| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Have you ever used Google Ads for your own marketing purposes? How effective is it? Thread poster: Niraja Nanjundan (X)
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Niraja Nanjundan (X) 
Local time: 19:46
German to English
The reason I'm asking this question is that I use Gmail and keep seeing ads from translation agencies, individual translators and others in the industry such as CAT tools vendors etc., including the one-line ads that appear at the top of the Inbox and Sent Mail "boxes."
I know that a lot of ProZ users strongly object to Google Ads being used on ProZ, but many translators and agencies seem to use this form of advertising and marketing themselves. I was just wondering how effective i... See more The reason I'm asking this question is that I use Gmail and keep seeing ads from translation agencies, individual translators and others in the industry such as CAT tools vendors etc., including the one-line ads that appear at the top of the Inbox and Sent Mail "boxes."
I know that a lot of ProZ users strongly object to Google Ads being used on ProZ, but many translators and agencies seem to use this form of advertising and marketing themselves. I was just wondering how effective it is in attracting new clients, and how does it compare with the number of clients you get through your own website or through your ProZ profile? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 16:16
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| I've used Google Ads before | Jun 29, 2010 |
Niraja Nanjundan wrote:
Have you ever used Google Ads for your own marketing purposes? How effective is it?
I've used it once, for about two weeks, and got two non-paying jobs for my troubles. But I think one has to do Google Ads for a longer period of time (say 6 months) before one can judge the success or failure of it. One must also continuously adjust the keywords to improve one's results.
| | | | | Would you hire a translator that way? | Jun 29, 2010 |
The question you should probably ask yourself is: would you choose a translator using Google Ads? Would you be sufficiently reassured that you are going to receive a good service chosen with mass advertising?
Personally I would not. Most Google Ads I am shown are irrelevant or unattractive in my case. I prefer word-of-mouth and online opinions in the process of choosing a vendor for anything.
| | | | megane_wang
Spain
Local time: 16:16
Member (2007)
English to Spanish
+ ...
| I have experience with Adwords, not for translation | Jun 29, 2010 |
Hello,
I agree with Tomas, and I would add another question: which kind of customer would you get through that?
My experience with Adwords for a customer: I run an Adwords campaign for a customer some time ago - not related to translation -. They received a lot of visits without any result, even though the keywords were rather specific. My customer mostly got Curriculums in the HHRR section of their website, where they already receive around 5000 requests per year.
... See more Hello,
I agree with Tomas, and I would add another question: which kind of customer would you get through that?
My experience with Adwords for a customer: I run an Adwords campaign for a customer some time ago - not related to translation -. They received a lot of visits without any result, even though the keywords were rather specific. My customer mostly got Curriculums in the HHRR section of their website, where they already receive around 5000 requests per year.
In addition to this, their keywords were quite expensive. This costed a lot for nothing.
My own experience in "mass"-media: for 6 years I purchased some advertising in a business guide (similar to yellow pages, but a bit more specific, on-line and on paper). This was the result:
- 1 visit from someone who wasted my time talking about a project... that was to be done for free because they were a/(some sort of obscure) NGO.
- 1 call from the same guy two years later, for the same (poor little thing ).
- 2 calls from (even more obscure) NGOs looking for someone to work for free.
- 2 calls from unfair competitors trying to check the market rates. One of them was dumb enough to say that he did not know which kind of text he needed to translate (oh, oh,).
- Approx. 1 CV per day from people who wrongly thought I could be interested in hiring.
In summary: too much effort and too much money for nothing.
But, of course, I still think it may be worth for someone.
Ruth @ MW ▲ Collapse
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Niraja Nanjundan (X)
Local time: 19:46
German to English
TOPIC STARTER
Would you choose a translator using Google Ads?
No, but that's mainly because I'm a pukka freelance translator and don't hire other translators anyway.
I prefer word-of-mouth and online opinions
So do I. I just keep seeing translation related ads on Gmail, so I was wondering how effective they were.
| | | | Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 07:16
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam | It depends on what kind of "clients" you are looking for. :-) | Jun 29, 2010 |
Niraja Nanjundan wrote:
I know that a lot of ProZ users strongly object to Google Ads being used on ProZ, but many translators and agencies seem to use this form of advertising and marketing themselves. I was just wondering how effective it is in attracting new clients, and how does it compare with the number of clients you get through your own website or through your ProZ profile?
