Are Google Ads Worth It For Small Businesses?
As a small business, every penny counts. The saying goes you have to spend money to make money, but it’s always a little easier to write that check when you have an idea of what kind of results you’ll see. That’s where we come in. Our Certified Google Ad experts have been advertising on Google for years and we’ve calculated our Return on Investment.
Overall Return on Investment: 114.30%
2023 Return on Investment: 99.67%
For every $1k we spend in Google advertising we’ve seen approximately 28 orders, with an average order size of $400.83. As far as profit goes, we make around $100 for every $1k spent. There are some important things to consider when advertising on Google.
It took us almost a year to start to see profit. During this time our team worked on optimizing keywords, running multiple campaign tests, and fine-tuning our strategy for intake of leads we received through Google Ads. Based on our initial spend, this was an investment of around $5,000 ad spend. Depending on your profit margin, this could take more or less time.
Generally, you’ll see the benefit of Google Ads increase with time. For our company, we were able to turn some of these leads into loyal repeat customers, increasing the value of our investment.
To see best results, regular maintenance is a must. In an ideal world, we could be dedicated full-time to optimizing, testing, and improving — but that’s not realistic. So, how much time will you have to put in to see best results?
| Frequency | Suggested Maintenance | |
|---|---|---|
| First Few Weeks | Daily | Review search terms and add keywords |
| First Few Months | Weekly | Review Google's Optimization Suggestions; Review search terms and add keywords |
| Ongoing | Monthly | Review Google's Optimization suggestions; Review Search Terms, Review KPIs and Budget |
If you’re interested in getting into Google Advertising, you’ll want to keep these few things in mind to determine if it’s a good move for your business:
Do you have room in your budget? Keep in mind that it could take up to a year to turn a profit and, for us, an initial ad spend of around $5,000.
Do you have the capacity? One of the things we had to work through was perfecting our intake process for leads that came from Google Ads. This meant we needed more staff to handle the influx of leads and orders.
Do you have the time for maintaining and optimizing? In order for a campaign to be successful, optimization early in its launch is essential. For most business owners, time is not something they can afford. Outsourcing this maintenance can save you the time commitment and may avoid any time delays from learning curves.
If Google Advertising is something you want to learn more about, we’re happy to set up an initial consult to go through how we support our small business clientele in the digital marketing space.
Author: Kasandra Murray
Optimizing your elaborate marketing campaign is Kasandra’s expertise. With almost a decade in the marketing industry, she oversees our data, creative, marketing, and print production departments. Her holistic view over all parts of your campaign ensures a smooth workflow from conception to execution. She specializes in reducing your cost while increasing your returns.
Latest Posts
