Essays and thinking

The book I couldn't write today

What happens when an engineer applies failure investigation thinking to Google Ads and tries to eliminate the black boxes?

Online advertising sprays data everywhere

Every tool or system that interacts with that lead creates a copy of some or all of the lead's personal data. But you're accountable for it

Ignore the AI hype. Watch the engineering.

Discussions about the future of Google Ads usually start with what’s announced: new features, calling everything Max-this or AI-that. But often this is PR hype. I prefer to look at where Google continues to invest engineering effort over many years. It gives a clue to what the system will depend on in the future.

You can't afford to be sloppy anymore

When I started with Google Ads in 2007, it was cheap. You could get away with a sloppy setup. That's not true today. Ads are expensive. You can't expect to be profitable if you haven't done everything in your power to get the setup right.

Tried to Fix Lead-to-Sale with Software. Here's What Actually Happened.

After building a lead-handling system that turned $8k in ad spend into $200k, I thought I knew what small businesses needed. I was wrong. This is the story of a good idea, a bad assumption, and what I learned about the real challenges of getting people to change.

"We Tried That, and It Didn’t Work” – How to Overcome Resistance to Change

One thing still amazes me: people pay for my advice - then ignore it completely. Sometimes they'll dismiss my suggestions without a second thought. Here's how I fix it.

3 thought-provoking questions

I recently came across the work of user experience designer Pavel Samsonov. He shared three thought-provoking questions that really cut through the fluff.

Creating an elevator pitch that makes people want to talk to you.

I've always answered the question What do you do? with something like I'm a Google Ads guy. Daniel Priestly changed how I think about answering this question.

The tool that's saved me 100s of billable hours since 2010

Ever get to Friday and feel like you’ve accomplished nothing?

That's been me for many months. I’ve been busy but not productive. I've felt burned out, tired and bored. This all changed after I implemented time blocking.

How do you test a business idea?

You don’t want to invest time and money on a business idea unless you’re sure that it’ll get traction. Read on to learn how to use Google Ads to test an idea before committing to it.

How much is a Facebook like worth?

I've just run a quick calculation and can confidently say that a Facebook like is worth $0.007. Let me explain

Optimise your words

There are a handful of non-PPC tools I'd hate to run my Google Ads business without. Hemingway is one.

Watch your back for centaurs.

Centaurs - human+computer teams will outperform and replace AdWords agencies that rely on human power alone. Here are four ways to enhance your AdWords powers with automation.