No way - I would never, ever, ever think of advertising in this environment. Next to weight loss programms and whatever enlargement pills. No, thank you.
Who clicks on those ads anyway? Most certainly not your desired clientele.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 16:16
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
Would you choose a translator using Google Ads? Would you be sufficiently reassured that you are going to receive a good service chosen with mass advertising?
On the one hand, Google Ads may be seen as "mass advertising", particularly if the advertiser is a large translation company. On the other hand, the fact that a translator (a freelancer) took the trouble of familiarising himself with how Google Ads work and the fact that he is willing to pay for advertising his service can also say something positive about him. A translator who does active marketing instead of passive marketing is a translator who is in control of his professional life.
To answer your question, if I was looking for a freelance surveyor or designer or photographer, I would have no qualms about clicking the advertisement, because the advertisement is simply a method for the service provider to get my attention. After he got my attention, he still has to convince me... with his easy-to-use well-designed web site that should contain the information necessary for me to make my decision to contact him (e.g. his full contact details, references, etc).
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 16:16
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Nicole Schnell wrote:
No way - I would never, ever, ever think of advertising in this environment. Next to weight loss programms and whatever enlargement pills. No, thank you.
The advertisements shown to the user are trigged by what he searches for. With my tongue firmly in my cheek I venture to ask "What do you search for, Nicole?" (-:
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| Ad words and ad sense | Jun 29, 2010 |
Well, there are two different ways of advertising with google, ad words and ad sense.
IF, ad sense advertising is well done by google, then I suppose it could be a quite interesting promotional tool for freelance translators looking for direct clients.
As for ad words, I see it more a way to contact individuals more than companies. With the right keywords you can reach interested people in very specific market niches. For translation directly, maybe not so interesting, but you... See more Well, there are two different ways of advertising with google, ad words and ad sense.
IF, ad sense advertising is well done by google, then I suppose it could be a quite interesting promotional tool for freelance translators looking for direct clients.
As for ad words, I see it more a way to contact individuals more than companies. With the right keywords you can reach interested people in very specific market niches. For translation directly, maybe not so interesting, but you never know.
Most people don´t know that the results of google on the right and upper places are paying advertising. Maybe some of the readers of this trade neither.
Yahoo is also a very important market, specially in USA.
And in China the biggest search machine is Baidu.
I love marketing.
If you want a good marketing book: Influence, from Cialdini.
[Editado a las 2010-06-29 15:44 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 07:16
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam | Cute one, Samuel! | Jun 29, 2010 |
Samuel Murray wrote: Nicole Schnell wrote:
No way - I would never, ever, ever think of advertising in this environment. Next to weight loss programms and whatever enlargement pills. No, thank you. The advertisements shown to the user are trigged by what he searches for. With my tongue firmly in my cheek I venture to ask "What do you search for, Nicole?" (-:
Try to look up my last name, which means "fast / rapid" in German and see what interesting things this search term will pull up in German. You may take your tongue out of your cheek now. Seriously. It's not funny.
| | | | | Google/ Yahoo | Jun 29, 2010 |
I used Google Adwords and Yahoo Ads about 4 years ago for a couple of months. The number of hits to my profile skyrocketed.
However, I don`t know, I can`t tell if the number of job offers received increased due to those ads or to my presence and ranking in this and other sites.
I agree with Samuel. This is a way (as good as many others) of active marketing which you may add to all the existing tools (including Proz suggestions with that prupose) to make your profile a... See more I used Google Adwords and Yahoo Ads about 4 years ago for a couple of months. The number of hits to my profile skyrocketed.
However, I don`t know, I can`t tell if the number of job offers received increased due to those ads or to my presence and ranking in this and other sites.
I agree with Samuel. This is a way (as good as many others) of active marketing which you may add to all the existing tools (including Proz suggestions with that prupose) to make your profile appear more often or higher in internet searchs. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Doing it for a month now | Jun 29, 2010 |
still no results...
I am getting around 10 clicks on my add per day.
For example, with the keywords "deutsch litauisch" I have only one competitor.
I don't know, what is wrong, may be my website not impressive enough (you are welcome to criticize!).
