New Google Ads campaigns: common mistakes that lead to disappointment.

The $50 Per-Lead Mistake That Cost My Client Thousands. The problem was that although we hit the cost-per-lead target, we weren't getting enough leads to keep the team busy. Our $50-per-lead cap limited our competitiveness against businesses willing to pay more.

Perfection is the enemy of progress. I think sometimes we use perfectionism as a shield against the fear of the unknown. Here are two things that have helped me beat perfectionist procrastination...

Can you improve B2B lead quality by blocking free email addresses? Some say blocking free email addresses from B2B enquiry forms improves lead quality. Here's why I disagree.

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.

Paying Google more per lead than you'd like? A solid negative keyword strategy can boost your conversion rate and reduce your cost per lead. Here’s what's working for me at the moment.

Optimising a small business B2B Google Ads account for qualified leads.

I lost the last 3 deals I pitched because I made the same mistake (3 times). I lost the last 3 deals I pitched on because I made the same mistake every time. I forgot to ask when they wanted me to start managing their Google Ads. 'When' is a power-question.

CPA Isn’t everything: How understanding the business transforms Google Ads results. I consulted with the owner of a therapy practice. They use Google Ads to generate leads for teens and families wanting counselling. The person who set up their ads overlooked one important thing...

Sanity check your Google Ads It's always worth asking if the numbers in your Google Ads account line up with what you know about your industry.

Why this Google Ads campaign started strong and fizzled out. And how we fixed it. Can I tell you about a real Google Ads head-scratcher. It was for a mental-health counselling practice. Their ads would start well but after a couple of weeks the profitability would nose-dive.

How I improve conversion rate for long booking forms Complex lead intake or booking forms offer opportunities for improving conversion rates. Here are a few...

Optimising for lead value, not just lead count. Google's Advertiser liaison, Ginny Marvin, recently posted 5 short videos on value-based bidding for lead generation. Till now I've thought that value-based bidding was a poor fit for lead generation. But after watching the videos I think it's worth testing.

Why book-an-appointment conversions are so difficult with Google Ads Why wasn't this wedding photographer getting calendar bookings from Google Ads?

How I help my clients get great testimonials Most people don't have a library of great testimonials. They either don't ask for them, or the testimonials they get aren't very effective. Here's how to fix this.

Which Google Ads conversions should I optimise for? I find it helpful to think about optimising for conversion stages, not conversion actions.

Some ideas for improving B2B Google Ads. B2B Google Ads usually faces one of 2 problems: very little traffic, or lots of traffic - but most of it B2C. Here are some ideas to improve B2B Google Ads campaigns.

Recovering Google Ads performance after fixing broken conversion tracking. I consulted on 2 Google Ads accounts where broken conversion tracking caused a dizzying drop in leads. I knew of 4 options to fix this and later learned of a fifth.

How I stop Spanish job-seeker leads from Google Ads Most Spanish job-seeker spam comes from click fraud. Here's how I stop it.

Diagnosing a sudden drop in conversions. The campaign normally produced about 25 conversions (leads) a day. Conversions dropped to 1 or 2 a day and hadn't recovered. Here's why, and how we fixed it.

How I stop DIYers clicking my Google Ads Running Google Ads for contractors works well but sometimes you waste money on clicks from DIYers. Here's my approach to stopping this.

Write Google Ads that don’t get clicked. Advertisers are now paying more per lead than ever before. Partly because we're paying Google for clicks from people who can't or won't become clients.

Data from launching a brand new campaign using Target CPA bidding. Normally you wouldn't launch a new campaign using a conversion-based bid strategy. I did, here's what happened.

Speaking to more of your leads is the easiest way to make more sales without paying more for ads.

A new Google Ads campaign needs deep data, not wide data. 100 clicks on 100 adverts tells you nothing. 100 clicks on 1 advert and a picture starts to emerge.

My client's new website lost them $223,370.27 in profit last month. Client's web developers broke the conversion tracking leading to catastrophic failure. Here's what happened and a few surprising lessons.

How I track WhatsApp conversations as conversions in Google Ads At the time of writing Google has no way of tracking WhatsApp leads as conversions. I've used a couple of work arounds to solve this.

Most Google Ads advice is wrong for small businesses A small account needs a different setup and different management. You see, something that improves a $50 000 a month account might tank a $500 a month account.

Why you might want to pay Google to show an ad when someone searches for your business. It can sometimes be useful to pay Google to show your advert when someone searches for your business by name. Here's why and how...

