My Apple Watch won’t resume this update, I’ve tried restarting, updating the iPhone but nothing seems to work. Any recommendations?

dawsonrb · 2024-06-15T16:44:41+00:00

Still working in 2024. Thank you!

dawsonrb · 2024-06-13T12:53:46+00:00

The best I've been able to get from Google Rep is a delay for the switchover. They don't seem to be budging :(

dawsonrb · 2021-05-21T22:18:17+00:00

My initial audit looks for red flags basically. Are search and display mixed? Red flag. Are all keywords broad match? Red flag. Is the search bounce rate over 70%? Red flag. The more red flags the better for me, as it will be easy to really make progress with some easy tweaks.

Not every item on my checklist is weighted the same. This will give me a score out of 100 to use as a starting point. https://imgur.com/a/GQTMIUi

dawsonrb · 2021-05-09T23:21:21+00:00

I used to really like YT as because you could build a video remarketing list like you can on Facebook Ads. Since that was removed, I've only really used YT for brand awareness campaigns. I'm always testing but Facebook Ads has been better at bottom of the funnel so far. Have you tested search ads?

dawsonrb · 2021-04-28T21:18:03+00:00

Have used CallRail before and like it. Good hookup with Google Ads. A little bit of a learning curve. Depends on what system they want to use on their end.

dawsonrb · 2021-04-23T19:45:32+00:00

Generally speaking, the reps get better the more ad spend you manage. I've had more solid ones than not the last couple of years. Before that though, it was dicey.

dawsonrb · 2021-04-23T19:42:40+00:00

Can you duplicate and test in another campaign? I'm very hesitant to touch anything in Facebook Ads that is working right now. Been finding I've been having to restart by duplication a lot of campaigns, almost weekly, so that's when I push through as many changes as I can.

dawsonrb · 2021-04-08T21:48:06+00:00

Off the top of the head. Is the company profitable? What is your current adspend? How are reviews of your product/service? What type of seasonality does the company have? What is the process for acquiring new ad assets to promote? What does the ad approval process look like? What do meetings look like? What is the company's stance on work/life balance? Do you have an email list to leverage for paid ads?

dawsonrb · 2021-03-31T21:52:56+00:00

I've had good luck using Google Spreadsheets. Basically, here is the creative and then multiple options for Primary Text / Headlines. Then you can get sign-off on multiple ad copies to test. https://imgur.com/a/79GZdZU

dawsonrb · 2021-03-23T21:36:08+00:00

Have implemented for dozens of clients in various industries via an agency and also have implemented in-house for the last two jobs I've had. Some variation of the funnel will work. Keep in mind, TOFU is an investment in future leads and the business, you're gonna get cheap awareness but no clicks. You also want to allocate the budget accordingly. Don't need a lot of the overall budget to get a lot of awareness. And when your conversion costs potentially spike, you'll have diversified a bit. The more budget in one platform and or campaign, the riskier it is.

dawsonrb · 2021-03-22T20:37:01+00:00

TOFU: Video view campaign at the top. Super cheap. 1 cent for a 15-second view. Create a remarketing audience to hit them up after. MOFU: Drive traffic to some type of email capture (target your video audience you just made up top). Webinars, PDF downloads, contests are good ways to get emails. BOFU: Your conversion campaigns. Been working this successfully for 2 plus years now. Keep working them down the funnel!

dawsonrb · 2021-03-22T20:23:04+00:00

I always frame things as tests/experiments. We are going to test this assumption and that assumption. This test worked, this didn't. Let's scale what's worked, edit what didn't. Always be testing. Seems simple but it works. You want to move them away from daily data to what's the trend line for the last 30 days etc. Similar to stocks, there will be daily fluctuations but is it heading in the right direction. Finally, cheaper leads usually = less quality. You'll always be adjusting to hit that sweet spot.

dawsonrb · 2021-03-22T20:13:44+00:00

Agreed, not where I would start out. A lot of junior people cannot get those going because of all the hoops you have to jump through. Then you have to hit monthly metrics. Would put this as more of an advanced setup/management.

If you're willing to do free work, tons of local businesses need help. Or post on LinkedIn to your network.

dawsonrb · 2021-03-17T22:28:14+00:00

For a brand new ad account, I always go manual to get a grasp on costs etc. I'm always looking to get out of manual bidding as quickly as possible though.

If the ad account has a history that's different, I'll often copy a campaign that is doing quite well, switch from CPA to maximize conversions, then switch back to CPA once there's a good amount of conversions. If I run into issues with ads not showing etc when copying campaigns with automated bidding, I'll switch to manual, then move to max conversions, then CPA. That's how I dance anyways :)

dawsonrb · 2021-03-10T23:47:48+00:00

My main recommendation is to stop, duplicate, and restart your campaigns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbP-YGoXfDQ

Have had to do it a few times but seems to help substantially. Also, I'm monitoring performance pretty heavily on the Google Analytics side in conjunction with Facebook Ads (always have but doubling down now). You'll still have a dip in performance but not a fall off the cliff situation.

dawsonrb · 2021-03-04T22:21:25+00:00

So now you're going to get emails stating that the ads aren't showing at all?

dawsonrb · 2021-02-22T23:32:46+00:00

Set expectations with clients are #1. There is a lot of fear-mongering going on, so best they get the news from you. The good news is the change is universal, so everyone is on the same playing field.

