Google AdWords vs. Facebook Ads: Which do you recommend?

We are locksmiths. Facebook, while great for personal communication and some businesses like restaurants, massages, self-help etc is not great for us. If you are in the service business like us Facebook is useless. Adwords is too expensive and does not get one the solid leads one needs. They all promise that they screen the leads but that's a lie. Once you get a possible lead YOU have to sell the customer into coming to you and not someone closer or been in business longer or someone cheaper. I would bet that out of 10 leads you might get one hopefully. So...how much did you pay in total for all the leads and did that one lead pay for them as well as create a profit for you. To me Pay per Click or Ad-Words is like going to the horse races or a casino. You start with $100.00...you play or bet and lose $80.00...then you win $90.00 and you feel great! You should as you only lost $10.00. I am not a gambler so I refuse to invest in these types of (so called) advertising. I do not know what kind of business you have but I have found that hard walking (passing out business cards up and down the streets of your town and nearby cities) exceptional customer service, a good product base and doing the job in professional manner will gain you more in referrals than anything on the planet. Have a great website and maintain it. Join your Chamber of Commerse and go to the Greeters meetings, at first all the time then after a year you can slack to 50%. Network with like businesses and groups (that do NOT charge too much). Go to luncheons with guest speakers and try to be a guest speaker. When and IF you can.....volunteer to help in community events. It may take you a little longer to become well known and build you an excellent reputation but when it starts to show up it will snowball. I always be sure my business is listed in the phone book of my town and county but only as a listing in bold. Claim your business in every online search you can and keep the main ones up to date like Google, Bing, Yahoo, yelp. This is the organic method and it works!!!! Keep your hard earned cash to help build your business and not theirs.

The channel that's best suited for your business depends on your target market. And in your case Gwyn, they are expecting parents. Facebook can be a great way to reach them, most people are on Facebook to be in touch with their friends and family. They share pictures of big bellies, ultrasound images, they read and share articles related to pregnancy and being a parent.

The beauty of Facebook Ads is the ability to hyper target your ads to very niche audiences... location, interests, age, etc. The more target your ads, the more relevant your ad copy and your offer, the better your chances of converting them.

Plus, with Facebook you should definitely consider remarketing campaign. If they visited your website, "stalk" them a bit on Facebook to get them back.

When it comes to Adwords, it can be effective but you have to be very judicial with your keywords. I would also recommend looking into display network, so you can actually show your work to prospects... image speaks a thousand words. It's hard to communicate "3D picture of your baby", but when they see the image they will instantly know exactly what you mean and that's even before visiting your website (this is also an advantage with Facebook ads, you can add an image for additional effect).

Whatever you're doing, you need to experiment. There's no one-size fits all. If you used Adwords for 3 years, ask yourself "do I waste money or does Adwords pay for itself?" In many cases I see, self-managed Adwords campaigns can be a waste of money. Especially if your budget is too low to provide necessary results. If you're not getting any leads/clients from Adwords (I hope you're measuring conversions), than why continue? Either make some drastic changes or stop.

Lastly, consider that 96% of visitors are not ready to buy. Do you offer other ways for a visitor to convert even if they're not ready to book an appointment? I don't see any on your website. They don't have to book an appointment right now. What if they're in their first few weeks of pregnancy, when there is nothing to look at but they found you on Facebook. They are not ready to book an appointment right now, but they will be in a month or two. But by then they won't remember your name or you. You need to capture not only sales ready leads, but also those cold and luke warm leads that you can help "couch to a sale" with your lead nurturing campaigns (emails). So when they are ready, they know who to go to. Leads are like kids, you have to be a good parent and raise them to a saleshood.

Keep in mind how Einstein defines insanity, "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Hope this helps.

We have been in business for 16 years we started out with a bricks and mortar store but after 3 years our online sales were growing at a far greater pace than our store, so we closed the store and have concentrated on our web site ever since.

At the start we were green and were told we had to use Google ad words and Face Book to increase our sales, we threw thousands of dollars into the coffers of these 2 giants and with no ROI, we did trade shows and found we were just spinning our wheels.

In the end we realized we were the only ones who knew our company our product, our demographics and our customers, so we started to do all our own SEO in house and have never looked back, our sales increase year on year.