Modernising legacy Google Ads account structure A successful restructure leaves the account easier to understand, easier to optimise and better positioned for the future. Understanding why the account looks like it does is key to getting from sticky mess to well-oiled machine.

When's the best time to add a lead to your newsletter list?

Can you run Google Ads on autopilot? In the past running Google Ads on autopilot would turn a campaign into a money-pit but, I’m not sure I believe that anymore.

Google Ads API:- does every client account have to authorise your access? A reader asked me about authorising Google Ads API access to their client accounts.

How I reduce wrong-business leads from Google Ads This is for you if you advertise on Google Ads and get leads who think they're contacting a different business. They call or fill in a form looking for someone else.

How I improve lead quality by telling Google which leads are good. By default Google Ads believes every lead is good. But that's not true. You can give Google feedback on lead quality and use that feedback to get better leads.

Can you double your Google Ads leads by setting up a second website?

The shy introverts guide to finding clients

How's your Chinese? Google shows English adverts to people who searched in Chinese even though the campaign language is set to English. Here's how you can stop this and why you might want to.

Should you run Google Ads 24/7 or only during working hours?

Is it safe to use broad match keywords for lead generation campaigns? Google is pushing broad match hard and, some people are reporting good results. But, is it actually best practice now? Or are broad match keywords a waste of money?

Should I split a massive multi-country Google Ads account into separate accounts? At first glance it seems like splitting a big account into smaller accounts will make it easier to manage. But, there are downsides and, there are ways to make big accounts easier to manage.

How to get more phone call leads. Most businesses who advertise online to get leads struggle to contact people who filled in an enquiry form. One way to improve this is to get leads to call you.

Why we lost sales. Losing potential sales always hurts. But, if you know why you lost the sale you can make changes that'll help you win more sales down the line.

"Forget about reducing the CPC" In money terms my client paid Google about $1 400 per client he contracted with. He could live with spending $500 per new client. Here's how we're going to hit that target.

Why did Google charge me $300 for a $20 click? Every now and again Google would charge an outrageous amount for one click. As much as 15 to 20 times what they normally paid. Here's how to prevent that.

Will using technical terms and industry jargon on a landing page improve conversion rate? Landing pages have to be written for both the expert and non-technical user because you get both expert and non-technical visitors. Here's how to do that.

An easier way to sell services. Bigger value projects take a lot of work to sell. You have to have the discovery calls, meeting notes, customised proposals and quotes. And, you often need several follow-up meetings. There is another way.

Why I don't just delete fake leads from my inbox If the only thing you do with fake leads from Google Ads is delete the lead delivery email you risk getting swamped by fake leads. Here's why and what to do to improve lead quality.

Why I never use reCAPTCHA on Google Ads landing pages Nobody wants an inbox full of spam, but preventing fake leads from submitting your form is wrong if you’re paying for online advertising. Here's why...

What to say on the first call to an internet lead. Calling leads back fast is the best way to ensure you get a sale if there is one going. Here's what to say on that call.

More sales are lost because of inertia than price. Most of your potential clients want what you sell but haven't handed over the money because they've run out of steam. Here's how to keep them moving towards a sale.

How to win more quotes without lowering your prices In a perfect world you'd win every quote but the reality is that most quotes don't turn into sales. It is possible to turn a lot more quotes into sales without lowering prices. Here's one way.

You could be shooting yourself in the foot if you send quotes in Excel or Word. There is a problem with emailing quotes in Word or Excel: There is no guarantee that the quote will look like it should.

Is your sales process chaotic? I was surprised when three small business owners used the same word - chaos- to describe how they currently handle leads.

The weak link that might be causing you to lose leads Some of your leads never make it from your website to your inbox. And, there is a good chance you don't know about the missing leads.

Leads ghosting you? A business owner complained that his leads were ghosting (ignoring) him after initially showing interest. As we worked together we uncovered a mismatch between lead temperature and his response.

Using AI to extract information from sales leads

60 leads a week and no sales Their first instinct was to change the adverts. It sort of makes sense. Adverts aren’t producing sales so the adverts must be broken. Fix the adverts and you'll get more sales. But, they could change their ads, spend a load more money and get no sales. This is because the adverts might not be the real problem

Grow your own big-budget clients Building a profitable agency or freelancing with small-budget clients is hard. Here's how to grow your smaller clients into bigger-budget clients.

Getting a lot of junk leads from Google Ads? You can spot conversion fraud because the leads have genuine email addresses and phone numbers but when you call them they don't remember filling in your form.

