I am somewhat of a "tech geek".  Pay per click advertising just does not work well.  It is better for you to spend a little MORE money up front to have a professional optimize your website so that your "natural" search engine results are higher.  This costs anywhere from $1000 to $2500+, but if done right, will give you much more ongoing success with website traffic.  Please email me if you want me to give you a few good referrals, and more tips.

Steve, Thanks....but did you have anything to say about my topic? I think that other stuff is great and I will try it out---but is the Google thing common knowledge???? I must be the only one who had no idea!!

Thanks for the free advertising! (yours)!!!

I've used AdWords and actually had pretty good  luck with it. I paused my account recently though. Too many others in my area using it. Makes it more expensive to get noticed. Your experience has made me very leery of using it again.

Jonelle, I paid someone $2,000 for my webpage and he told me he would see to it that I get good SEO...

I will email you for more info...Thanks!

Wendy, I learned a very expensive lesson---do you know that they never told me how to refine my keywords?? The report that I watched this morning said that there is an investigation beginning on all of these advertising "deals"...there is even the suggestion that the person running it sits and "clicks" the button just to run up your costs!!!! This is really a scam!

Thanks for your input..

Paula,  I don't think I would every be willing to do a pay for click campaign.  I just can't convince myself it is worth the risk.

paula, I deleted the comment, I was sincerely tryin to help. thats all

I have never tried to use google adwords.  I am at the first page on my own hard work and seo techniques.

This just confirms what I have feared about that.  Ii will stick to building personal relationships.

I have always known that pay per click is not a good thing! I know a few who paid google and it cost so much and they received nothing! It is a terrible thing to sell this to people who really do not know what can happen! I am sorry this happened to you. I refuse to pay anyone thousands of dollars to keep my website on the first page either! There should be alternatives that are less costly!

I am so glad that I read this..I am in the final stages of having my website designed by agent image and I have been wondering what to do to get more results...now I know not adwords. Thanks!

Russ Thanks for the comment--I think you are smart to not have been taken in. I plan on doing research so that my website gets better SEO...I have also had a couple of good suggestions from other people here on AR.

Ron Good idea--let me know if you find anything good out there!

Jean Thanks for the sympathy! I wish I had known then what I know now....in fact, I am glad my suspicions got the better of me and therfore I acted on that. Can you imagine if I had not quit the campaign and then found oout after having run up huge bills that I wouldn't get anything from it anyway?

This confirms what I suspected when I investigated this advertising "opportunity".  SO glad I passed.  Thanks for posting this as a warning.  I hope more people respond with their experience with it to see if it matches yours.  Wll it make you feel any better?  Maybe not but misery does love company :).  Seriously, you caught it early enough not to be too burned.  Good for you!

Spending money on a "pay per click" basis seems risky to me. Theoretically, your competition can click your account to its max, costing you money and giving you no exposure to qualified viewers.

Sandy

Misty---Glad that I could be of help...don't you wonder how many other people are chugging away with their campaigns, thinking: "someone is bound to see my ad" and then never getting a response!!! This one friend of mine is still involved and I have a call in to her to tell her what I saw this AM on CNBC.

Pam-Thanks for the response and you are so right--I could have been in real trouble with my credit card if i had not checked it out right away!

Sandy-Your instincts were dead-on right! I thought of the competition too but my "trusting" nature said: no one would do that! Not only would they do it--but the one who sold me the idea was having a wild time doing it!!!

Paula,  don't be so fast to blame Google - you may be the victim of fraud, but not via Google.

Some time ago I was having tremendous success with PPC (pay per click) campaigns.  Then, out of nowhere, my budget shot through the roof, hitting my max in the first 4 days of the month.  I immediately paused the account and turned it in to Google and Yahoo to find out what the heck was happening.

Turns out that I was being hit by a click fraud where my ads were being clicked en masse and charging me through the roof.  It may have been a competitor, or scammer with too much time on his hands.  But I was refunded all the money I was out because something they were able to track made it clear that this was fraud.

This is a pretty well known and widespread problem: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_40/b4003001.htm

In fact, if you Google "click fraud" you will get tons of articles about it.

I still use Google Adwords, but with a low budget since I am still a little gun shy.

Try calling Google to see if they can help.  If you already have and they were unable to find fraud then you are best off sitting it out.  My campaign was successful, but I have found other avenues to substitute that are equally successful with a better ROI.

Good luck!

