Google Having Advertisers Pay To Learn New Interface!, Kinda gets me steamed...... Options

[DJKay]

Just want to say officially, this is a rant...

Okay, I understand that being in Marketing you need to be constantly learning...but wow! I am resigned to the fact that I will have to struggle through and learn a new adwords interface even though I never asked for any improvements and was just fine.

I received an email from Google saying in effect their teaching their adwords training sessions in the new interface..translation...pay us and we will teach you the new interface!!!

Its their adwords training series called "Seminars for Success"...but really. I am certainly not going pay for a seminar on adwords (been using it for years and learned from Andrew Goodman/Page Zero)

They are already making a ton of money and now they will squeeze more out of people by changing to this new interface and charging for training on it!! Forget about Google being for the small business person. Amazing.

DJKay

[mal4mac]

As Google provides the information for free then why can't they make some money by selling that information as well? The cash-strapped small business person isn't hurt by Google holding seminars for rich people. The main purpose of these seminars is to enable people to network. Why should Google provide free facilities for networking? They might be able to afford it, but they push 'do no harm' not 'free junkets for everyone'. Google isn't Santa.

[1dmf]

Google isn't Santa.

hmm not so sure....

Fat old bloke with a tramp like beard and jacket, who climbs into your house late at night, eats your food and drinks your booze and loves to have little children sit on his knee.

You're right google isn't santa (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hysterical.gif)

[eWhisper]

First off, I'm the Advanced AdWords Seminar Leader (there are several seminar leaders, I'm the only one who does Advanced AdWords and I only do the Advanced AdWords seminars). This post is my opinion, and not that of Google's.

The seminars are not designed to teach the new interface. Google has a lot of free information you can access about the new interface here: http://www.google.com/adwords/newinterface/

What the seminars have done is update all screenshots, live demos, etc to include the new interface so as we talk about features and ways of optimizing accounts, a user has an idea where to access this information within the new interface.

The reason Google uses a 3rd party to put on the seminars is that I can make many statements that a Google employee cannot. I'm not a public company making forward looking statements. I can give my opinion about good and bad ways to use the AdWords program. I don't have to toe the company line. This creates a nice dialogue for all attendees throughout the day.

The seminars are designed to increase individuals knowledge, ideas, and profitability with the AdWords program. However, I also go through things like landing page testing, bid strategies, ad copy testing, etc - things that are based upon my knowledge of using PPC since the days of GoTo.com (around a decade ago).

The question I try to ask at every seminar is, "Was it better to have sat through this seminar today, worth both your time and money, instead of sitting in the office getting your work done?" The vast majority of people answer, "yes". Usually 5-10% of attendees send me a thank you note (of their own volition); and another handful send us a testimonial after every single seminar.

The most common comment I receive is, "I'm amazed at the price point, I would have paid 5x more to attend". However, we've not raised the prices in 3 years (it's possible one day we will). One of our goals is to make the price point low enough to reach businesses of all sizes and to maximize the number of people who can benefit from this information. I taught a class last week where there were a handful of companies spending under $100/month and they were happy they attended. Of course, there are the very high spenders as well, but the attendees range significantly in size.

For those who know me, they know that if I put my name on something - I believe in the value, information, and the product. If you want to learn more about me, just search for 'Brad Geddes'.

Hope that helps to clarify some of the seminar information.

[Jill]

Thanks for that info, Brad. That does help clarify things.

[1dmf]

Fair enough... though being the cynic that I am...

The reason Google uses a 3rd party to put on the seminars is that I can make many statements that a Google employee cannot. I'm not a public company making forward looking statements. I can give my opinion about good and bad ways to use the AdWords program. I don't have to toe the company line. This creates a nice dialogue for all attendees throughout the day.

Or it could be , they can refute anything a 3rd party says, but with enough incentive (cash, freebies, whatever), they can get the 3rd party's to say what ever they want with plausible deniability! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink1.gif)

Many outsource because it's always a win / win situation for the company outsourcing.

Unless your in a situation like my employer who is regulated by the financial services authority, their rules striclty state "You can out source the job, but not the responsibility"

[DJKay]

Yup. Google is not santa, that is for sure.