It's 12 days since I opened my first Google Adwords account. I check the status. I have spent $74.21 in clicks. I have generated $259.61 cents in sales. Since most of the sales were for my own products, I will have to pay credit card processing fees out of that amount. Still and all, its a good return on the investment. I am pleasantly surprised.
And, as an unexpected bonus, a lot of people who clicked through to my web site and didn't make a purchase did sign up to one or more of my opt-in email lists. This means I can continue to market to them through email messages.
It's a step in the right direction. I am cautiously optimistic, as the politicians like to say.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Going for Gold is Born
or my Adventures in Googleland
Here's the story. I've been a self-employed writer for over a decade. I am one of those people you hear about -- the ones who work from home in their sweats, set their own hours, kissed the day job goodbye ... blah, blah, blah.
Until recently, I made a decent living. Two thirds of my income came from paid writing assignments. The rest came from Internet marketing. I sold business documents from my web site and also sold other people's products as an associate or affiliate reseller. I aimed at working four days a week, calling myself semi-retired. Did I mention I have three exceptionally gifted and beautiful grandchildren that..... okay, don't get me started.
Back on track. So, as I said, I was doing okay and working four days a week. Then I made a colossal mistake that many small businesses make. I put too many of my eggs in one basket. I had a major client, a trade magazine, that sent me tons of work. I allowed this client to take up most of my work time. It was great. Until they stopped paying me, that is!
Cash Flow Woes
Turns out the client is having "cash-flow" problems, which is business-speak for having no damned cash to pay their bills. Well, making a long story short, their "cash-flow" problems created "cash-flow" problems for me. As I write this, they are about eight months behind in their invoices and owe me many thousands of dollars. In the meantime, I bring in some bucks from my other clients and my Internet marketing efforts, but I have to dip into my savings every month. Now the savings are near depleted and I'm not a happy camper.
So I'm whining about this to my friend Audrey. She gives me the eagle eye and says,"Well, if you do nothing, nothing's gonna change!"
Good point. For years I've been muttering about wanting to do more online sales so I could do less writing and have more play time! I believed online marketing would be less labour intensive. (Don't email me to say I spelled "labour" incorrectly. I'm Canadian. That's how we spell it!) Of course I also believe in Santa Claus and the possibility of world peace.
So I decide that this money crunch is Nature's way of telling me its time to make the switch from writing to online sales. I know something about Internet marking, because I've been making half-assed attempts at it for years. However, I have much to learn. Much of what I know about IM is outdated. The online world changes faster than Britney Spears' underwear. Make that her alleged underwear.
Anyway, Pay Per Click (PPC) and Google Adwords are the current "in-things" for Internet marketing. I'd never bothered with either one because its easy to lose your knickers if you don't know what you're doing.
Getting Started
Sometime in October I'd bought a much-hyped Adwords marketing course called Affiliate Project X. I printed it out, put it in a binder and set it on the desk where it gathered dust until about ten days ago. Oh, stop rolling your eyes. If you haven't done something similar, you haven't been long on the Internet. You buy a product on an impulse, then hope somehow the unread product will magically soak into your head. Turns out it doesn't work that way.
Anyhoo, ten days ago or so, driven by the Bag Lady Vision, I went at Project X with a vengeance. Any of you self employed or unemployed women reading this will know what I mean by the Bag Lady thing. It's when you start to picture yourself begging on the street corner and you strongly suspect you wouldn't be good at it.
Project X, as promised, covers a lot of controversial marketing tactics for making money through Google Adwords. Now I wasn't born yesterday. Far from it, sigh! So I don't believe all the hype. I don't expect to make a gazillion dollars by the end of the week or any of that bumpff. I do, however, believe it is possible to make a living once I get the hang of it.
Before long, I start getting emails from Chris McNeeney, the product's creator, as well as from a bunch of other Internet marketers -- all creating buzz for McNeeney's next product due out in early February. Day Job Killer, as it's called, is hyped as "brutal, barely legal" and a bunch of other adjectives all suggesting riches will come to those who dare to use its mega-controversial tactics. Fine. I decide to wait, buy this product and start promoting affiliate sales using any of the tactics I could stomach.
Taking the Plunge
So I buy Day Job Killer. I study it (it is brutal!) and decide to take the plunge. I open an Adwords Starter account and set up an ad. Adwords Starter account is easy to figure out. They should call it "Adwords for Dummies." I created an ad for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, a smoking new software product for digital photographers. That's one of my many hobbies. Anyway, when I checked into my affiliate account at Amazon the next day, I had a sale!
"Bloody Hell," I think to myself. "This stuff works!" I tried creating more ads using the methods McNeeney describes in his e-books -- I should say that "Chris" describes. Apparently he wants to be known by his first name now, like Prince or Madonna. The guy says he's received too much flack from various people complaining about his methods so he doesn't want his last name promoted. If you ask me, that isn't gonna happen. Once you've put your name out there on the Internet, you can't go back. It's like losing your virginity, I figure. You can't change your mind afterwards.
So anyways, back to Adwords. I realize that the Starter account doesn't allow me to do much of anything. You have an option to change over to the Standard Account, but once you make the change, there's no going back. I make the change.
