Clean It Up

UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: derek west on October 22, 2009, 04:47:33 pm

Title: ad words Vs generics
Post by: derek west on October 22, 2009, 04:47:33 pm
anyone got any stats on the above.
reason i ask is my adwords credit ran out yesterday and so was not on today yet i got 4 calls and 2 emails from google.
starting to wonder if ad words is not that good, does analytics let you know if clicks are from adwords or generics, or is there no way (other than turning on and off) of finding out?

derek
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: suffolkclean on October 22, 2009, 04:57:05 pm
Hi derek - I just did a search & your 3rd one the first page, which is great I wouldn't want to pay for ad words now. Looks like all the clicks has now got you pretty near the top of the first page.
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Carpet Dawg on October 22, 2009, 05:12:05 pm
Create a sub page on your site and direct the google ad words traffic to that page. Forward this traffic to ur homepage :) easy

its the easiest and most accurate way to know exactly how much traffic google ads is sending you. 
Google Analytics anit that accurate at all, (looks great i know but not accurate) the only stats i trust are the ones found in your Hosting plan. Awstates in Cpanle for example

Tony
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: derek west on October 22, 2009, 05:18:15 pm
Hi barbara what did you search for? or what were the keyphrases you typed in for the search?
derek
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: A+CleaningService on October 22, 2009, 05:18:25 pm
Just spent the day doing a course on internet traffic, websites.  Me personally would rather pay someone who specialised in adwords, or pay per click.
Sorry, but not answer to your question.
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: derek west on October 22, 2009, 05:25:16 pm
google specialise in adwords, its in there interest to set up the best campaign they can for you, only costs a fiver and includes 30 days assistance.
derek
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Carpet Dawg on October 22, 2009, 05:34:39 pm
I just anwsered the question  :-[ tis the only way  ::)

Carpet Cleaning Cheshire: 1st postion in google with your carpetcleanerscheshire site and  postion No10 with the affordablecleaners.

Who created your sites? the metatags need a bit of work  :-X

Tony
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: derek west on October 22, 2009, 05:37:44 pm
i thought google scrapped meta tags?

derek
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Carpet Dawg on October 22, 2009, 05:42:59 pm
nope  :) who told you that? lol
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: clinton on October 22, 2009, 05:45:50 pm
You should be pulling work from your site now derek on he natural listings as i get jobs and calls from mine.. :)
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: derek west on October 22, 2009, 05:52:52 pm
sure i read it in webpro news, could be mistaken. i only browse the emails i get off them, its not like i know seo.

but if i'm at number 1 and theres room for improvement, i'm well happy ;D

derek

clinton.
i wish, its dead, might sell up and start up a wool and knitting stall on the market, you just can't get wool round here for love nor money and i really need a scarf and a willy warmer. ;D
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: clinton on October 22, 2009, 05:58:31 pm
It will pick up derek and dont forget half term, firework buying and lots going on hols at the mo mate :)

Ye il order some as well from you in large size ;D
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: derek west on October 22, 2009, 06:00:18 pm
yeah and if youve got a bit left you can use it for the willy warmer ;D

derek
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: clinton on October 22, 2009, 06:12:07 pm
 ;D
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Mike Osbourne on October 22, 2009, 06:30:00 pm
The general consensus from those who use adwords a lot is a No1 organic listing gets 10 times the traffic a No1 sponsored ad.

You need to track everything so you know where it's come from right down to keyword. If you are spending money on adwords and don't know where you traffic is coming from that's scary :o
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: suffolkclean on October 22, 2009, 06:39:37 pm
Derek I typed Carpet cleaner cheshire & there you were ;)
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: derek west on October 22, 2009, 06:57:24 pm
scary?

mike
another great belitteling post from you as always, any chance of you telling me how to track instead of telling me i should be doing what i actually asked and therefore want to do. ;)

barbara
its funny how one "S" can drop me 2 places, i'm number 1 for carpet cleaner"s" cheshire. and i'm number 1 2 3 and 4 for my home town of northwich, woohooo.

maybe i should drop adwords for a week or so and see if my phone calls drop any, then work out if its worth the money.

derek
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: JandS on October 22, 2009, 07:36:51 pm
Think your right about the meta tags bit Derek, just been reading a report from a
guy about Google and he thought the same thing.
Although he did say keep using them as it don't do any harm and other  search engines
do recognise and use them.

John
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Mike Osbourne on October 22, 2009, 08:29:25 pm

Derek

What are you on about again? You are bloody paranoid. Apart from the fact you do open yourself up to critisism with all the stupid stuff you come out with, I'm just saying it would scare me silly if I was spending money on some form of advertising and didn't know what my ROI was.

Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: suffolkclean on October 22, 2009, 08:48:06 pm
I would drop adwords derek - no point spending money where you obviously now don't need to - its good news to be so high up the first page.
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Mike Osbourne on October 22, 2009, 08:52:31 pm
The trouble is nothing stays static, there is always someone waiting to take the crown as the top spot gets 40% of the first page's traffic. And SEO is expensive!
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: derek west on October 22, 2009, 09:04:02 pm
thank you barabara, constructive comments as always from you. think your right but i'll drop it for a few weeks and see how it goes, just had affordable cleaners seo'd so got to wait a few weeks before it climbs up the rankings. and ive got 2 more sites to develop, one i'm doing myself and i'll get mark at dpdesign to do the other.

mike
stupid stuff?
i prefer interesting and controversial, but if you want to to put it that way and belittle me some more then thats your perogative.

derek
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Mike Osbourne on October 22, 2009, 09:12:14 pm
Carry on p1ssing your money away then, your loss, your house, your family. :'(
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: derek west on October 22, 2009, 09:50:50 pm
not my house, its rented remember, keep up FFS.
and as for p1ssing my money away, i've been doing that ever since i could get into pubs. i aint gonna change now. ;D

derek
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Mike Osbourne on October 22, 2009, 10:11:29 pm
 ;D

Anyway, regarding adwords if you want to do it proper like you would have to track all your keywords because what google gives you through their tool isn't accurate enough. You take that as a starting point and see which ones yeild positive, cut the por performers out and add in some new ones, rinse repeat. As well as that you have to split test your headline, subheading etc because some wil work far better than others.

The problem is Google Adwords is easy to get started on but very hard to start making it profitable or at least very labour intensive.

So if you like pouring over spreadsheets for two hours every night after a hard days graft and happy to throw £500 away on testing and optimisation I would not bother. :)
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Neil Williams on October 22, 2009, 10:28:45 pm
at least very labour intensive.
So if you like pouring over spreadsheets for two hours every night after a hard days graft

As I'm finding out. Thanks to paying a small amount up front and a very kind gesture from another carpet cleaner who gave me a substantial 'voucher' I'm giving it one big throw, but yes it is very labour intensive and the manual (if you want to call the instructions) are at best left to the imagination as to what do to.
As for the comment about getting 10 times more enquiries through natural listings then I'm right in poo if that is the case, as I have 3 sites on the first page of 'carpet cleaning basingstoke, and the phone seems to not be working :o
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: derek west on October 22, 2009, 10:46:40 pm
at least very labour intensive.
So if you like pouring over spreadsheets for two hours every night after a hard days graft

As I'm finding out. Thanks to paying a small amount up front and a very kind gesture from another carpet cleaner who gave me a substantial 'voucher' I'm giving it one big throw, but yes it is very labour intensive and the manual (if you want to call the instructions) are at best left to the imagination as to what do to.
As for the comment about getting 10 times more enquiries through natural listings then I'm right in poo if that is the case, as I have 3 sites on the first page of 'carpet cleaning basingstoke, and the phone seems to not be working :o
number 1 on google for your search is a bit embarassing neil. :-[

derek
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Mike Osbourne on October 22, 2009, 10:51:25 pm
Neil

It's not all bad. If you are on page one every placement higher means far more traffic, it's not linear. So position one is going to get 40% of that page. Number 9 get next to bugger all, unless it has a thumbnail.

Google adwords gives you everything you need, they want you to keep on spending, but most can't be bothered to read it and implement it, if you are then you deserve success with it. Simplz. Oh hell I'm saying it now. ;D
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Neil Williams on October 22, 2009, 10:55:22 pm
number 1 on google for your search is a bit embarassing neil. :-[

Yes exactly. Constantly have a battle with accessplace to stay at the top but surely for a town with a population of 130,000 the phone should be going almost red hot.
By the end of next week it will be a leaflet drop, something i haven't done for about 6 years, hence why I'm now playing with adwords as i hate walking the streets
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Mike Osbourne on October 22, 2009, 10:59:44 pm
Neil

If you are no1 I would put a REALLY good offer on there for a while just to see if you have traffic but poor conversion.
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Neil Williams on October 22, 2009, 11:23:59 pm
If you are no1 I would put a REALLY good offer on there for a while just to see if you have traffic but poor conversion.