Thanks Joseph- I tried to communicate with Google but was really not happy. They delayed their response to my request for the location of my keywords---never got that! They just wanted me to rejoin the campaign and I never got an explanation as to why my ad never showed up on a Google search. I really felt like I was "out of it" when it comes to this kind advertising ...and then I saw that CNBC report. I will take your advise and call them..now, where is that phone number???....:)

Paula - I am no expert but I did look at your site for what it is worth and I think with a few changes you could see your site coming up better on Google.  Here are the keywords that your website is currently using:

"keywords" content="home staging, homestaging southampton, real estate, long island, redesign, Paula Hathaway"

The first problem is that I'm not sure those are the keywords someone would use to find a stager in your area.  I don't think anyone would 
be searching for your name so that one might be a waste. 

Second, none of these keywords are supported by the text you have written.  If you want people to be able to find your site you need to use 
certain keywords throughout the text.  (keyword density)  So instead of saying ...putting your home on the market.  You might say 
...putting your home in the Hamptons on the market. 

You need to pick good keywords - the ones you want to be found for then set your Keyword tags and follow up with keyword rich text.  When
looking at your site it really does not mention what area you service anywhere on the site. 

I also ran your site through a website diagnostic - it has some problems.  You can try it yourself at Meta Tag Analyzer.  

If you paid someone to optimize your site I'd go back to them.   

Thats the problem with pay per click, there is no real tracking system.  You may get a deal or two to offset the fee.  Buit most of the time your paying for errors.

Maureen Thank you so much for your wise evaluation---I will go back to my website builder--he is the one that set it up....and thanks for the Metea Tag Analyzer suggestion; I will certainly check it out.

I know a lot of people that use it with favorable results--however--they spend nearly 6k+ per month to do so. Now if you're return is far greater than your investment it may be worth it...But are you really getting 333 clicks per day (using .60 as ppc)?  Maybe, maybe not. You also have to use targeted words (google has a tool for that but they won't tell you) and you have to have a good looking site (google reluctantly admitted that to me). Essentially, your site design is also taken into account for placing. Who wants to look at an ugly site first anyways?!? 

The best option is SEO (they won't tell you that) BUT there are a lot of scams out there. You have to check out review sites for options on SEO. A lot of times you end up signing contracts after hearing a nice marketing plan only to find out not much has changed for your site (a lot of company's advertise big numbers but put in the fine print: we do not guarantee any results). Customers then cancel after a month or two and that's how the scam works...constant marketing for client retention. It's a sick world out there.

Good Luck in your hunting

Deandra-I am learning so much about PPC--more than I ever wanted to....thanks for your input. You are so right about the ROI....I was starting to get upset because I thought the other stagers were getting business that I wasn't...guess I was paying attention to all the wrong things when I got nervous about my competition. I should just pay attention to MY business! 

Alan, I appreciate your candidness...I have been told my website is beautiful by almost everyone who has seen it. I guess that doesn't always mean more business!!

Just blog - it's free and easy!

Tina in Virginia

Paula - I'm finding it hard to figure out where best to spend my money.  I have heard that it is best to try to raise your ranking on the natural side,  however I had the best results when I combined pay per click with adding content on the back end of my website.  When I took away the pay perclick I dropped in the ratings.  But it was really expensive to do both.

PPC can be a great source of leads, if done right.  It appears that your first mistake was paying $2 per click--That's outrageous.  Right now I'm getting about a 20% click ratio (20% of all people who Google my specific keywords click on my ad) and I'm paying only $0.12 per click. 

PPC does work. I have spent $750 since February 1 and have received 130 leads from my website. I am using Google analytics to find out what search terms people are using to find my website. That is the easiest way to find out what search terms to use. As far as click fraud goes, you will always have some. I am sure my competition clicks on my site all of the time but you have to take the good with the bad.

Wow, great information through all of these comments!  Thanks!

I have no experience with this but have heard some info about is so probably would have researched this down the road.  I am sorry for your experience - hopefully you got out before spending too much  money - but thank you for sharing so others, like me, won't get into the same situation.

The way you know it is working is that closed business increases.  You cannot pay your mortgage with clicks.

I sold over 1,000,000 my first year in business in 2001 (when I sold concert tickets) at the time I could buy the word "concert tickets" for 2 cents a click. That would cost about $4.00 a click now. PPC has been over run as people are willing to pay so much money for clicks. I would advise you use long strings of words like "interior designer los angeles" or "discount home designer in new york" the longer the chain of words the less expensive.