Google Standard Fights Back
Then comes three frustrating, life sucking, mind-numbing 12-hour days as I struggle to figure out Google Adwords. I can't make it work because the "buttons" that Chris says I'm supposed to click to do certain things just aren't there! At the end of the third day, I accidentally switch off some sort of automated feature that is on by default when you open the account. Eureka! The missing buttons appear!
The World According to Google
I create ads. I establish low daily budgets so I won't wake up to discover I'm $2,000 in debt to Google. Stuff like that can actually happen if you aren't careful. For the next few days, there are damned few successes. A few sales occur, but I'm spending more than I'm bringing in. Worse, my clickthrough rate is dismal, and Google is penalzing me by charging more and more for each click. Google's philosophy of life is straightforward. Winners pay less; losers pay more. It's a diabolically simple yet brutal system. The less successful you are, the more it costs you to fail.
Perhaps that's not such a bad thing. In its own way, the big "G" is saving us from ourselves.
At some point, I realize that I am trying to run before I can walk. Project X and Day Job Killer are aimed at experienced Adwords marketers. I don't understand the basics. With a prayer to the credit card gods, I buy Chris' first product, Adwords Miracles. This one is better for the likes of me. It gives me the basics. It's also written in a different tone. Less cut throat. Less controversial. Lots of good information for beginners and experienced users alike.
Looking for Sales in All the Wrong Places
I spend the next week experimenting, trying to find the "magic niche" that will show a profit.Eventually, I put up an ad for one of my own products that I sell from my web site. It's my guide to writing effective business proposals. Surprisingly, it gets lots of clicks and my clickthrough rate is good. My cost per click goes down for that one. I also make a few sales of the product. I am slightly encouraged. My ads for affiliate products continue to do poorly.
I identity some problem areas that I cannot figure out. Adwords Miracles is a hot product, but there are a few questions unanswered. Chris sends an email to all his buyers, asking for our feedback so he can incorporate changes in the next product incarnation. I let him know what I would like to see included. Fine, but it doesn't solve my immediate problem.
The Truth is Out There -- or is it?
I see an ad somewhere for another Adwords product, Adwords Killer written by Will Halliburton. Will has a different approach to product delivery. When you buy the product, you are actually buying a membership to his site. This membership includes his personal help with Adwords questions. And believe you me, I'm desperate for someone who will answer a few questions.
The Adwords Killer manual isn't as polished and well written as Chris' products. Chris is a professional marketer in the real world whereas Will was a bank teller before he turned Internet marketer. Still, his e-book is helpful, with lots of good information. He also doesn't dance as close to the unethical edge as Chris does. I like that part quite a bit. And true enough, Will does indeed answer questions, usually on the same day you email him. I think Adwords Killer and Adwords Miracles are good complements for one another. I'm not sorry I bought both.
Stay tuned for updates on Adventures in Googleland
Here's the story. I've been a self-employed writer for over a decade. I am one of those people you hear about -- the ones who work from home in their sweats, set their own hours, kissed the day job goodbye ... blah, blah, blah.
Until recently, I made a decent living. Two thirds of my income came from paid writing assignments. The rest came from Internet marketing. I sold business documents from my web site and also sold other people's products as an associate or affiliate reseller. I aimed at working four days a week, calling myself semi-retired. Did I mention I have three exceptionally gifted and beautiful grandchildren that..... okay, don't get me started.
Back on track. So, as I said, I was doing okay and working four days a week. Then I made a colossal mistake that many small businesses make. I put too many of my eggs in one basket. I had a major client, a trade magazine, that sent me tons of work. I allowed this client to take up most of my work time. It was great. Until they stopped paying me, that is!
Cash Flow Woes
Turns out the client is having "cash-flow" problems, which is business-speak for having no damned cash to pay their bills. Well, making a long story short, their "cash-flow" problems created "cash-flow" problems for me. As I write this, they are about eight months behind in their invoices and owe me many thousands of dollars. In the meantime, I bring in some bucks from my other clients and my Internet marketing efforts, but I have to dip into my savings every month. Now the savings are near depleted and I'm not a happy camper.
So I'm whining about this to my friend Audrey. She gives me the eagle eye and says,"Well, if you do nothing, nothing's gonna change!"
Good point. For years I've been muttering about wanting to do more online sales so I could do less writing and have more play time! I believed online marketing would be less labour intensive. (Don't email me to say I spelled "labour" incorrectly. I'm Canadian. That's how we spell it!) Of course I also believe in Santa Claus and the possibility of world peace.
So I decide that this money crunch is Nature's way of telling me its time to make the switch from writing to online sales. I know something about Internet marking, because I've been making half-assed attempts at it for years. However, I have much to learn. Much of what I know about IM is outdated. The online world changes faster than Britney Spears' underwear. Make that her alleged underwear.
Anyway, Pay Per Click (PPC) and Google Adwords are the current "in-things" for Internet marketing. I'd never bothered with either one because its easy to lose your knickers if you don't know what you're doing.
