Some time ago I wrote about my frustrations with AdWords resellers and the crazy CPC mark-ups, poor results and resulting High churn rate in the local space.
The economics and the business model are a challenge. Resellers have to pay sales teams who have to sign up as many advertisers as possible and account managers (if the business has any) have 100′s or 1000′s of accounts to look after. The reseller than has to slap on a massively high mark-up on the Cost per click to drive any revenue at all.
I’ve seen 100% mark-ups ‘out in the wild’.
It’s a low quality, high volume business. and yes, the churn rate is massive because advertisers are not happy with results or service.
Honestly, It’s not a business model I’d touch with a 10 foot pole!
What I have begun to do is share my knowledge on this blog (via the ‘Mind your own PPC’ posts) in the hope that small business readers can start to wrestle control of their marketing back from dodgy resellers and actually get some value for money. Eg don’t pay a 100% mark-up on Click costs if you don’t have to.
However the reality of the situation is that many small business owners simply do not have the time (even a few minutes a day) to devote to managing their own local search campaign, nor the time to devote to learning what they need to learn to get things going properly. Yet they also know that that they are potentially missing out on valuable traffic by not having a presence in the search results or map pages. So they’re forced to find a supplier who can get them there, even if it means paying more than they should for mediocre campaigns…
Enter Google AdWords Express
BEFORE WE GO ANY FURTHER… Google are about making money, just like every other busines so they’re not a knight in shining armour here to rescue small businesses in distress, they see a massive opportunity to get 1000′s of small buinsesses online and buying their ads. They’re obviously not happy with the reseller model either so they seem to have reached a compromise,
It’s also worth noting that I’ve not yet had any first hand experience with Express, so these are just observations based on what information I’ve been able to find so far.
What is AdWords Express?
It’s designed to get small local advertisers up and running on Adwords as quickly as possible with a minimum of understanding required (sounds dangerous right?!). As Google explain:
AdWords Express is the easiest way to advertise on Google. Creating your ad takes just a few minutes, and that’s it. Everything else is managed automatically, ensuring your ad is only shown to people looking for what you have to offer. Now you’re advertising to an audience that’s already interested in you.
Search Engine Land also summed it up well saying:
The idea behind AdWords Express is that local businesses, who, at one time, only needed to place a yellow pages ad once a year, have been frightened away from AdWords by the perceived complexity of keywords, bidding, etc. With Express, they input a bit of information about their company, set a budget, write a couple of lines of ad copy, and Google handles the keywords and bidding.
How does AdWords Express work?
You tell google about your business and location, google give you some ads. Sounds easy right?
When people search online for local products or services that you provide, an ad for your business will appear above or beside their search results. Your business will also be marked with a distinctive blue pin on Google Maps, helping it stand out to potential customers.
Who should use AdWords Express?
AdWords Express is for local businesses looking for local customers. It’s for business owners who want the benefits of a targeted online ad campaign, without having to spend time managing it.
Won’t Google just charge Advertisers more for clicks – like the resellers do?
Google can’t mark-up the CPC because it’s an auction, but they can bid high and broad. I envisage an AdWords Express “convenience tax”. eg. Google will bid very competitively on terms (eg high) and possibly use broad matches to get as many clicks are possible. The focus will be on Clicks and not conversions so Advertisers will pay more than they potentially needed to, but it will beat paying 100% mark-up to resellers who also focus on the clicks.
Who will could AdWords Express ‘hurt’?
a) The resellers
b) Service based directories with large adwords campaigns covering multiple service categories and locations. Sorry guys, if Express takes off in your market, expect CPC’s to rise!
If you’re after a sophisticated, conversion orientated PPC campaign, then Express is not for you. But if you’re a small local business who would like a hassle free way to start advertising on Google, then this could be a safe bet.
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