 

 

Google does have click fraud controls, you can e-mail them if you think there is a problem. If the same ip address continues to click the same add multiple times, it does not keep costing you. I also would say that I used to have a $1000 per day budget to get serious clicks. Unless you are willing to spend at least $2500 a month in PPC don't waste your time. If you have more questions don't hesitate to call me.           

Unless you can track your clicks with Google Analytics or a good tracking software, then hire a PPC consultant to manage your campaign. You will get MUCH BETTER RESULTS. 

I did google adwords about a year ago and the pay per click was very costly even when I refined the keywords.  In addition I never received any email, calls or contacts from the adwords.

I have done far better blogging and syndicating with vflyer and the point2 site.

I used google adword and found out quickly it was a waste of time and money.  I am glad you found out before spending a small fortune.

We have heard of similiar situations with other people. We have never bought into the paid campaigns, but rather try hard to do things "organic". It's not easy though. Hang in there.

I have used adwords for a year or so now and it works ok for me.  I now have a very low click cost as if you type in phoenix home inspection on google I am at the top.

Take the time to research seo techniques so you can do it yourself and save your money with experts.

Dwelling Doctors LLC

Hi Paula,

Sounds like you had a frustrating time.

I use both Natural Searcj Engine placement and PPC advertising for my wife's site, both to great success.

I think with a little more knowledge of how to make adwords work for you it could generate some good ROI.

The real key is to choose the correct terms, pick the right budget, and create relevant ads that send to proper landing page.

I'll try and get a video together in the near future for everyone on this. I did recently post a video showing how to find the best terms to advertise and optimize for on my active rain blog.

Paula, thanks for sharing this experience.  I have looked in the PPC and came very close to setting up an account, but I ended up getting busy and never did.  I read all the comments in this thread and it's clear to me that I will need to do a lot more research before setting up a PPC account as everyone has their good and bad experiences here. 

I once used PPC quite a bit - I think its now about 14 months since I have.  Although I did get some business and some leads it just wasn't a big enough ROI in my opinion - I too was dumbfounded with how many clicks there were (aka expense) compared to contacts/real business.  I too suspected fake clicks but never looked into it enough.  I did not have the same problem though as not being able to find the ad.   Getting involved in my own SEO more has completely alleviated the need for me for a PPC campaign. 

Tina You are right---I am now just blogging! Thanks

Pam Thanks for your input--I am so new at this that I am finding all of these comments are tremendously valuable!

REWC Come on---I told you that I as new at this!!! I also said I had spoken to someone else who was very happy with her PPC and she was paying almost as much---I was only involved for 2 days!! 

Michael I do believe that the area you are in has a lot to do with the success also. The Hamptons is a very small summer community. I would be surprised if anyone ever had 32 or even 15 people looking for a busines in the Hamptons...thanks for your input!

Nyles great to be of some help!!

Tori   Glad I could be of some help..thanks for your response!

Jim   You are so right--I didn't wan to give it any more time.

Hayden  Your information is much appreciated--Thank you for responding. Iwill take your advise and before I do anything more with Google I will certainly use a PPC consultant.

Pam   Thanks for your input!

Lorinda  I spent maybe $50,00 but I learned a real lesson!

Bob and Carolyn  Thanks for your input!

Brian  Glad it works for you--I have to become better informed if I am going to do anything like that again!

Tom  Thanks so much for your valuable information---I must say, I do not understand why Google would not tell me where to locate my keywords so I could correct them...I asked them many times and they ignored my question. I look forward to seeing you video on this subject!

Angela  Good luck with your research!

Steve  Thanks for your input-- I really think that the net result is always far smaller than we think it is going to be.

Paula - I am no expert in SEO, although I have done some study on it lately.  As the website designer and office manager of rooms b.y. root - a staging company in Northern Arizona - it has been our experience that a well designed, keyword laden website accompanied by and closely attached to a well designed, keyword laden blog is the best SEO booster around.  Content, content, content.  Pepper your blogs with the keywords (including locations) that you want folks to be able to find you by and you will probably do well.  I think some of the advice previously offered regarding the update of your website is crucial.  One caveat when it comes to choosing a website development company, do some checking of their references and find out if they truly offer good SEO services or not.  SEO is so crucial to today's internet market and there are so many flaky, fly-by-night companies out there in the internet world that you really need to make sure the company you choose has proven SEO results and happy customers.  Good luck and I am so sorry that the Google Adwords thing has happened to you.  We have never felt the need to use any pay per click programs because of the fact that our website/blogging efforts have done so well.