Getting Started
Sometime in October I'd bought a much-hyped Adwords marketing course called Affiliate Project X. I printed it out, put it in a binder and set it on the desk where it gathered dust until about ten days ago. Oh, stop rolling your eyes. If you haven't done something similar, you haven't been long on the Internet. You buy a product on an impulse, then hope somehow the unread product will magically soak into your head. Turns out it doesn't work that way.
Anyhoo, ten days ago or so, driven by the Bag Lady Vision, I went at Project X with a vengeance. Any of you self employed or unemployed women reading this will know what I mean by the Bag Lady thing. It's when you start to picture yourself begging on the street corner and you strongly suspect you wouldn't be good at it.
Project X, as promised, covers a lot of controversial marketing tactics for making money through Google Adwords. Now I wasn't born yesterday. Far from it, sigh! So I don't believe all the hype. I don't expect to make a gazillion dollars by the end of the week or any of that bumpff. I do, however, believe it is possible to make a living once I get the hang of it.
Before long, I start getting emails from Chris McNeeney, the product's creator, as well as from a bunch of other Internet marketers -- all creating buzz for McNeeney's next product due out in early February. Day Job Killer, as it's called, is hyped as "brutal, barely legal" and a bunch of other adjectives all suggesting riches will come to those who dare to use its mega-controversial tactics. Fine. I decide to wait, buy this product and start promoting affiliate sales using any of the tactics I could stomach.
Taking the Plunge
So I buy Day Job Killer. I study it (it is brutal!) and decide to take the plunge. I open an Adwords Starter account and set up an ad. Adwords Starter account is easy to figure out. They should call it "Adwords for Dummies." I created an ad for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, a smoking new software product for digital photographers. That's one of my many hobbies. Anyway, when I checked into my affiliate account at Amazon the next day, I had a sale!
"Bloody Hell," I think to myself. "This stuff works!" I tried creating more ads using the methods McNeeney describes in his e-books -- I should say that "Chris" describes. Apparently he wants to be known by his first name now, like Prince or Madonna. The guy says he's received too much flack from various people complaining about his methods so he doesn't want his last name promoted. If you ask me, that isn't gonna happen. Once you've put your name out there on the Internet, you can't go back. It's like losing your virginity, I figure. You can't change your mind afterwards.
So anyways, back to Adwords. I realize that the Starter account doesn't allow me to do much of anything. You have an option to change over to the Standard Account, but once you make the change, there's no going back. I make the change.
Google Standard Fights Back
Then comes three frustrating, life sucking, mind-numbing 12-hour days as I struggle to figure out Google Adwords. I can't make it work because the "buttons" that Chris says I'm supposed to click to do certain things just aren't there! At the end of the third day, I accidentally switch off some sort of automated feature that is on by default when you open the account. Eureka! The missing buttons appear!
The World According to Google
I create ads. I establish low daily budgets so I won't wake up to discover I'm $2,000 in debt to Google. Stuff like that can actually happen if you aren't careful. For the next few days, there are damned few successes. A few sales occur, but I'm spending more than I'm bringing in. Worse, my clickthrough rate is dismal, and Google is penalzing me by charging more and more for each click. Google's philosophy of life is straightforward. Winners pay less; losers pay more. It's a diabolically simple yet brutal system. The less successful you are, the more it costs you to fail.
Perhaps that's not such a bad thing. In its own way, the big "G" is saving us from ourselves.
At some point, I realize that I am trying to run before I can walk. Project X and Day Job Killer are aimed at experienced Adwords marketers. I don't understand the basics. With a prayer to the credit card gods, I buy Chris' first product, Adwords Miracles. This one is better for the likes of me. It gives me the basics. It's also written in a different tone. Less cut throat. Less controversial. Lots of good information for beginners and experienced users alike.
Looking for Sales in All the Wrong Places
I spend the next week experimenting, trying to find the "magic niche" that will show a profit.Eventually, I put up an ad for one of my own products that I sell from my web site. It's my guide to writing effective business proposals. Surprisingly, it gets lots of clicks and my clickthrough rate is good. My cost per click goes down for that one. I also make a few sales of the product. I am slightly encouraged. My ads for affiliate products continue to do poorly.
I identity some problem areas that I cannot figure out. Adwords Miracles is a hot product, but there are a few questions unanswered. Chris sends an email to all his buyers, asking for our feedback so he can incorporate changes in the next product incarnation. I let him know what I would like to see included. Fine, but it doesn't solve my immediate problem.
The Truth is Out There -- or is it?
I see an ad somewhere for another Adwords product, Adwords Killer written by Will Halliburton. Will has a different approach to product delivery. When you buy the product, you are actually buying a membership to his site. This membership includes his personal help with Adwords questions. And believe you me, I'm desperate for someone who will answer a few questions.
The Adwords Killer manual isn't as polished and well written as Chris' products. Chris is a professional marketer in the real world whereas Will was a bank teller before he turned Internet marketer. Still, his e-book is helpful, with lots of good information. He also doesn't dance as close to the unethical edge as Chris does. I like that part quite a bit. And true enough, Will does indeed answer questions, usually on the same day you email him. I think Adwords Killer and Adwords Miracles are good complements for one another. I'm not sorry I bought both.
Stay tuned for updates on Adventures in Googleland
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