Insightful quote about AdWords and small business by Sergey Brin in Google's
2008 Founders' Letter:
Despite the progress in our advertising systems and the growth of our base of advertisers, I believe there are significant improvements still to be made. While our ad system has powerful features, it is also complex, and can confuse many small and local advertisers whose products and services could be very useful to our users.
Google's solution of hiding the complexity of AdWords behind a simple user interface (
Starter Edition) is
not the answer. Some even wonder if
Starter Edition violates Google's "Don't be evil" motto. I think there's an opportunity, here, either for Google or advertising professionals to bridge the gap. How can Google's complicated AdWords system be made simple for small business?
One option is to *be* the interface. One of my fellow
AdWords Help Top Contributors has put together a new service:
AdWords PI. For a modest fee, she will investigate problems with AdWords accounts. I suspect that many small business owners have waded into AdWords and found themselves overwhelmed. This kind of a service might be a good way to bridge the gap. I wish
Kim Clink (aka MrsC) well with this new service and am sure she will help many advertisers. Read more
about AdWords PI.
I think Google's solution will be to drop AdWords Starter Edition and push the
Google AdWords Authorized Reseller Program. I think Google wants to cater to small business but doesn't want to deal with customer support issues. IOW, they want to have their cake and eat it, too. ;-)

Notes to self: Create a service like the
SEM Starter Kit but tailored specifically for small business owners and AdWords. Develop the
PPCrepair.com domain. Keep asking: How can Google's complicated AdWords system be made simple for small business?
Tags:
adwords,
small business