About 25% of online leads are lost before they speak to a sales person. Losing 1 in 4 of possible sales before the process even starts is a huge waste. It's also a huge opportunity...

My client fired me, and now he’s asking for my secret sauce. A client fired you even though you were doing a good job. Here's how to make this sting less and keep the door open for future work.

You can optimise your client's business like you optimise their Google Ads account. You can give your client a much bigger ROI by optimising their business than almost anything you can do in their Google Ads account. Here's how.

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

A warning about Google Local Service Ads for doctors, lawyers and other professionals I investigated using Google Local Service Ads for a law firm client. Turns out that there are some privacy issues which were of concern. They may be of concern to you too.

The one number you must know if you're going to use Google Ads to generate leads. How much can you pay for a lead and still be profitable? It is obvious, and it should be advertising 101, but I've lost count of the number of people paying Google who don't know the number.

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.

Improve conversion rates with visitor-focussed headlines High-converting headlines are about what the visitor cares for, not about the characteristics of the business. Here's how to check your headline for visitor focus.

How to handle your client's terrible ideas. Your client has a terrible idea for "improving" the campaign. If you push back you're going to lose the client. Here's how to keep the client without killing the campaign.

How do you get value from "low quality" Google Ads leads? One kind of "low quality" Google Ads lead is a genuine enquiry for something adjacent to what you offer. Here's how I helped one client make sales to them.

How to increase the bid for a specific keyword when using the Maximise Clicks bidding strategy How do you make the most of a high-converting keyword in a campaign where you're using the Maximise Clicks bidding strategy?

3 things you must do before you advertise on top of funnel keywords. Top of funnel keywords can be cheaper to advertise on. But there are 3 things you must do before you enable them.

Choosing a domain name for your Google Ads tool. I bumped into an unexpected problem when I chose the Ad-Minister.app domain.

Death by alerts. Will your custom AdWords tool monitor AdWords performance? It's surprisingly difficult to work out when your monitoring system should warn your users. Read on for guidelines on alerts and notifications.

Do I really need 7 websites? Two groups of people visit your website: people who know what you sell and strangers who don't know you but want what you sell. One website can't serve both groups effectively.

Does PPC work for accountants? The short answer is “Yes, but only sometimes”. Google suggests that AdWords will work for any business but this is not true in real life.

Google Ads for industries with long sales cycles A client installs billboard size video screens. Here's how we used AdWords to get him in front of the decision makers early enough.

Google Ads: Can I use capital letters in the Display URL? AdWords question: Can I use capital letters in the Display URL? Is it ok to write it like example.com/ExampleLink ? Will Google allow this? Here is the answer with links to the relevant Google Ads policies.

Google Reps You may get an email or call from someone claiming to work at Google. They’ll tell call themselves an account representative, strategist, advisor or account manager. You and I would call them salesmen.

Guaranteeing Google Ads. It’s uncomfortable when a potential client asks me if I guarantee that they’ll make sales from their Google Ads. In the past my first instinct was to run away. I thought that asking for a guarantee was a sure sign that they’re going to be a toxic client. I was wrong.

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 many keywords should I have in an ad group? Grouping keywords into ad groups trips people up. This is one of the most confusing parts of building your first AdWords campaign. Getting it right almost always leads to higher CTR , better QS and a lower cost per click.

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

How to use the Google Ads API to do keyword research. You’re thinking of building a custom keyword research tool using the AdWords API. Read on to see where to start and what to watch out for.

"I have no idea if his recommendations will increase my conversions..." A friend is trying to hire someone to manage her Google Ads. She's worried that they'll cost more than they bring in. Or, worse, they'll kill the flow of leads her business depends on. Here's how to reduce that risk.

Is AdWords scaleable? There are a finite number of people who want what you sell, can afford what you sell and are in an area you can reach. Some portion of those people will use Google. That number is the upper limit of AdWords scaleability.

Is AdWords worth it? "Is Google Ads really worth it? I have found that through tracking my CPC, I am not having that much success." was asked on Quora. My answer saved below.

Nobody is buying! Can’t you write better ads? Nobody is buying! Can’t you write better ads? That's the last thing you want to hear in a meeting with a new client...

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

Resources for Google Ads agencies and freelancers. Tools, reading lists and discussion groups for digital marketing agencies and freelancers offering Google Ads as a service.