Thanks for that idea Mike,
I've spent years stating these are my prices and that's just the way it is but I guess it's time to try something drastic.
I'll work on that idea tomorrow night and see what happens.
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Mike Osbourne on October 23, 2009, 12:29:29 am
Neil

Why don't you use the Google adwords tool to find out how many searches per month you would get for your primary key words. You would know then if it's worth putting energy into or working on something more productive. 
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: mitch2810 on October 23, 2009, 05:15:48 pm
Derek, if you are using adwords you need to set up various campaigns with not too many key words in each. Try and be specific. Pick the areas you are not on the 1st page and use it to target those, rather than the ones where you are already showing.
It works better if you have a campaign for carpet cleaning chester and another for leather cleaning chester and another for upholstery cleaning chester etc...
Phil
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Mike Halliday on October 23, 2009, 05:38:37 pm
why do people have such a huge belief in the Internet, like its some nirvana of work, I know 2 or 3 people who do really well from the internet, but I know loads more who don't get diddly-squat.

everyone is working really hard to make thier websites bring in work because internet marketing can be very cheap, But I think putting the same amount of time into other marketing will bring in a better return.

the problem is we get a few people on the forums who are telling us the are doing amazingly well ( like Doug) which is OK but we don't get the people who are getting nothing from the internet to balance it out.

time is money..... so web marketing is only free if you put no value on your own time

Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: derek west on October 23, 2009, 05:50:45 pm
Derek, if you are using adwords you need to set up various campaigns with not too many key words in each. Try and be specific. Pick the areas you are not on the 1st page and use it to target those, rather than the ones where you are already showing.
It works better if you have a campaign for carpet cleaning chester and another for leather cleaning chester and another for upholstery cleaning chester etc...
Phil

cheers phil, never thought of it as a top up, doh!
i'm on it.

mike
i do a shed load of advertising but for me persoanlly, google wins hands down, just not sure if its adwords or generic, hence the post, but i think i'll do what phil said and use adwords for area's i'm not generically top of.

derek
derek
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Robert Watson on October 23, 2009, 06:10:56 pm
Good post Mike.
I cant complain at all about the work my site brings in. (Edinburgh)
I watch the stats on other sites I`v put up like Leeds, Coventry and such like and
the hits are nothing like what I would have expected. So yeah I agree its only a small part of your marketing efforts, unless you get lucky and people in your area are searching like mad for a carpet cleaner.
Rab
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: derek west on October 23, 2009, 06:17:09 pm
number 1 on google for your search is a bit embarassing neil. :-[

Yes exactly. Constantly have a battle with accessplace to stay at the top but surely for a town with a population of 130,000 the phone should be going almost red hot.
By the end of next week it will be a leaflet drop, something i haven't done for about 6 years, hence why I'm now playing with adwords as i hate walking the streets

neil
i was talking about the removal ruggers ;D
these were number 1 when i searched.
http://basingstokecarpetcleaners.co.uk/index1.html

derek
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Doug Holloway on October 23, 2009, 06:18:39 pm
Hi Guys

I'm saying nothing and going down the pub :-X

Cheers

Doug

Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Doug Holloway on October 24, 2009, 10:12:08 am
Hi Guys

The way to make the internet work is to have an integrated approach with several websites targetting different areas or putting your website on as many relevant sites as possible.

I have carpet cleaning, hot water extraction, dry carpet cleaning, sofa cleaning, chair cleaning, green carpet cleaning, truckmount carpet cleaning, organic carpet cleaning etc all as different angles.

I also target different areas, so that I can pick the sort of jobs I want to do.

Mike obviously sees the future of the internet as he has paid for a video, but at the moment other marketing is working much better for him.

He also likes to work within 100 meteres of his house ;D

Cheers

Doug
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Barry Livingstone on March 25, 2010, 08:54:54 pm
Is there away of checking where your in the territory the clicks are coming from ???
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Paul W Jones on March 26, 2010, 02:16:19 pm
If you've got Google Analytics on your site you can check various stats each day about the type and number of visitors you're getting.  It's free and it's really in depth.  You can also compare direct hits, referring sites and your AdWords campaigns.  If I remember correctly you can get the code you'll need for your site from Google, it's a unique code which Google creates for you, and then put it into the correct part of your site.  Google explain how to do this but I also found better information on a couple of blogs.
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: gwrightson on March 26, 2010, 04:22:36 pm


I cant remeber the last time I had an enquiry from my website, to be honest I wouldnt know were to start to see where any enquiries where coming from, in other words I hopless and I certainly dont rate the webae a wy of attracting business, but thats just me perhaps.

The only benifit i have from my site is I tell the prospective customer to take a look, this way they can learn alittle more about who I am and what i do .

geoff
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: happy mondays on March 26, 2010, 09:21:36 pm


I cant remeber the last time I had an enquiry from my website, to be honest I wouldnt know were to start to see where any enquiries where coming from, in other words I hopless and I certainly dont rate the webae a wy of attracting business, but thats just me perhaps.

The only benifit i have from my site is I tell the prospective customer to take a look, this way they can learn alittle more about who I am and what i do .

geoff

If you try to get into the habit of asking someone where they got your number from you will then get a good idea of how well your website, flyers etc is/are doing.  Although they may not know if it was a sponsered link they clicked on, it will still tell you the search engine got you the job.
Title: Re: ad words Vs generics
Post by: Carpet Dawg on March 26, 2010, 09:41:05 pm
First thing i ask a telephone enquiry is where they got our number from..

Tony