I always wondered who would be clicking on those ads, I know I never do.  I have heard of a company that actually pays people to click.  They earn 1% on money in their online "accounts" for clicking through so many "ads" per day.  They have to stay on them for a cerain amount of time, but it seems to me that people who bought those ads don't want random people getting paid to click on them.  Don't know if it has to do with google or not.

Tonya  Thank you so much for your input--I have contacted my website guy and told him what I wanted to do with the keywords and he told me to give them to him and he will add whatever I want...I also want to contact a good SEO person and will do my research diligently before I hire anyone...Thanks again!

Sandra  Apparently it is all a scam...I suspect everybody in this kind of ad scheme. Thanks, for your comment.

Instead of using the Adsense service on a pay per click basis, I found that paying per impression works a lot better.  Pay Per Impression allows you to pick the websites in which you want your ad to be displayed and will get you a ton more clicks than PPC.  Recently I purchased 1,000 impressions for a quarter and my ad was placed on high profile mortgage websites.  I ran the campaign for a week and spent less than $20 for 52 clicks.  If you received 52 clicks on PPC you would spend at least $100 if not more.

Paula,

Get in touch with Anne Mckechnie, a Tucson AR member.  She's the most knowledgable person I know regarding personal experience with this.  Anne and Eddie are #2 Coldwell Banker in greater Tucson, a 1,000,000 person market.

Mike in Tucson

Hi Mike! Thanks for the name--I will contact her right away.

Jeremy  Thanks for the suggestion...I will check into it!

I have used google and yahoo for 6 years in pay per click.  It has helped fuel my business. It helped me go from 20k in commissions to over 1 million.   In January....when I didnt watch my campaign it charged me 20k in one month. Never again!  I have my campaign narrowed down to where my leads dont cost me more than 40 bucks a lead now.  Its under control...but it took time using their analytics tools and everything.   Im a believer in it.  It takes time to understand and to utilize. Its fueled my business to levels I never dreamed of at first.

Hi Dave-- I have heard that PPC is not as effective as it used to be because of the usage and the great numbers of layers of people who are now trying to capitalize on it. That may be why you suddenly saw that change also--I don't really know the answer but something tells me that it is time to work on my content and key words and call off the PPC altogether! Thanks for your valuable input.........

Paula,

PPC is not receiving the rave reviews that it had in the past. I've been running a low budget campaign without any results. I've gotten a few click through but nothing worth while. We have an agent in our office who swears by it, but I know that they spend a lot of money on it each month.

I will agree with Maureen Henry and that your site could use some page optimization. generally there are two ways to increase your ranking. The first is through on-page optimization, basically setting your keywords, etc. up to work well with search engines. The second is through natural links coming back to your site. Blogging on multiple sites is a key here.

Your site has a nice feel, but the content isn't being analyzed well be search engines. I use a tool called Website Grader at http://www.websitegrader.comThis tools generates a grade that tells you how search engines see your site. Your site received a 39 out of 100. The good news is that you have lots of room for improvement!

You would benefit from a website review in regards to SEO (search engine optimization).

Geoff  Thanks so much for your advise...I will certainly take it to heart and refine my site. I also think that it is time for a good SEO evaluation--I have someone in mind and will check into it.

Thanks again; it is really gratifiying to have so many people express their opinions and suggestions here.

I would hate to think someone just clicks away at the ad you purchased. I have never gotten into that. My husband told me not to bother with and to work on my site.

Christy  That could be a possibility...it could have been me in my search for the ad that never showed up! I don't think I clicked that often though--32 clicks is a lot!! Thanks for your comment.

Nancy I wish everyone else who uses Google Adwords the best of luck--they (the Google guys) are going to have to do a lot more in the way of clarity and usage guides in order for me to have the faith in them that I didhave! I am reading a lot about how this kind of marketing may have  been "maxed" because of all the people now involved--the use of PPC has become a monstrous collection of people taking a part of the $$ that accumulate.So in order for it to be profitable, there is now a degree of unethical behavior by the people who are overseeing the system. Not all mind you, but enough so that it is harder and harder for new users of PPC to get anywhere with it. I am hearing how it has been a success with a large number of people but I think they are the first, or earliest users of the ad campaign. ....Just my opinion!!