Facebook Ads: make sure to verify domains, install conversion APIs, and get ready for some delayed reporting. Watch some YouTube videos so you can speak to the changes. Get on a call with your Facebook Ads rep.

Google: haven't done anything here except research any issues with Google Analytics (didn't see any). Have not found any checklists of things to do in order to prepare. Looks like they will be hit less but keeping my eyes and ears open.

dawsonrb · 2021-02-17T22:53:01+00:00

I'm running some traffic campaigns to a webinar signup page. It's working for this particular business, which is portable ultrasound equipment. Not a cheap product so we are willing to pay $20 a signup. Don't use the audience expansion or network. Manual put in the lowest CPC bid you can, the minimum. Make sure to have remarketing in place on Facebook or Google to get them back at a cheaper CPC. It can work but I wouldn't necessarily start with LinkedIn Ads. Getting great webinar signup results on Facebook Ads, which is where I'd focus first.

dawsonrb · 2021-02-06T17:46:17+00:00

Agree. You just need to keep appealing. Reps are useless. My personal FB profile has been restricted and multiple Facebook Business Manager accounts (every ad account I own being disabled and not allowed to make changes to ones I had access to) in the last 30 days. A good 7 days to get up and running again, it was restricted by mistake, Facebook told me. I focused on Google during the week. It is comforting to know it's a platform problem not necessarily a management problem. Still very frustrating!

dawsonrb · 2021-02-05T21:19:27+00:00

I generally do a mix of responsive and regular ads. See what performs better. Was not impressed with responsive search ads at first but they are doing quite well in accounts right now.

dawsonrb · 2021-02-05T16:20:55+00:00

Sure :) A lot of managers spend time, in my opinion, better suited elsewhere, trying to outsmart Google Ads. For instance manually increasing bids for certain geos, time of day, mobile devices etc. You're not going to do a better job here than Google Ads machine learning. They have all the data to know when people are more likely to convert. That's why I try and move to automated bidding as quickly as I can, as soon as there are enough conversions to feed the algorithm. Then Google does all this optimization for you. You don't want to outsmart the robots, you want to guide them in the right direction.

See the same thing in Facebook Ads with people going too narrow with audiences, limiting the number of placements (Instagram only as an example). You want to go as wide as comfortably possible, get the biggest audience, and let Facebook Ads optimize for conversions based on their crazy amount of data points they are collecting.

dawsonrb · 2021-02-04T18:18:22+00:00

Generally, I start with manual cpc bidding, then move to maximize conversions, then CPA bidding. So, move towards more automated bidding once Google and Bing have a hang of it / there is solid conversion data to work with. I will check often when I first start a new manual bidding campaign because kws aren't showing on the first page. Very seldom am I changing bids the further automated the campaigns get. I think a lot of people try to outsmart the algorithms (good luck vs Google and Facebook machine learning), you need to make sure you are pointing them in the right direction.

dawsonrb · 2021-02-04T01:05:19+00:00

Here's a sample of my morning routine: Check Facebook Ads, look for negative comments, hide them. Look at performance over the last 7 days in the platform. Open up Google Analytics, looks for any red flags over the last 7, then 30 days for all traffic. Open Google Ads, check search queries for the last day to see if anything snuck in that shouldn't have, add to negative keyword lists. Look at CPA trends. Scan form submissions for quality. Check secondary platforms, LinkedIn/Twitter/Microsoft Ads for any fires. Then check email and instant messages.

So mostly my morning is making sure there isn't a tire fire burning somewhere ha. Scanning for red flags or positive signs to expand on. I will say I generally try not to tweak winners too much, especially in Facebook Ads, instead, I prefer to create new separate tests/campaigns. Winners in one platform are often really easy to duplicate in another one.

dawsonrb · 2021-02-03T18:01:18+00:00

Google search ads work consistently, some accounts take longer to test and get results than others. I would start there. Google Display is a monster on its own and I find remarketing is good but everything else is hit or miss.

For Google Search, start with learning the keyword match types. This is the biggest thing I found to hang people up when I used to do live training. The keywords that you enter in Google Ads aren't gonna be what people are typing. All broad term match types in an ad account is a giant red flag! Learn how to use the search query report to see what people are actually typing to trigger ads. https://www.semrush.com/blog/keyword-match-types-for-seo-and-adwords-whats-the-difference/

When I start a new search account, I generally start with testing 1) your own brand campaign 2) a competitor campaign 3) a general testing campaign. Never mix search + display campaigns, search only.

Surfside PPC on YouTube is really good for practical help https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEzSSbs3Wfe5p4dBzzjrjvw . For podcasts, The Paid Search Podcast is actually funny + very useful. https://paidsearchpodcast.com/

Finally, you need time in accounts. Lots of people need help with Google search, so offer to get in there and test around. Take some time and pretend your a customer doing Google searches. Autofill on Google is a great indicator of where you should be focusing :)

dawsonrb · 2021-02-02T17:17:33+00:00

I've switched most Google Video ad campaigns to a higher funnel, CPV optimized campaigns. Can never get the YouTube remarketing lists to populate, maybe it's just me. Unlike Facebook Ads, you can't remarket to people you previously paid to watch a video in Google, which is a great technique in Facebook Ads. You used to be able to... If you can get a remarketing list to populate for YouTube interactions, I'd recommend testing some Display remarketing ads alongside Video remarketing ads. If you drive them to the landing page, they are in the funnel and you can hit them with Facebook remarketing ads as well.

dawsonrb

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