Google

[December]

I dont really know the focus of this thread I just wanted to share my story and why I love Google right now.

Last Wednesday Im at the store and the phone rings. Its 11:15am, I answer the call but the customer cant hear me. He trys calling back. Same thing. Finally he can hear me andorders. I immediately wonder if im having phone issues. I have multiple employees call the store including myself aNd we all get a ‘this number is not in service’ recording.

I call my phone company. After 30 mins I hang up and the only orders are walkins or online orders. I try forwarding calls to my Cell phone, but its not letting me. I start to worry bc my business is basically getting chopped by 2/3rds

A friend from another shop calls me and tells me Comcast is having major issues, and that even if I wanted to forward my calls I cant. He tells me hes going to close early bc the issue isnt looking likely to be resolved until tomorrow.

I do some thinking, and remember on my Google page I can post messages. So I make a post, letting customers know about the issues and direct them to order online with a link to place an order.
I also changed my phone number on Google to my iphone number.
I thought this was going to cost money or require me to sign up for something, but it was totally FREE.

I hit the save button. 10 seconds later my phone starts ringing off the hook.

Google took what was going to be a lousy day and turned it into a great one.

Im definitely going to try an Adwords campaign soon.

 

[Steve]

I dont really know the focus of this thread I just wanted to share my story and why I love Google right now.

Last Wednesday Im at the store and the phone rings. Its 11:15am, I answer the call but the customer cant hear me. He trys calling back. Same thing. Finally he can hear me andorders. I immediately wonder if im having phone issues. I have multiple employees call the store including myself aNd we all get a ‘this number is not in service’ recording.

I call my phone company. After 30 mins I hang up and the only orders are walkins or online orders. I try forwarding calls to my Cell phone, but its not letting me. I start to worry bc my business is basically getting chopped by 2/3rds

A friend from another shop calls me and tells me Comcast is having major issues, and that even if I wanted to forward my calls I cant. He tells me hes going to close early bc the issue isnt looking likely to be resolved until tomorrow.

I do some thinking, and remember on my Google page I can post messages. So I make a post, letting customers know about the issues and direct them to order online with a link to place an order.
I also changed my phone number on Google to my iphone number.
I thought this was going to cost money or require me to sign up for something, but it was totally FREE.

I hit the save button. 10 seconds later my phone starts ringing off the hook.

Google took what was going to be a lousy day and turned it into a great one.

Im definitely going to try an Adwords campaign soon.

Good quick thinking on your part as well

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

[bodegahwy]

Im definitely going to try an Adwords campaign soon.

I switched to Adwords as my largest marketing investment about 18 months ago. Sales up, marketing costs down.

Adwords has a learning curve to be sure. It is so much more powerful than any of us need in terms of options etc. You can pay someone to do it for you but in the end that will just double your cost and this IS something we can all learn and do ourselves. Once you have it set up and fine-tuned you can just let it run.

Some key things to control costs:

1. Geographic limitation.
2. Time limitation. (Our Adwords only run when we are actually taking orders)

Try a ton of words. Bid high enough that you are coming up on top. Let it run for a couple of weeks and see which words are getting used and how much they cost. My strategy has been to OWN a short list of high frequency words and not chase the ones that don’t get used much and one or two that a national in our area uses which just runs up the cost.

 

[brad_randall]

Adwords has a learning curve to be sure.

A way to get started that’s a bit less overwhelming is to try Adwords Express from your Google Places homepage. Fewer set up options allows you to get an effective ad out there in a couple minutes.

I’ve notice my Google ads generate a lot more action (I target getting map clicks for my dining room) than Facebook for the same cost too.