Rules for Writing Google Ads Expanded Text Adverts Here are the rules we use for writing Google Ads expanded text ads at MarketingMotor. Feel free to copy them.

Selling to strangers is different Ask 100 small business owners how they find customers and 99 of us will say "word-of-mouth". What we won't tell you is that our word-of-mouth marketing is not well tuned engine that spits out a steady stream of great prospects. They arrive by luck or magic.

Should I use my competitors' names as keywords in Google Ads? Should I use my competitors' names as keywords in Google Ads? The answer is, it depends. Read on to find out how to make the right decision for your business.

The AdLeg Google Ads Software Suite. I interviewed Kyle Sulerud, creator of the AdLeg Software Suite about how he started in Google Ads (AdWords) and why he built his Google Ads creation and management software.

The cost of zero. Every small business owner needs to understand the cost of zero before they next invest in marketing. It does not matter what medium it is: Google Ads, Facebook, LinkedIn, magazines, radio, or anything else. The reason these campaigns fail so often is never as obvious as you might think.

Things you should never advertise on Google. Making money advertising identical branded goods on Google is really hard.

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.

What is the lowest amount of traffic needed for a campaign? The smallest estimated search volume I'd be comfortable with depends on if the campaign is for a new or existing client.

Where can I find a programmer to help implement the Google Ads API? Good news is that you don’t a programmer who is an expert at the AdWords API because the programming constructs that the API uses are well known. For instance, the API uses OAuth for authentication which is very common.

Which are the specifically right targets for a small paper pallet company? This question was asked on Quora. Saving my answer here.

Will Google Ads work? Thinking about advertising on Google? There are thousands of people who've used Google Ads and never made a sale. You don't have to be one of them. Read on to learn how.

Writing Callout Extensions Coming up with callout extensions has always been hard. No more...

Zombie Hunting Wednesday 3pm. You in? We’ve all got zombie leads. These are people we’ve quoted who haven't said yes. They haven’t said no either. Instead they’re ignoring us - our emails go unanswered and they’re always too busy to talk.

Google Ads delivers leads not sales What’s the most important problem in your industry? In my industry the most important problem is that Google Ads delivers leads but doesn’t deliver sales. Here's what I've been doing about that...

How to get leads from different sources into your CRM automatically I’ve got a client in the motor trade who gets about 2 000 leads a month from 22 different online sources. Here's how we put them into his sales engine automatically without expensive computer code.

I can’t get to the decision maker. "I‘ve got a great product but I can’t get to the decision maker." That’s a problem we smaller business owners face a lot. Can I tell you about how a former client of mine got the decision makers to come to her?

How to turn leads into sales. Two businesses in the same industry. One converts 5% of website leads into sales. The other converts 60%. Read on to find out why.

Make more sales from PPC leads by understanding why people enquire. Understanding why people buy is key to making more sales. Here's how you can get started right away.

Marketing Lessons from a Chimney Sweep There was nothing special about his customer-finding system. But, his customer-keeping system was the best I've ever seen for a small business.

How we turned no-shows into $185 150 worth of new business every month No-shows cost my client $283 328 a month. Here’s how we turned them into $185 150 worth of new business every month - without spending more on Google Ads.

How do you convince a potential client to trust you if you don’t have a track record? How do you convince a potential client to trust you if you don’t have a track record? This happens a lot when people go out on their own after working in-house or for an agency. Read on to find out how I solved this problem.

How to take over an existing Google Ads account. You’ve taken over a Google Ads account that’s in trouble. You're going to turn it around - more conversions, lower costs, 10 quality scores etc. There’s a lot riding on getting this right...

Should I specialise or be a generalist? I often get asked whether it’s best to specialise or be a generalist. I understand why but I think it's the wrong question. I think a better question is ...

Building custom tools with the Google Ads API. You run an digital marketing agency. You’re thinking about building a custom Google Ads tool using the API. Here are some of the things that trip people up.

Should you use Target CPA bidding for lead generation campaigns? Google wants you to use Target CPA bidding. Is it right for lead generation campaigns? Read on to find out.

I've inherited a mess. Crazy structure, gibberish naming convention and 22 conversion actions that might or might not mean anything. Here is a collection of principles, tips and ideas for when you inherit a messy Google Ads account.

How to make OK money from small clients You have to work with the clients you can get, not the ones you hope for. Sometimes you might not be able to attract big-budget clients. Here's how to do OK with smaller clients.

Designing custom Google Ads tools. The Google Ads interface is awful. You can fix this in your Google Ads tool. Here are a handful of principles to guide you as you design your custom Google Ads API based tool.

