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1. Go to reports and create a report using the dimension 'Hour of day'. Choose all metrics that are meaningful to you (Cost, Impressions, CPA, ROAS etc).
   
2. Analyze performance and create day & hour ranges that have similar performance and make sense (Mo-Fr, 10:00-12:00, Mo-Fr, 12:00-18:00 etc). Create ad schedules accordingly and apply them, making sure you cover all days & hours.
   
3. Add bid adjustments to the ad schedules according to performance. Reduce bids for high CPA performance, increase bids for good CPA performance. Bid ad. should be around +-10% or +-20% maximum. Gather some data, reevaluate and repeat process
   
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   If you would like to learn more about how to manage and optimize AdWords accounts profitalby you can have a look at my book on Amazon -> Advanced Google AdWords Strategy: The Comprehensive & Data-Driven Practical Guide on Managing & Optimizing AdWords Accounts Profitably. Thanks

I was just like you a few months ago. I quit my job as a senior accountant after getting my CPA and decided to take on the world of paid search. Now I'm working full-time at an online marketing agency.

I suggest you do the following:

• Read Brad Geddes' Advanced Google Adwords 3rd edition from cover to cover. His book is going to give you the framework you need to properly approach Google Adwords. You can find it here -- http://amzn.to/1o3pCtM.
  
• Get the Google Adwords exams out of the way -- they're not that bad and they are free. Get Google Analytics certified too if you can, its a $50 investment. Don't stress about it being hard; for whatever reason its gotten a lot easier.
  
• Learn Excel if you don't already know it. Filters, PivotTables, Macros are all great things to know and will separate you from the crowd. When I did't have clients, I would use the RandBetween() formula to generate statistics so that I could simulate client reports and scenarios.
  
• Download the AdWords Editor and get to know it well. Only rookies don't use it.
  
  Finally, put yourself out there. Start looking for gigs on Craigslist and indeed. Approach small businesses and offer your services. Blog about paid search, tweet, start having a conversation with people.
  
  But don't work for free. And don't focus on charities. You'll sell yourself short by doing so. There are plenty opportunities to be paid for your value. PM me if you have more questions.
  

Big fan of Perry his approach is rather simple and street smarts. I've never seen him cover ecommerce much but for lead gen he is on the money. he is more for entrepreneurs/small business. Ad spends $5k-$100k/monthly.

If you generate leads his stuff is good because Google Ads is only 1/2 of it. What happens when people get on your site/on your email list? Copy/credibility/call to action - that's all his stuff. Traffic/Conversion/Economics.

80/20 sales and marketing is a good primer. Can't speak to his latest google material as I first got into Perry somewhere in 2008 or so...

His style and approach is not a fit for corporations and ad agencies (with clients spending millions). Corporations, even if they generate leads use sterile business language and it takes a committee deciding on stuff before you can implement.

Some of this is applicable agency side however agencies have their own approach - Perry doesn't cover stuff you need there like forecasting, advanced tracking, doing quarterly PPC review and so on.

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I don't think you can go wrong w/ this

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1599186128/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

Don't get hung up on it being published in 2017, the underlying principles/strategies are still sound. Since then yes ancillary things have changes w/ GOogle ads such as smart bidding, expansion of match types, removal of ad position.

In my search for deeper answers a friend recommended this book: Mastering Successful Work: Skillful Means: Wake Up!

It is really good, my friend said it is "the need to constantly ask questions until you get the answer you seek...is a Tibetan method...from Tarthung Tulku."

Books are a bit unneccessary but if you're a book learner I'd recommend Brad Geddes' Advanced Google AdWords.

On top of the blogs listed below I'd recommend PPC Hero and Wordstream's beginner guides.

Frederick Vallaeys' book can help you wrap your head around this and make a good case for/against automated bidding in your workplace.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1544513372/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

IMO, auto bid strategies (when appropriate) are awesome. They allow me to get more done in less time and therefore take on more clients.

​

Here's a rephrased quote from the above book: "smart bidding strategies, if left unattended to run on their own, can give you average results. Average results are often not good enough so that's where a human's role comes back into PPC."

I only read 2 books on PPC and read the PPC Hero and WordStream blogs (checkout PPC university). I started my company soon after and I'm currently managing my own campaigns, spending thousands each month. Go to Amazon and get:

Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords: How to Access 1 Billion People in 10 Minutes

Advanced Google AdWords

I only read the first one, but I wish I'd read the second one by now. Instead I read Ultimate Guide to Pay-Per-Click Advertising. It's good, but there are a lot of weird little mistakes and confusing topics. YouTube is also your friend.

Skimming your other responses - you've got two products you're trying to monetize:

• eCommerce site for electronic components
  
• YouTube channel
  
  Both are commodities, with lots of competition, and very different marketing strategies.
  
