call. I would pick up the yellow pages, or if I was online I would go to yell.com

The best place to go for an overview of adwords is https://adwords.google.co.uk/select/Login?sourceid=AWO&subid=UK-ET-ADS&hl=en_GB

Hope this helps

Owen

« **Reply #2 on:** February 22, 2007, 08:18:22 pm »

works well for getting enquiries, only problem is they are from all over the place and its not unusual to drive 20-30 miles to do a quote.

I find i convert a lot more quotes i get from the net though than from other sources like leaflets.

« **Reply #3 on:** February 22, 2007, 08:23:39 pm »

whilst i agree more people may turn to the yellow pages looking for a cleaner, the beauty of addwords is you only pay if people actually look at your site and they are going to be people in your area who actually need a cleaner so you stand a good chance of getting the work in my opinion.

with y/p you are paying wether anybody looks or not i get a better response from addwords than yp and my adwords is 50% cheaper

I spend

£120 a month addwords
£240 a month y/p

« **Reply #4 on:** February 22, 2007, 08:27:35 pm »

Adwords works well in certain areas like everything else.Firstly you need to see if there are many people running them in your area because if there is you would need to set yourself a budget and stick to it or simply not bother.Spend the money getting your site further up the google search like Red quite a good success rate converting web enquires

« **Reply #5 on:** February 22, 2007, 08:32:09 pm »

Good point red carpet - I stand partially corrected.

« **Reply #6 on:** February 22, 2007, 08:36:47 pm »

Heritage,

I have asked that very question to potential new clients when visiting to quote.

With out fail more and more would rather go through the net than YP.

I truly believe that with a few exceptions, YP has had its day as far as our kind of business is concerned and within 5 years it will be struggling miserably against the internet for business, the pressure they put on to go with yell.com proves this (to me at least)

Unless they massively reduce their advertising costs the big yellow book is going to get smaller and smaller.

PPC will become more competative as new technology comes on stream and as already said you are not paying vast sums up front and of course can cut it off at any time if its not working for you, unlike YP which simply doesn't work for most carpet cleaners that I know, yet for some reason they almost feel duty bound to lump more cash in to it year after year.

« **Reply #7 on:** February 27, 2007, 09:30:05 pm »

I have just come to the end of my first week trying ad words

I tried it mainly after reading the posts on this board by "the red carpet" in November of last year

See "Higher search engine rankings" started by Gleamservices on 07/11/06

So far I have had absolutly no response, impressions or click throughs at all

I am quite sure this is because I am somehow not doing it right, but finding out what I am doing wrong seems to involve spending hours going through google s help pages

I wanted the first line of my ad to say "Carpet fitter west London" but google said the word "Fitter" was nt allowed! I resubmitted using Carpet layer instead of Carpet fitter and that was accepted.

My point being that it seems you have to get it exactly right for it to work, and that is easier said than done.

As woodman has said people are using the net more and more. After all it's easier to do your personal stuff at work on the net without anyone noticing.

Regards Michel

« **Reply #8 on:** February 27, 2007, 09:55:58 pm »

i didnt have those problems, mayby i was lucky

how you can get no clicks amazes me i get a few per day when im on there my adds arnt even showing at the moment as i owe them money coz iv had so many clicks.

if you wana give me your password and log in details i will set it up for you and you will get clicks

theredcarpet@hotmail.co.uk

« **Reply #9 on:** February 27, 2007, 10:07:09 pm »

Red
What converson rate do you get from your clicks

« **Reply #10 on:** February 27, 2007, 10:41:08 pm »

paul i would struggle to work it out for a few reasons

firstly i am rarely on there for more than a couple of weeks at a time due to cashflow problems
secondly i only turn it on when im slow and turn it of again when im busy
also when i started i had prices on the site
and now i go out and quote
coupled with the fact iv recently upped my prices, it all affects my conversion rate as they used to ring to book now they ring for a quote

what i do know is i get regular work and there good jobs for a small amount a month
i have a job on friday from it with a indoor swimming pool bigger than my flat £270 for lounge and landing and she has signed up for maintenance and wants another 954 square foot room done in 3 months time, that to me is good quality work

i get a couple of jobs a week from it and spend £120 a month

« **Reply #11 on:** February 27, 2007, 11:02:16 pm »

Red
Just sent you an email.
Have a quick look for me to see why i cant get no clicks.

Paul

« **Reply #12 on:** February 28, 2007, 07:37:29 am »

Paul just took a look for you and your being to tight

dont know if it on purpose or just because you didnt know how to set it up properly but the way it works is like a auction you bid for clicks, your bids are to low some as little as 4p that is why you are not being found.

