Google Adwords?

[Jaded]

Anyone have any experience with Google Adwords? Performance or cost?

[Connie]

I have used Adwords for 2 or 3 years, but only for 4 phrases. You can control you cost by setting daily spending limits. The ROI for me is pretty consistent. I stopped using Overture back in November last year when suddenly my account was being drained with no sales.

I could probably do better with Adwords than what I do If I took the time to really understand all the ends and outs.

The best way to find out if it's for you is to sign up for an account and test it. If you decide to do that let me know I can share a few tips with you that will help keep the cost down.

[Jaded]

Thanks, will do.

[g0lem]

But is it really worth it? I have used them too and I also used Looksmart and even so I can consistently get high rankings without it and without the cost. I'm not convinced that customers care one way or another as long as they don't have to wade through too many pages to get to your site. I think if you do enough submitting to the primary engines and once you are in there they continue to spider your site. Paying is nice for them but I also have a brick and mortar store and we have never seen enough increase in business from advertising expenses -- enough to pay for the increase in cost.

I think it is great for big companies but they have the power we'll never have so we need to offer something else and maximize our exposure some other way. I do that with links and submissions and always have.

Hank

[Vin DSL]

I don't use Adwords, but I DO use Adsense e.g. I serve ads for Google. While the 'click-thru' rates aren't all that great, the count is consistent with what I've experienced in the past, using other companies. And, Google 'pays-out', unlike some shysters I've dealt with in the past.

So, I guess what I'm saying is, ppl do click the ads (.3% of the time on my site). Moreover, Google is a reputable company, and isn't likely to screw you. Even if ppl don't click your ads, at least you'll get some visibility, and that's worth something too, no?

[uftimmy]

We have used Adwords and Overture for about 9 months now. Adwords has been much more profitable. Because of the way Google will rank you based on your click through, you can pay quite a bit less as long as you have a good click through and be ranked fairly highly.

Our old site had some real problems being indexed by Google and other search engines because it was on a shared industry server with a lot of other very similar domains. During that period Google and Overture were the only ways people could find our site. Now, however, we're on the first page for all our relevant search terms so we'll be cutting back on the ads.

People who find our site through Adwords are about 10 times more likely to place an order than those who do from Overture.