Why Google's Adwords Express Isn't For Everyone…

I was offered a voucher to trial Google new Adwords Express product recently. 'Hmmm', I thought. '£75 free advertising if I spend £25 on advertising. Seems like a pretty good deal…'

Having no idea as to how Adwords Express differs from ordinary Adwords, I resorted to my usual practice by which I discover how things 'really are' rather than believing the PR and Marketing bumf , of just doing it for a bit and seeing what works.

Having spent my obligatory £25, I'm now in a position to make some slightly more informed judgements.

What's good…

The prime reason for anyone to use Adwords Express is that it's a lot quicker to set up than normal Adwords. You choose your offer and google pretty much does the rest, working out what keywords should be associated with it and defining a radius around your Google Map position. It sets your minimum budget for you and generally gives you the impression that your ad has been optimised for maximum success.

What's not good.

Part of making it easier means giving the customer less control. So, I set up an ad offering Christmas promotion design on line or in print. You know, micro sites for your Christmas Menu if you're a Restaurant, Seasonal Stock mailers for Garden Centers, Digital Xmas Cards for offices and service suppliers - that sort of stuff.

After 3 weeks of exposure, my Adwords Express ad had attracted less than 20 views out of a possible 1800 at a ridiculous cost of +£3.50 per visit. I was a big miffed.

What was even more insane was that I appeared to be spending a lot of money targeting all my potential customers who live in the middle of the English Channel.

Let me explain. One of the defaults of Adwords Express is that it sets a perimeter location for your advertising. In my case it was 15 miles around my design studio in Folkestone, Kent. Therefore, not only could I reach businesses in Ashford and Dover but also fishing vessels on the Godwin Sands and Cargo ships on their way to Ostend.

As I'm being charged for the scale of my perimeter, this was a lot of wasted money. 'Oh, I've cocked it up', I thought, and went into edit my campaign to a more targeted audience.

That's when I discovered that the parameters for Adwords Express ads can't be changed. Yep, that's right, It was compulsory to waste money advertising to no one. Funnily enough, this wasn't mentioned in the offer small print.

I queried this with Google. 'Could I maybe move the centre of my advertising range a little further inland so I wasn't targeting so many fish', I wondered. 'You can. the nice person on the Google Adwords Express told me. 'But then your ad will be disapproved for not accurately reflecting your address.'

So there you have it. If you want to use Adwords Express, make sure you're in the middle of a city, well away from any coastline, moors, barren mountainsides or large lakes. Otherwise most of your spend will vanish on trying to sell your services to the local wildlife.