Also you have not been specific about the areas you want to be found in you have keywords such as carpet cleaning or leather cleaning you need to put a town at the end of those words.

like i would use
carpet cleaning essex
carpet cleaning hertfordshire
carpet cleaning loughton etc, that way you are only bidding against your local companys as it is your bidding against the whole of the uk and with such low bids you have to much competition.

some of your keywords are even inactive as your bid is below the minimum
if you want i will set it up for you tonight but you will need to increase your budget i would say about £120 a month
its worth a months trial to see how it goes i reckon you will be at the top on google and getting enquiries by the next day myself
if you want me to do it just let me know how much you are willing to spend and give me a list of the areas you want work in

« **Reply #13 on:** February 28, 2007, 08:50:53 am »

Thanks Red I will do that later. I had it set on automatic so google did the costings.

« **Reply #14 on:** February 28, 2007, 09:55:34 am »

Thanks Red thats really very Kind of you

I,m sure that you could suss it out more in five mins than I could in five days!

e-mail coming

Regards Michel

« **Reply #15 on:** February 28, 2007, 11:32:40 am »

hi red im also really struggling with ad words any chance we could have a chat about it abmcleaning@fsmail.net cheers del

« **Reply #16 on:** March 04, 2007, 03:38:03 pm »

Gents and Ladies,

I have just set up my Google adwords account and have set a limit of £100 a month.

Adwords I have used are Carpet Cleaning followed by the Camberley Fleet Farnborough and other local towns in my area.

When I search I do not appear on the page everytime, can someone please explain why. Is it because my monthly limit is to low and others pay more a month.

I have only gone for the basic package is this the right thing to do.

Please Help

Cheers

Neil

« **Reply #17 on:** March 04, 2007, 03:51:24 pm »

Neil
have done the same as you only i have set mine at £120 per month,but i get the same result.
Its not easy to do is it

« **Reply #18 on:** March 05, 2007, 09:39:07 am »

whats your maximum cost per click?

you need this pretty high or you will get outbid at times and that will as you say make your add not show

« **Reply #19 on:** March 05, 2007, 11:05:03 am »

I have set my maximun cost per click at £1.50p and the spend per day at £20.00 (nearly £600.00 per month just to test it) and after nearly Two weeks have had not a single ckickthrough !Spent a large part of the weekend going through adwords help pages and just ended up even more confused.

It s really anoying as I am sure this could be a really good way to connect with customer's particulary for one off carpet fitting/repairs type jobs if only I could fiqure out what I am doing wrong. I suspect it's something simple I have overlooked. It does make me feel a bit better that other people are having the same problems as it shows it is not all that straightforward to do

Red, did you get that e-mail I sent you last week with my adwords logon and password details?

Regards Michel

« **Reply #20 on:** March 05, 2007, 02:20:36 pm »

guys

first woodman you are right about yellow pages the net is going to take over yellow pages soon. it must be affecting them as they are changing so much. like, no address, 0845 numbers, milti adverts and i think you can put price in now.

The Internet and yellow pages are what I call passive marketing, this type of marketing is where you wait for someone to have need for your services. its important to have this type but making it pay is key,

You have to find the level at which it does. by tracking and testing you can find this level. I have spoken about this in my post on directories. Yellow pages are offering us all free 0845 numbers so that they can quote to us all how many calls any advert gets. caution has to be taken with this as we all know yell with rent out our contact details on their database service. so any numbers will have to take this into account.

With regards adwords. you need to find out what "active keywords" are? basally they are the words typed in my the person searching. I know how it works but its difficult for me to put into words.

These keywords will improve your response.

again, offers guys. give your prospect a reason to click to your site. if you are getting the impressions then your copy on the advert limited as it is is not compelling for prospects to click though.

My advise is that active marketing will produce more profit. as demand for carpet cleaning is low compared to other services, like domestic cleaning.

my plan is work on free listing with multi sites as this is free. and using directories by expanding my sales message on a website, or free recorded message.

Respect

Ian Harper

« **Reply #21 on:** March 05, 2007, 02:43:18 pm »

Red

I have left it upto them to set the price, Should I change it and how much do you think i should set it at.

Cheers

Neil

« **Reply #22 on:** March 05, 2007, 04:05:21 pm »

Michel

It must be your keywords they probably need optimising.

At the rate you set which is a good level I would have expected you to recieve plenty of visits.

I have tried to look at you site but can't get on it , there may be a problem there as well.

