Ok, first a little background so you don't think I'm TOTALLY out to lunch - we serve our google ads about 25,000 times a month. I use them to get our name in front of the client for ANY syracuse & photography related search just so they've seen us. I want TONS of people to see us - and remember us.

I track each of our ad variants. Our all-time click thru rate is around 1.4 for search and .25 for content, both of which are high and the reason I think both are high is we create "geico" style ads. Things that are just SO off the wall you have to laugh. Our most successful is:

Picture Infinity Studios
More fun than a barrel of monkeys.
Not that monkeys aren't fun.
www.PictureInfinity.com

Average search CTR - 1.9%
Average content CTR - .4%

Here's the latest, see the attachment:

That must cost a lot.

lol

You just doubled my # of laughs in one swoop! Thanks!

our average cpc is about 15 cents.
Probly $45 a month? Worth the few laughs I get everytime I update.

We *heart* our google adwords. The progam is as inexpensive or as costly as you design them to be. yup.

awesome, i was just trying to find those! as soon as my new site is ready i want to make my own google ad!

not sure if i can be as creative in 10 words as you, but i'm gonna sure as heck try.

It's like writing little haikus.

Jillian Kay rocks.
Selling in 10 words or less
Isn't too easy.

lol

M

How many bookings would you say you've booked from the Google ads for the $45 a month?

Oh my gosh, Matt! Those are so funny! I would ABSOLUTELY click through on those ads.

I'm going to have to re-think how I do my Google ads now. Mine aren't giving me a good ROI and January was the date I'd set to decide whether to discontinue or keep them going. I might let it run one more month, with different text....

Now to think up some clever ads of my own. Hmmmm. Thanks for the inspiration!

Over the last 12 months, probably 3 weddings & 10 portraits? Total worth in the neighborhood of $10k for $500. Although if you know me (ie read the tips site) you know that I don't pay 45 a month all year....it works out to about $400 a year total the way I do it.

M

I'm cruising your tips site right now. Good stuff!

Well today, to be listed at an average position of 3.6 for Wedding Photography in the Tampa Bay area, the cost per click is $1.67.

For Tampa Wedding Photography, the cost per click is $2.55 for position 4.7.

For Wedding Photographer, the cost per click is $2.67 for position 4.

For Tampa Wedding Photographer, the cost per click is $2.87 for position 6.2.

Two years ago, when the prices were much lower, I was still spending $350 to $500 per month.

wow, well that stinks. lol

I don't always list for syracuse wedding photographer or wedding photographer though. I get a lot of hits for silly local towns - I'm on google ads for stuff like cortland photo - cpc for #1 rank is like .05 cents lol

M

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!

I have to update you guys on this! I've been running this ad for 4+ days now. It has the highest click thru rate of ANY ad I've EVER ran - it's over 5 times as high as my "default" ad and almost 2x as high as the next highest ad!! What the ????? LOL

I just thought you'd get a kick out of this. I'll see if it continues!

I'm signing up to run some google ads myself.. anyone have an promo codes?

Matt,

I missed it. what does " this" ad look like? I saw the higher posts. What does it say?


P

It's the photo attached to the first post - it says

Picture Infinity Studios
We'll tempt you with our photos.
Can you resist? (please say no!)
www.pictureinfinity.com

lol

Lol.. that is so funny. I need one of those. I would worry that the costs would get really high and I wouldn't book anything. Thats because my website is AWFUL! Maybe after I upgrade to a blu site.

Anyway - you're very creative!
b

Yeah, like I said we just manage the costs on a budget. I know that I'm not going to spend more than $500 on google ads this year. If I start to approach that by May I'll just pause them & turn them off for 6 months. Start them in Nov/Dec again. lol

And thanks - we have had some flops - this one just works!

Ahh... but that's the beauty of it! You don't have to actually "book" anything. It's hard to quantify "name brand recognition". Matt may not book a single wedding for a long time - but he'll gain something far more valuable. When people hear "Picture Infinity" people will say "I've heard of them before".

Is a google ad campaign going to redefine the photography market in Matt's town - probably not, but $45 a month is pretty negledgable (sp????).

Something like this probably won't pay out for a few years, until enough people hear the name that a measurable part of the market tips in his direction (Read "Tipping Point" - great book!).

Let's say he runs this for 3 years....

$45/mo x 12 = $540/yr x 3 = $1620 total cost for 3 years.

I'm sure Matt is netting far more than $1600 per wedding so even with one single booking attributed to his brand recognition more than pays for the effort.

And given enough time - the overall combined effort and gaining name recognition will actually lead to far more bookings - maybe 10, 20, or 50 depending on how far the brand 'tips' in the local market.

The short answer - stuff like this is an investment. You can't measure it in the short term, but in the long term - THIS sort of thinking is exactly how the big industry leaders *become* the big industry leaders.

Good work Matt - forward thinking - I'm all about it. Bravo. (And thanks for sharing!)