Adwords vs. Facebook ads: Which, in your experience, has had better results?

[wordplay]

I have a client (business: laser hair removal) who spends 3K on Adwords a month. His click through is not great ,
and his conversions (those who fill out his contact form) is 4% tops (usually around 1%).

The ads have been rewritten a number of times, with different offers, etc. No real improvement.

I'm thinking that perhaps Facebook ads, which not only geo targets, but also targets for the kind
of person reading the ad (and also allows for graphics in ad), might be a better investment for him.

Any thoughts (from experience)?

Thank you in advance.

 

[mmazurjr]

I have a client (business: laser hair removal) who spends 3K on Adwords a month. His click through is not great ,
and his conversions (those who fill out his contact form) is 4% tops (usually around 1%).

The ads have been rewritten a number of times, with different offers, etc. No real improvement.

I'm thinking that perhaps Facebook ads, which not only geo targets, but also targets for the kind
of person reading the ad (and also allows for graphics in ad), might be a better investment for him.

Any thoughts (from experience)?

Thank you in advance.

I have used both for bankruptcy leads in Miami. What I found was that I could target specific demographics better in facebook. For example a major hospital was laying off 1000 plus employees. I went on to facebook ads and set up a filter to find members who listed this hospital as their employer and who were in 25 miles of my office. It ended up that there were 990 members that matched. I then ran a campaign incorporating this layoff as a pay per impression campaign for a month. My recollection is that these 900 members saw my ads about 400,000 times that month. It cost me $67 dollars for the entire campaign and I picked up 3 new clients which is the lowest cost of acquisition I have ever had. With regard to Adwords, I don't like competing for google search, I go for the ads that show up when a gmail user is looking at their email. It is cheaper and many times I get higher click through rate. Just my two cents.

 

[Biggie]

your "client" is getting poor advice, if you haven't told him to buy traffic names in that niche' and forward to his website.


with a budget of $3k a month, i'm sure they could acquire some quality domains.


spending money for fb ads only helps "fb"


imo...

 

[shellyboy911]

You can target adwords locally just like facebook. IMO I would think that adwords traffic is more targeted and higher quality.

 

[Gerry]

You can target adwords locally just like facebook. IMO I would think that adwords traffic is more targeted and higher quality.

This should turn out to be a doozy of a thread.

Something I have not given too much thought to (FB vs. Big G).

 

[Biggie]

This should turn out to be a doozy of a thread.

Something I have not given too much thought to (FB vs. Big G).

i still don't have fb account, but i use g daily...and i am not alone

 

[Gerry]

i still don't have fb account, but i use g daily...and i am not alone

+1 for you.

You are spot on. I do have an FB account. But, I can not even recall the last time I used it. Been on google several times this a.m.

 

[Raider]

i still don't have fb account, but i use g daily...and i am not alone

The latest new is; If you don't have a Facebook account, your INSANE.

I KID YOU NOT.


http://news.yahoo.com/psychopath-youre-not-facebook-employers-psychiatrists-think-062946089.html

 

[ilovedomains]

your "client" is getting poor advice, if you haven't told him to buy traffic names in that niche' and forward to his website.


with a budget of $3k a month, i'm sure they could acquire some quality domains.


spending money for fb ads only helps "fb"


imo...

3k will get you a $36.000 domain every year. In 10 years you would own $360.000 worth of names. You will make far more than wasting 3K a month at Google, and assuming you paid market value, You could sell the names for at least as much as you paid for them.

In ten years you just got 360K worth of traffic free. Send Google a thankyou note for making them so valuable.

 

[wordplay]

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful replies. I had forgotten I posted this -- just now received word I had responses!

biggedon and ilovedomains: forgive my ignorance, but are you both referring to buying keyword niche domains (ie LaserHairRemoval.com) and
then building a landing page on it, (and then doing seo) for free targeted traffic (and forget about Adwords)?

 

[Tia Wood]

I'm thinking that perhaps Facebook ads, which not only geo targets, but also targets for the kind of person reading the ad (and also allows for graphics in ad)

Assuming that the landing page is set up to convert, Facebook ads have been working well for a few of my clients just because of the extra targeting features it has. It's worth a shot, imo.

 

[Biggie]

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful replies. I had forgotten I posted this -- just now received word I had responses!

biggedon and ilovedomains: forgive my ignorance, but are you both referring to buying keyword niche domains (ie LaserHairRemoval.com) and
then building a landing page on it, (and then doing seo) for free targeted traffic (and forget about Adwords)?

i would buy names like these in .com laserhairremoval , hair removal, remove hair and point them all to your clients website.

no seo needed if all have type-in traffic, if no traffic...don't buy.

the greatest benefit is that you remove the cost of adwords, and the dependency on fb and big G for eyes.


additionally, you'll now "own" a larger share of traffic for that market, rather than renting it at fluctuating prices.



you can send me a cut of those fee's later

 

[ilovedomains]

If your client only wants local traffic, you would have to stick to geo targeted names. Is it a clinic in a local area or a business that sells products nationally?

If its just local traffic you want, you probably wouln't find enough names to get the traffic you need.

 

[wordplay]

ilovedomains , yes thanks, it is only local traffic the client is looking for. He already owns the best
domain for his local market.... but I will look into others as well.

Tia Wood , biggedon , thanks for your responses.

 

[hugegrowth]

Linkedin.com also has an advertising program, would be good if you want to reach professionals in different industries.

 

[Raider]

I seem to remember General Motors pulled all their advertising from Facebook which amounted to $10 Million annually, $40 Million altogether including content.

Reason given was the ads were "ineffective"

Seems the American taxpayers weren't getting enough bang for their buck, which is nothing new.

 

[Mark Talbot]

OK,.. I am in.

Look at this,... the FB vs. Google quandry.

Buy domains and every year they provide returns via traffic.


But the big issue.

Either you spend adword or fb money for traffic,.. or you buy domains for placemats.



And hearin is the issue,.. Google is spending considerable resources learning how to BLOCK traffic. Especially in its venture learning how to block and remove certain unfavorable domain names from its vast reach to visitors. One day, it will be yur domains. The ones you bought instead of paying google for traffic.

 

[wordplay]

"And hearin is the issue,.. Google is spending considerable resources learning how to BLOCK traffic. Especially in its venture learning how to block and remove certain unfavorable domain names from its vast reach to visitors. One day, it will be yur domains. The ones you bought instead of paying google for traffic."

Mark, thanks for your reply -- Please provide a source for the above information. I'd like to look into it further.

 

[Mark Talbot]

Please provide a source for the above information. I'd like to look into it further.

The source is me,.. google it for more information.

It is a simple business plan yes. Pay,... or lose. You make the choice.

 

[Mark Talbot]

Ok, enough of the hyperbole,... plain and simple,...

As Steve Jobs put it,... if it is on the internet and its free,.. then the user is the product.

You, the searcher,..is the product sold. They have no incentive to serve you results no more than the person paying to put their name in front of you.

This is why we have antimonopoly laws?... lol yes.

And facebook is the little new kid on the block, with little mans syndrome.

That is why they lost half their market cap since the ipo. because they only own teenagers.

But google owns the web. They can filter you out.