If you want you can supply me with your adwords password & email to sign in I will take a look for you. email them to me @: woburnis@aol.com

« **Reply #23 on:** March 05, 2007, 07:47:03 pm »

Michel Roberts, NO

try again theredcarpet@hotmail.co.uk

« **Reply #24 on:** March 05, 2007, 07:52:44 pm »

Neil, i set at £5 per day

Maximum cost per click £1.95

today i have had 7 clicks and they have cost me on average 79pence each

the only keywords i use are

carpet cleaning "your town"
carpet cleaner "your town"

with all the towns i want to work in

« **Reply #25 on:** March 05, 2007, 08:27:43 pm »

Michel, yeah i found it, it had gone to my junk mail for some reason.

It looks like you have it set up right to me, i would lower the daily spend though coz if somebody in your area objects to your new advertising campaign and keep clicking on you, you could be a couple of hundred quid down in no time.

Your add shows if i type in carpet fitter west london
so the only thing i can think is nobodys searching in west london

in my experience people will either search more broadley ie "London"

Or they will narrow it down ie, "Kilburn" "Islington" "Hamersmith"

just add these to your keywords

Try this and it should work

« **Reply #26 on:** March 05, 2007, 09:12:29 pm »

Red

Sounds like that might be it, I will give that a go and see how that works.

Thaks for taking the time to have a look for me.

Regards Michel

« **Reply #27 on:** March 06, 2007, 09:18:51 am »

hi

just in the process of puttig my first website together very intrested in these adwords but also seen a thing called instant traffic which guarantees google listings which is on 123eg.co.uk where im building my site do you think this would be any good

cheers nick

« **Reply #28 on:** March 06, 2007, 03:15:51 pm »

{keyword:Carpet Cleaner}
Free Room Carpet Cleaning
Intro Offers 0800 191 0263
carpet-upholstery-cleaning.co.uk

Here is the formate that I was talking about its line one that's the important one.

the "keyword" is replaced by what the prospect has typed (as long as you have in your keywords) in the search engine. so say the typed in billericay carpet cleaner the first line will appear as this. its really cleaver.

respect

Ian Harper

« **Reply #29 on:** March 09, 2007, 06:28:22 pm »

I am looking at these adwords thingymebobs, does it put you in the sponsored listings on the right of google, or on the main part of the page?

Are the're other ways to get up on top?

If i Google 'carpet cleaner liverpool' then the top result is a link to 'www.accessplace.com' and 'childwall carpet cleaning is highlighted.. (not me!)

I take it hes not using Adwords as he has no website? $:-\$

« **Reply #30 on:** March 09, 2007, 07:12:09 pm »

you go either on the right or right up the top above everybody else

« **Reply #31 on:** March 09, 2007, 07:36:24 pm »

Ta Red,

So can i presume that my competitors aren't using Adwords as the top result is a link to a directory?

Can you Google 'carpet cleaner Liverpool' and see what you think?

Ta

« **Reply #32 on:** March 09, 2007, 09:09:54 pm »

The ones right at the top in the blue box are using adwords as are the ones on the right hand side, so you do have a bit of competition on there.

« **Reply #33 on:** March 10, 2007, 10:08:04 am »

Ta red, i am wondering though

The top listings seem to be directories like thompson and accessplace.. are these likely to use adwords?

« **Reply #34 on:** March 14, 2007, 04:06:11 pm »

HI

Had My first 3 Calls from Adwords today, Booked 2 Jobs worth £300. Not bad me thinks.

Took a while for me to figure this out but now I have the minimum click thing figured it seems to be working.

Fingers Crossed

« **Reply #35 on:** March 14, 2007, 04:29:52 pm »

Spill the beans then Neil!

« **Reply #36 on:** March 14, 2007, 08:41:59 pm »

Still struggling with mine.

Help any one

« **Reply #37 on:** March 14, 2007, 08:46:26 pm »

Me too. .

« **Reply #38 on:** March 14, 2007, 10:13:58 pm »

HI All

All i have done is use Carpet Cleaning Town and Carpet Cleaner Town. I hupgrade to the standard edition that gives you the opertunity to set the Max click rate for each individule Keyword.

I have about 20 Keywords and have set different rate for each one, It has teken me a week to get what I think is right by trial and error. I think its just a case of playing with it.

Cheers

Neil

« **Reply #39 on:** March 15, 2007, 04:49:29 pm »

Paul

send me your details and I will have a look for you,

(By the way thanks very much arrived today

)

« **Reply #40 on:** March 15, 2007, 04:57:18 pm »

Trev
no probs.
Sort this out for me and were quits