We are finding the same problem with our clients accounts in the new Google Analytics. You shouldn’t need any extra code as this is a default segment which is provided by Google.

There are a few articles in the Google Analytics help forum where others are having the same problem so it appears to be a bug with the new version of GA. Google are usually quite quick at fixing these but I would recommend switching back to the old version of GA for the time being. Apply the segment in there and you should be able to see some mobile traffic data.

Thanks,
Andy

You wrote: “In the minds of the consumer there should ideally be a compelling reason for you discounting.”

Are you advising that the seller should explain why they are giving away a product for less than its worth? That’s a discount, right?

The reason for discounting is too often a sense of desperation. Or a lack of knowing what else to do to draw in shoppers. While sellers can try to spin a story that justifies the discount, I think in today’s world the sophistication of shoppers is such that they see it for what it is: desperation or lack of better ideas.

I’m helping to create a course that addresses this very topic: how to sell online without discounting.

You also wrote: “If you discount too frequently customers become conditioned to associating your brand with cheaper prices…Consider developing a promotional calendar around key events of the year that are associated with your products.”

Reply: Doing discounts around major holidays or recurring times of year seems like a way to condition shoppers. Can it be avoided, this conditioning of customers? It seems a very hard thing to avoid.

but, when you said bloggers don’t get paid for running their websites now here i doubt. Yes they don’t get paid for running and updating their blogs but they do make money out of it.

Many thanks for sharing your comments.

It comes as no surprise that smaller businesses are suffering from increased AdWords costs at the moment.

However, in terms of the value AdWords represents, all of our clients make a positive ROI from AdWords therefore I would say it is still one of the best advertising tools available on the market!

Based on the information you have provided above, here are a few things worth considering before you divert your Google spend into other forms of marketing.

Keyword Match Types

• Using broad match terms usually brings in a lower quality of traffic as it opens up the door to searches which may not be relevant.
• Broad match also requires ongoing optimisation of negative keywords. Try running a “search query report” to see how users are finding your ad. There will probably be a number of additional negative terms.
• Consider refining the match types on your keywords to Phrase or Exact match. Whilst this may see a drop in volume, the quality of traffic coming to the site will usually be higher.

Landing Pages

• Landing pages are crucial to driving conversions in AdWords and delivering ROI.
• Call-to-actions should be strong and clear to drive conversions. Use the content on your page to drive visitors to take a particular action, such as “contact us” or “get a free quote”. Consider testing different call-to-actions to see which one has the most impact on conversions.

Local Relevance

• Consider trying out a separate geo-targeted campaign for each location you service. This way you can include the location in the ad copy and you could also set up a separate landing page for each location. For example, any searches in the London area could be directed to a dedicated London page with details about the area you service, thus improving local relevance.

I hope some of the information above helps. I would definitely try implementing some of these ideas into your campaign before withdrawing your spend from AdWords.

Let us know how you get on!

Whilst i really want it to work, google has been the most expensive form of advertising yet bringing in the least customers.

My ads are well written, geographically set and i use selective broad match keywords with negative keywords.

Another problem is before a customer even clicks on my ad, it’s already been clicked x amount of times by competitors, other marketing companies and the odd fraudster. These aren’t customers and i shouldn’t pay for them. Also paying for a click that registers 0.00 time on my site is just ridiculous. I may as well walk down to the town center, pull out my wallet and give it to a complete stranger…smiling as i do so – at least i know i’m giving it to someone who isn’t pretending they’ve earnt it.

I did a small voucher drop in one area which produced more work than google could achieve in months. Further more i tested door knocking for 1 hour and got 7 jobs with many more referals from these jobs – at no cost.

I’m considering diverting my google $$$’s to paying for a door knocker after yet another month of billing with google with 0 return.

I know the website is good as i get customers from yell.com and thompsonlocal.com and the feedback on our online presence is incredible – some saying it was the deciding factor when selecting a cleaner.

Times are changing and increased online advertising costs with a reduced return on investment is no longer an option for this company.

Costs down, prices competitive = good turnover and people in jobs.

Any company that i do business with is like an employee and every employee needs to show value. My question is where is the value with google adwords?

Maybe a change to good old fashioned grass root marketing is the answer…. at least in these times for this company. In the mean time i’ll invest in organic hits and see if this is a better option.

This is obviously part of Twitters effort to compete with Facebook, and allow more instant news from the stream. I will be interested to see how the community reacts to this, i’m sure it will be a very positive move for Twitter.

Secondarily, as stated here, the same principles of optimisation remain unchanged. Creating well structured and optimised content will still get your website to the top of Google search results. It would be nice to see a bit of calm regarding this, as the hype has been very overblown.

Thank you for your comment.

I am only speculating about the number of ‘average’ Google users who have accounts and therefore are signed in. However, when you work in digital I do believe it is easy to assume that many more people have Google accounts than is actually the case. I did a quick survey of my friends and family recently…all Google users but out of around 20 just one had a Google account!

In any case, its all speculation at this stage and I, like you, am interested to see the data as Instant is rolled out…

Thanks again

I think it may change long tail seo as people will be selecting pre defined keyphrases rather than typing anything in.

Will be interesting to see some data once it’s been out for a while.

Seb