I would suggest investing in a really good SEO program, we use Link assistant Website auditor, Market samurai (free) and to double check we use google keyword planner.(Free)

The great thing about FB vs Google is with FB you can pin down the exact person that is perfect for your business, service, product, etc. With google your just picking words ( hopefully the right ones) and hoping the right person will come across your ad and click it. Plus google keyword planner isn't really the best way to get keywords. If you're going to buy ads I would suggest you make sure you know everything about your ideal customer and your business, service, product, etc. This way you can really zero in on that person on FB and your ad dollars will be spent wisely.

I have been in business for 35 years. While it is true we do need to continually market ourselves. I choose to be found on Google (organically). I have never paid for an add on Google or Facebook. While saying this you must be on the 1st page though,this is hard to do if you do not understand the principle at play. When you do achieve it it is wonderful. No bills not money out of pocket. What type of business are you and where are you?

Pete

I use both - but for very different reasons and outcomes. My Adwords advertising - if properly focused using negative keywords, geo-targeting, and custom landing pages - delivers me qualified leads. For me as a maternity and newborn photographer, potential clients ready to book. Facebook advertising brings me traffic that are interested, researching, etc - but no where near a decision. These are people I begin a dialog with through Facebook, chat, email, etc. I also do a lot of Facebook remarketing. So different tools for customers in a different step in the sales process.

If you are just buying traffic - Facebook doesn't convert. But if you have a clear objectice, Facebook can deliver audience Adwords can't.

I have never used AdWords or advertised on Facebook, but what I have done on Facebook is to boost a post. I don't spend a lot, $5 at the most, and not that often. Whatever I'm doing, it's working (mostly for free!). When someone searches for my the service I provide, I'm at the top of a google search page! And for me, at least 80% of my business comes from my Yelp listing (also FREE).

As you can see Gwyn, There are some who say use FB and Google AdWords. I have studied this topic extensively and found through experiment that FB adds will get you about 1 - 2 % response on your add. Google Adds will reap about 30% of the searchers. I have found a good ranked website will produce more and be more effective than any quick PPC ad. Do not listen to those silly rules. I have never used Google AdWords and my business is doing very well. Use the old method of business and that is following your gut feeling. What other business will not tell you is that it takes 5 years to establish a firm foundation in your city and it takes hours of late night study to keep your business afloat. My first year I was taken by the marketing sharks who feed on your income until it is all gone. I started my business with my own money and marketed my business with intense study. My company is debt free and we just got awarded one of the top IT companies in the city. I believe you can do the same. Listen to the comments of the ones who have done it. The are telling you the truth. If you need help I would be glad to show you what I did. Drop the google AdWords. Create a Business FB page and advertise on your personal and business page at the same time.

Yes marketing cost can spiral out of budget quickly sometimes. Its been awhile since I've used FB ads. I've advised against it in the past due to there being problems with ad reach in spite of them having over a billion accounts. Example: FB charge $10 to reach 300 people but your campaign would be closed with your reach results at only 150 people. You then get a request to begin a new campaign. Adwords has an automatic targeting element built in which helps to point your ad towards people who may actually already be looking for a product like yours. It's my understanding as of recent weeks from fellow marketers that FB has revamped its ad program. The results are pending. Ultimately FB marketing is "broadcast marketing" which is actually not very effective online. If you develop your demographic and "persona" profiles you stand a better chance for conversions if you market direct to the people within your personal FB network. I prefer Adwords. I know several businesses that built over 50 thousand likes and followers but lost money anyway on FB. They wisely closed their FB accounts. On the other hand some business are suited for the FB business marketing model and do well there. Hope that helps at least a little.

Are you targeting a specific demographic? If so, you might want to go with facebook ads, which allow for easy demographic targeting. Whereas Google ads are more keyword focused.

Either way, if you do use facebook ads, make sure you're not just using them to increase your likes on facebook. You'll want your ad to have a clear call to action (e.g. "Grab 15% off your first design") and then you want your ad to link to a dedicated landing page.

For landing pages (which are not your homepage, rather targeted pages related to your advertisements) you'll want to have minimal or no navigation. Give the user 1 call to action and keep your language clear and concise.

If you'd like to speak more about it, feel free to send me a message. I'm happy to help.