Shunned AdWords Advertisers Likely to Be Shown the Welcome Mat
CHICAGO, Oct. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Nine percent may not sound like much, but when tech giant Google is the company in question, a stock price decline of nine percent equals more than 20 billion dollars. That decline happened after Google accidentally released its third quarter earnings report several hours early – a report that showed a sizable falloff in revenue and profit. Wall Street being what it is, the response was immediate and profound.
The effects of this snafu will ripple beyond short-term share prices. Google will likely have to be less restrictive in its advertiser vetting process. The company may even offer incentives for previously banned advertisers to return to the platform. Prior to this latest sour earnings report, Google had been notoriously cavalier in its banning of "edgy" advertisers.
"Google has been killing businesses," said Dave Chappelle, editor at Securebuzz.ca. "Business owners who've been spending thousands of dollars with Google AdWords one day receive a curt notification that their accounts have been suspended – and there's no chance for appeal, or even explanation."
Bestselling author and Google AdWords expert Perry Marshall (www.perrymarshall.com) sees a silver lining to all this restructuring and retooling. In a recent blog post, he explains why Google will have to reconsider its scorched-earth policy toward advertisers in health, diet and business opportunity niches.
"In the past, Google erred on the side of caution in terms of banning questionable AdWords accounts," said Marshall. "In the wake of this smack-down from Wall Street, Google has to make tweaks to that philosophy. The system will have to be more discriminating, which means not banning every advertiser in an entire category simply because a few are bogus or fraudulent.
"Wall Street is a strange place; Google's being punished for factors beyond its control. However, that could be good news for legitimate advertisers who have run afoul of the search giant in the past. If you're an advertiser who has been dumped by Google, now is the time to see if you can get back on board."
Marshall and Chappelle maintain their belief that Google AdWords is still the best platform for e-commerce and Internet advertising. The company's lackluster earnings report is a bump in the road for Google, but for advertisers, it might just be an advantageous bump.
About Perry Marshall
Perry Marshall's Chicago company, Perry S. Marshall & Associates, consults both online and brick-and-mortar companies on generating sales leads, web traffic, and maximizing advertising results. At $1300 per hour he's one of the world's most expensive and sought-after marketing consultants. His top coaching groups have waiting lists, and many clients have engaged his services continuously for 10 years and more.
Marshall has published thousands of articles on sales, marketing and technology, and his works include The Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords (Entrepreneur Press, 3nd Edition 2012), the world's most popular book on Google advertising, and The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising (Entrepreneur Press, 2011). He is also author of Industrial Ethernet (ISA, 2nd Edition).
Entrepreneur Magazine says, "Perry Marshall is the #1 author and world's most-quoted consultant on Google Advertising. He has helped over 100,000 advertisers save literally billions of dollars in AdWords stupidity tax."