Google Ads API: Authorization for multiple users. Here's how you handle authorization for multiple users of your AdWords API tool.

How to build a pilot campaign. I know nothing when I take on a new client who’s never used Google Ads for lead generation. The only way to know for sure if Google Ads will work and if the relationship with the client will be comfortable is to test it. Here's how...

How do I know which of my leads came from Google Ads? Here's the problem... Conversion tracking or analytics can tell you how many leads you got, but not who they are. Read on to see how to fix this.

6 Critical Mistakes You're Making with Your Landing Page Amy Hoy wrote a brilliant article titled 6 Critical Mistakes You're Making with Your Landing Page. She makes a really interesting observation which resonated with me: Landing page design is actually a usability exercise.

A love letter to statistics This is for you if you’re interested in making data-driven decisions about your Google Ads. Amy Hebdon, founder at Paid Search Magic, wrote a fantastic article she described a love letter disguised as a how to about PPC data interpretation.

Allocating budget How do you know the best way to split your ad budget between search and display, between Facebook and Google, between one keyword and another?

CAPTCHA is like putting barbed wire in front of your shop Don't make it difficult for your customers to contact you. Businesses with the smoothest processes will attract (and keep) the best customers.

Do long enquiry forms get more qualified leads? If your enquiry form asks for much more than contact details you're losing qualified sales leads. Read on to learn why...

Does Google rip advertisers off? I'm not saying that everyone who's paid for Google ads has turned a profit. That's definitely not the case. But, when people lose money on Google ads its likely to be because Google Ads was a poor fit for their business, or because of the way they did Google Ads. I can't see Google risking their future to steal your advertising budget

Don’t believe every recommendation from Google. The optimisation score is Google’s newest way of telling you how to run your Google Ads account. Read on to see how following it blindly can hurt your business.

Don't believe my writing I'm not trying to bamboozle you, it's just that my - and everyone else's - writing isn't always right for your circumstances. Read on to find out more...

Google showed your ads to the wrong people today. Google showed your some of your adverts to the wrong people today. You (or someone you hire) must deal with this or your ads are going to start costing more and generating fewer leads. Here's how.

Has Google jumped the gun on mobile? How much commercial activity happens on mobile phones? Is it enough to justify a mobile-first approach to development? Case study with mobile vs desktop AdWords generated leads across 7 industries.

Honest conversion tracking when you've got live chat, click to call and a form I took on an account with no useful conversion data. Here's how I started tracking calls, forms and live chat accurately.

How do you get more leads from Google Ads when you’ve maxed out impression share? How do you get more leads from Google Ads when you’ve maxed out impression share? Here's how we solved this problem...

How I got landing page load time down from 0.8 seconds to 0.2 seconds. Here’s a quick tip for improving landing page speed. As you know, nobody likes a slow website. Load speed is strongly correlated with the conversion rate: Fast website = more leads.

How long does Google Ads take to work? You’ve chosen good keywords, written decent ad copy, set up a landing page that should convert. You’re getting impressions and the CTR looks ok but you’ve still not had any conversions. Is this normal or should you worry?

How long should your landing page be? How long should your landing page be? The answer isn't a number.

How the mix of people who see your ads affects Google Ads performance. Learn how changes in searcher's intent, network, time of day etc affect Google Ads performance.

How the new search ad position metrics can help diagnose a drop in CTR You might be scratching your head wondering why your clickthrough rate plummeted even though your average position was 1.2. Google's new search position metrics shed some light.

How to craft high-converting headlines, even if you have the copywriting skills of a turnip. If you’re anything like me, starting is the hardest part of writing. It's like I'm staring at the screen waiting for someone to unblock the idea pipe. That struggle is over.

How to find the real reason conversions dropped. A sudden unexplained drop in conversions is terrifying. You’re paying for clicks but you’re not getting leads or sales. It’s bad when you’re spending your boss’s or client’s money. It’s even worse when it’s your business on the chopping block. Read on to find out how to get to the bottom of coversion problems.

How to get fast traction on a brand new Google Ads campaign. I worked out a process for getting fast results from new AdWords campaigns so I didn't have to worry as much. You're welcome to copy (and improve) my process.

How to improve landing page experience. Improving page speed helps improve landing page experience. Google's guidance is broad, not specific. That makes it hard to know what to do. Google does provide one specific set of instructions, following these will improve landing page experience and boost conversion rates.

