I just helped another victim business owner who was duped into using Google AdWords EXPRESS. Every month I have the same conversation with new people who don’t understand what they fell into. Why is this a problem you wonder? Even though Google AdWords EXPRESS might be simpler to setup, you likely will waste a lot of money with little results to show for it.

What’s the difference?

Google AdWords is the premier platform for managing advertising in the Search Engine Result Pages, contextual ads on various websites, ads on YouTube, ads on Gmail, etc. It’s a great marketing tool and essential for many businesses. The full feature version gives you great control over all the details of your advertising campaigns.

Google AdWords Express is a significantly less functional version of Google AdWords. (Differences) You set up an ad and keep spending money, all the while wondering why the hell you don’t get any prospects. According to Google:

“Creating an ad is easy. Select your audience, write three lines about your business, and set your budget. AdWords Express automatically manages where and when your ads will appear on Google. No keywords to choose, no ongoing maintenance.”

Google makes it available because it’s an easy way to onboard businesses with little knowledge or desire to learn the intricacies of these advertising tools. The problem is people don’t know what they are doing and the simplicity isn’t respectful of how much it will cost long term. You really do need more granular control over what keyword phrases, negative keywords, targeting options, and ad enhancements to increase your likeliness of success.

What to do?

If you already have a Google AdWords Express account, you can not convert it into a regular Google AdWords account. You’ll have to start over.

If you have a Google AdWords Express campaign running, I suggest you pause it. Learn the basics of running a Google AdWords campaign — get a book, watch tutorial videos, attend a class. Then create a Google AdWords account and begin again with the new knowledge you have.

If you want someone to manage that for you, we can help.