Read this before running or ordering digital ads

Calculate it. It's not a rocket science.

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This was unexpected, but I encountered that small business owners do not understand how digital advertising works. 

The majority I worked with hoped for some magical budget they allocate, which would bring them some magical profit. So that is how I start every convo about Google or Meta Ads

And that simple primary school calculation opened the eyes of a lot of them. So hope will be helpful to you before you lock in a contract with an unscrupulous marketing agency.

Well, first of all, let’s agree with the fact that you cannot find any guarantees that advertising will bring you a particular number of clients for a particular figure. That's absolutely certain until you try, because there are so many factors in advertising specifically in your region, with your website, with your competitors, and so on.

But this simple principle will help you understand and assume how much your advertising may cost, and whether you need to launch it at all. (At least with your product price and your expenses on everything else).

Let's go through it step by step. And for this, I will ask you to be an actor, to play the role of your customer very slowly, very carefully. So, let's go through it. Let's say, your customer searches for your product on Google. And she is one of those 3.75% of people who click on the ad. (If your ad and Google ads are set up well) 

This means, that you need to show your ad ten thousand times for 370 people to decide to go to your site. Right? But you pay for clicks. So, it's all good. And let’s imagine that your niche's average Cost Per Click might be $2. Here you are paying $2 for each of these 370 clicks. Equal 740 buks

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What next?

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This doesn't mean that these people will become your buyers. Perhaps I’ll surprise you, but it even doesn’t mean that 370 people even visit your website. 

I saw 38% of traffic drops on the stage between click and open website. Just because the website was too slow and people didn’t wait when it will open.

But let’s imagine everything is good. Your landing page uploads perfectly. How many more scrolls and clicks do they need to make to buy this product from you? For how many of them will your site not open or confusing or even just boring and overwritten? For how many of them will your site look old and untrustful?

And they still haven’t any item in the card. I think the idea is clear more or less.

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So let’s go back to calculations. 

On a good site, one where everything is very cool, 7% of these 370 people will convert, and become your buyers or leads, meaning you will have 26 buyers for 740 dollars. Or your cost per acquisition will cost you $28.4 + other spending. So if your product costs 30 dollars it is no big sense to buy ads with a CPC = $2 in a niche, isn’t there? 

That's the math, that's the story. And what to do, you ask? But for the beginning, just calculate and imagine your process. After get this checklist and look how you can save your nerve cells and money before running advertising. It's not hopeless, real people still make real millions in e-commerce. Thanks to Google ads in the majority of cases. But only those who understand how it works.

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