How to Increase AdWords Impressions. There are two ways to get more AdWords impressions. Increase the reach of your adverts and give Google more incentive to show your adverts. Here's how to do both.

I ignored quality score for a year I used to think quality score was vital, but in the year I’ve ignored QS and focussed on other metrics: - our ads have been clicked more often. - Our landing pages are better at turning visitors into leads. - Our clients are getting superior leads from their Google Ads spend.

I’m getting too many B2C leads. I want only B2B. I’ve bumped into this problem with almost every client who sells to other businesses (B2B) not to consumers (B2C). Here are some options ..

I’m paying for clicks but I'm not getting enough leads. Read on to learn how your website could be sabotaging your advertising. And, what you can do to get more leads from your the clicks you've already paid for.

I'm scared I'll break my campaign If you don't feel confident making changes to Google Ads campaigns this might help...

Improve conversion rates by adding extra calls to action. Need to improve your conversion rate? Here's a tested approach that takes only a few minutes.

Improve website conversion rates with autocomplete. Here's a small tweak to the contact form on your website that'll make it easier for people to complete it. Adding autocomplete to your form fields is one of those 1% kaizen improvements. They all add up.

Landing pages: Click-to-call or contact form? You get the highest conversion rates from landing pages that concentrate on convincing visitors to do just one thing. Offer visitors too many choices and they bounce. But what if there are two equally good things your visitor could do?

Should you advertise on Search Partners? We check the campaigns we manage regularly to see how much it costs to generate an enquiry on Google search versus search partners. Most of the time it costs more or less the same. Sometimes the difference is huge.

Should you show ads to people on their phones? It is a fact that more people use the internet on their phones than they do on computers these days. But are these glued-to-their-phone types going to buy from you?

The hidden trade-offs of automated bidding I like automated bidding. But, there are some trade offs with automated bidding that are not well documented.

Use HTTPS for your landing pages or kill your conversion rate. The number of website enquiries you get is going to fall off a cliff after 24th of October if your website doesn't use HTTPS. After the 24th of October 2017, Google Chrome will warn people that web pages with forms are insecure unless they’re served over HTTPS. Here's how to fix this.

Using the Search Terms Report to find negative keywords. The Search Terms Report is a great place to find negative keywords to add to your AdWords campaign. It shows (some of) the actual words and phrases that triggered your ads.

We read websites like we did 100 years ago Even though the internet is infinitely more ubiquitous now. Even though we've had a generation grow up with Google. Even though 2-year olds have iPads
. The way people read websites hasn't changed...

What's your landing page's first job? It’s not to convince someone to buy from you, establish trust, build your brand or educate your customer. Those things are important but they're not the first job. The first job is ...

You don't have enough data to be confident that you're making the right decisions. Here are 3 rules of thumb I use to to help me make more of the right decisions when data is scarce.

Is your AdWords running at 100%? Are you worried that it might be underperforming? Perhaps you've neglected your AdWords account. Maybe it used to do better but now it’s costing more and delivering less. Maybe you’re behind on some updates or not confident that everything is as it should be.

My Google Ads adverts are not showing. Google Ads not showing your ads? Here's how to find the reason why.

The one tool I've used every single day since 2010 You know that feeling when you’re sooooooo frustrated that you have to smash something? Instead you channel that white-hot anger and solve the problem forever?

Length is a liability; value per page is an asset. This is a quote from Write Useful Books by Rob Fitzpatrick. His advice is perfect for lead-generation landing pages.

How the distribution of clicks by device can look like a conversion rate problem. We PPC people dream about the conversions graph going up up up to the right but sometimes the line looks like the side view of a cliff, with an account manager splattered at the bottom like Wile E. Coyote. I used to dread trying to figure out why a good campaign went bad. Then I learned a technique that lets me get to the real reason for a drop in conversions.

How to improve landing page conversion rates by increasing visitor motivation Here's how I doubled the conversion rate on some Google Ads lead generation landing pages by improving visitor's motivation.

Putting a little science into AdWords In the past I relied on a combination of the change history in AdWords, some rough notes and my memory to keep track of my testing. It worked but it wasn't great. It became more difficult as my business grew. I started to feel like I was losing control. I couldn't answer questions about an account without having to root around in Google docs, AdWords and email. Read on to see how I fixed this.

Google Ads: Automated vs manual bidding. The question: "How much of a performance gain can I expect with good manual tuning?" I decided not to answer the exact question and suggest an alternative to manual tuning.