[blambert]

I like the example comparing 50 visitors and 5 customers with 500 visitors and 2 customers. It shows why traffic numbers alone can give a misleading picture of campaign performance.

 

[JenniferPerry]

For beginners, I would also recommend setting up conversion tracking before spending much money. Without tracking leads or sales, it becomes difficult to know which keywords and ads are actually making money.

 

[AnthonyJackson]

Google has the advantage of reach, but reach isn't everything. A smaller advertising platform can still be profitable if the audience matches your business and the cost of acquiring customers makes sense.

 

[ajohnson295]

I agree with the idea of testing instead of guessing. PPC performance can vary so much by industry and location that general advice doesn't always apply to an individual business.

 

[HeatherKings6]

One mistake small businesses make is trying to target too many keywords at once. With a limited budget, spreading the money across hundreds of keywords can make it difficult to collect enough data on anything.

 

[Laura Moore]

Another important factor is the quality of the ad copy. If the ad promises something that the landing page doesn't provide, you can get clicks without getting good conversions. The whole experience needs to match.

 

[BiancaMatthews]

A friend of mine runs a small service business and initially used only Google Ads. His budget wasn't very large, so he was nervous about increasing spending. We suggested trying Microsoft Ads with a small amount instead. The traffic was lower, but he received a few good enquiries. It wasn't a huge campaign, but it showed him that testing another platform can sometimes uncover opportunities.

 

[ddunn867]

Traffic numbers can be misleading in affiliate marketing. A website getting 10,000 visitors isn't automatically better than one getting 1,000 visitors. If the smaller site's visitors are much more interested in the products being recommended, it could potentially generate more commissions.

 

[VictorBonillaS]

I would probably start with Google, learn which keywords and ads bring customers, and then test Microsoft with some of the winning ideas. That gives you a starting point instead of building both campaigns from scratch.

 

[William Austin]

I agree that small businesses shouldn't choose a PPC platform just because the CPC is lower. Getting cheap clicks is nice, but if those visitors don't become customers, the money is still being wasted.

Hmm yaa