Using Google Adwords for Your Cosmetic Surgery Practice – Easier Than You Think

Adwords Rule #1:

You do not need an SEO or SEM company to do this for you.  If you or a member of your staff has an extra 30 minutes a week, you should be doing it yourself.  Why?  Because it really is that easy.  You and I both know Google makes a lot more money than we ever will.  You have to respect that though.  They have a very user-friendly system that allows small businesses (like you and me) to take advantage of their mass audience.  They make this as simple as possible.  Why?  The easier it is, the better the chance you will spend money with them.

There are a lot of companies out there that are happy to take your money by selling their pay per click (aka. SEM) services.  They call themselves Google accredited or Google certified.  There are so many reasons to stay away from a company that does this.

1. Trust - They do not give you live access to your Google account.  They can tell you that you had 50 clicks, and in reality you had 1.
2. Google Certified – It is a less than 30 minute exam, including studying.  You are allowed to take it until you pass.  If you read 3 pages of information on how ad words works, you too can become a Google certified ad words specialist.  My 10 year old son actually is certified as well!
3. Pay Per Click plus fees – This is where the money is at:  To explain in detail, Google works on a bidding system.  Whoever bids the highest is first, and so on.  However, what you bid and what you pay are 2 different things.  You pay only one penny more than the next highest bid.  Let’s say Doctor 1 bids 17.00 dollars a click, but Doctor 2 bids .33 cents a click, then doctor one will only pay .34 cents for the click.  If Doctor 2 raises his bid to 1.00, then Doctor 1 pays 1.01. What they do as a company is they bid 17 dollars on your specific ad, knowing that the next bid below it is .35.  They can tell you they are bidding so high for you but it is actually costing them only .36 cents. And guess what you paid for the .36 cent click?  Statistically and from our research, usually 5 to 6 times that amount.  How many patients are you losing by paying these fees?  Likely, a good amount because the high profits they make is money you could be spending on getting more patients into your office.

This is only the tip of the iceberg but I have to say, if you can not monitor something through the source, it is usually a bad sign.  Meaning, if you are paying for Google ad words, and you can not go to Google and verify the actual volume of clicks and your cost, then it is a bad deal.

By the way, some of these services are worth it. You have to understand all companies are in business to make money, except for the non-profits of course.  If you find a company willing to handle it for you, and show you the real costs including what they make, it may be worth considering.  It may not be worth your time to do it yourself.  But if you want to do it yourself, shoot me an email and I will send you some links on how to get started today.  It is easier than your typical surgery, I bet.