I started the campaign, because a fellow translator (German into English) suggested it. He said, 5 years ago he did it. At the beginning, nothing happened. But then he received so many jobs, that he had to turn it off. ... See more still no results...
I am getting around 10 clicks on my add per day.
For example, with the keywords "deutsch litauisch" I have only one competitor.
I don't know, what is wrong, may be my website not impressive enough (you are welcome to criticize!).
I started the campaign, because a fellow translator (German into English) suggested it. He said, 5 years ago he did it. At the beginning, nothing happened. But then he received so many jobs, that he had to turn it off. Till today a few of these clients (agencies?) are his main clients.
I'm actually also looking not for one-time clients, but someone for a long cooperation.
It is not too expensive for me, so I will do it for a while. ▲ Collapse
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Andrea Riffo
Chile
Local time: 10:16
English to Spanish
+ ...
I test-drove Google Ads not too long ago, for just one week, and found that the visits to my website rose considerably. However, when checking the keywords that prompted my ad to appear, I saw some undesirable search words/phrases, such as "free translation".
I have thus learned that I have to block the word "free" from the searches (along with a few others), but trying the new configuration takes time and money, and I don't know how many more attempts I'd need in order to get it ri... See more I test-drove Google Ads not too long ago, for just one week, and found that the visits to my website rose considerably. However, when checking the keywords that prompted my ad to appear, I saw some undesirable search words/phrases, such as "free translation".
I have thus learned that I have to block the word "free" from the searches (along with a few others), but trying the new configuration takes time and money, and I don't know how many more attempts I'd need in order to get it right.
Obviously, I cannot draw any hard conclusions from this experience, since I've done it only once for a short period, but it seems that using Google Ads can be tricky and that it may take a lot of fine-tuning of the ads configuration in order to achieve the expected results.
Greetings!
Andrea ▲ Collapse
| | | | John Fossey
Canada
Local time: 10:16
Member (2008)
French to English
+ ...
| I believe its another field | Jun 29, 2010 |
I tried Google Adwords for a while and also had quite a lot of traffic but no buyers. I'm convinced that using Adwords successfully is a whole science on its own, and takes a webmaster or expert to focus on it. Where I've heard success stories has involved a separate focused landing page (or even website) for each ad, getting visitors to sign up to an email newsletter (rather than people buying anything right away), continuously adding content to the website or newsletter (to hang on to contac... See more I tried Google Adwords for a while and also had quite a lot of traffic but no buyers. I'm convinced that using Adwords successfully is a whole science on its own, and takes a webmaster or expert to focus on it. Where I've heard success stories has involved a separate focused landing page (or even website) for each ad, getting visitors to sign up to an email newsletter (rather than people buying anything right away), continuously adding content to the website or newsletter (to hang on to contacts until they're ready), and so on. For those of us who would rather just translate, I question whether its a viable way to get business. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 16:16
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| I was about to say the same | Jun 29, 2010 |
John Fossey wrote:
Where I've heard success stories has involved a separate focused landing page...
Google Ads are ideal for advertising newsletters, causes and events. It is less good at advertising freelance translators, but I believe it must still be possible.
You mention a landing page, and I was thinking about that a few hours ago. The problem with a Google Ad is that getting the user to click the ad is only half the battle won. Afrter he clicked your advert, he still needs to decide if your web site offers him what he's looking for. This means that the page he lands on should be tailored for the type of desire he has at the time that he visits the page. Sending such a user to your web site's front page will likely not result in a sale, because one's web site's front page wasn't designed with a search engine advert clicking user's mindset in mind.
I'm convinced that using Adwords successfully is a whole science on its own, and takes a webmaster or expert to focus on it...
I agree. The books I've read on advert strategies lead me to believe that it takes a while before one achieves success. It sounds so easy to create a catchy advert, but in reality it is something that must be learnt through practice. For example, one should create two adverts at a time, to see how they fare against each other. Then wait two weeks or a month before changing the wording slightly, to see if that has any effect on the traffic. Obviously an Adwords campaign is something that must be approached systematically and over a long period. The upside is that these adverts are rather cheap. If you use the wrong approach when writing your Yellow Pages advert, it will cost you a lot of money, and you can only adjust the advert's wording once a year.
A Google Adwords advert is like a newspaper smalls/classified advert, but with the difference that you can really see how successful or unsuccessful it is.
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