  Meanwhile you're worried about PPC vs SEO, when you haven't even considered:
  
  
• who your audiences are,
  
• what they want, and
  
• how to reach them.
  
  Is FB the right channel for people who want 'electronic components'? Doubtful.
  
  As to PPC or SEO - it's just a cost benefit analysis.
  
  For example: I had a furniture client who was paying $1.50-$10 PPC for different types of furniture keywords. Average product price was $1,000+ with healthy 30% margin. PPC worked reasonably well. But so did direct mail of furniture catalogs.
  
  > There's is no potential for brand building with PPC
  
  That's right. PPC is best for 'acquisition' of new customers - "people actively looking for X." Once you've got them, email tends to be the popular 'retention' strategy - reminding people you exist. That's why all those annoying "subscribe" popups exist on websites.
  
  As to Secret Sauce, NO. Landing page is awful, and I can't believe someone selling growth hacking could have created it.
  
  Check out Traction by Gabriel Weinberg (founder of DuckDuckGo), or anything by Andrew Chen (growth @ Uber)
  
  Growth hacking can summed up as:
  
  
• There are LOTS of marketing channels (GW says something like 19, but I think it's closer to 110)
  
• Find the one that works for your audience (exploratory testing)
  
• Perfect your message and landing page for that channel and audience (e.g., test, test, test)
  
• Repeat until the channel is exhausted, and move on to another channel
  
• With the right budget, you'll probably do multiple channels at the same time

There's a good sample workflow in Advanced Google Adwords 3rd Ed that I stole.

Paraphrased:

• Status check: daily
  
• Keyword bids: every day / week (or less if you have a fixed rule) -- the book goes into a lot of detail on bidding strategy
  
• Quality score: tuesday, fiddle with landing pages / ad copy on things with problem QS
  
• Keywords: wednesday, do keyword research for new keywords and negatives
  
• Testing: Friday twice a month. Go through all tests with statistically significant clicks, kill the losers, and replace them with new tests
  
• Geo trends: once per month, look at geographic performance on the account and look for new opportunities
  
  Granted how often you do these will depend on the size of the account and how much control over the target website you have.
  
  It's often easier to do one thing at a time (especially keyword research, which breaks up my mental flow for any other task) or copywriting. Also, I think it's easier to plan ad ad groups around relevant keywords rather than picking the ad groups first and then doing keyword research.
  
  What it often looks like for me is
  

1. look at client site
   
2. pick keywords based on goals / existing site content
   
3. recommend new ad groups and landing pages based on the keyword opportunities
   
4. add the obvious negatives from the research and whatever site data is there
   
5. design the campaigns and ad groups
   
6. make the ad groups
   
7. write the ads matched to the keywords
   

For 750/month you can hire a freelancer who has experience and will manage your ads. I mean if you have time you can learn it of course that is a great thing :) I would recommend youtube tutorials as a first step. I also used this book:
https://www.amazon.ca/Advanced-Google-AdWords-Brad-Geddes/dp/111881956X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539989612&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=advanced+google+adwords&dpPl=1&dpID=412JOoqC53L&ref=plSrch

but well it was few years so probably now you would need to find something newer

That is great. Feel free to email me if you ever have any questions. [email protected]. Also cannot recommend this book enough.

I've been at this since 2012 and have never heard of Adskills, so I'd say that virtually no prospect is going to take certification from them seriously.

The best courses I'm aware of (besides platform certs) are this one from Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/the-ultimate-google-adwords-training-course/learn/lecture/4028970?start=0#overview

And perhaps books and training from Brad Geddes although I feel like it may be a bit out of date: https://www.amazon.ca/Advanced-Google-AdWords-Brad-Geddes/dp/111881956X

This is a good starting point:

Perry Marshalls: Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords

Hal Varian: Quality Score & the Ad Auction

Take everything you read/learn online with a grain of salt. PPC is not black and white, not every practice works in every industry/budget/account. Try to learn the logic behind making intelligent decisions in PPC.

Without more information, most of this is speculation, but....

Sitemap and 404s have relatively nothing to do with a display campaign... unless they're sending them to a 404 error page (lol).

I'm betting the audience for those campaigns is awful. Probably some high level affinity audience?

I'd definitely consider call tracking. Adwords has the ability for search campaigns - but I like CallRail, personally.

Do you have access to the Adwords account? I'd get in there ASAP and take a look at it yourself. By the sounds of it, in 2-3 months you could probably manage this better than this agency, if you wanted to learn (https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Google-AdWords-Second-Geddes/dp/1118194500)

I’ve bought this book twice. I gave my first one to a friend and the book is so good I had to buy it again just for referencing.

https://www.amazon.com/Landing-Page-Optimization-Definitive-Conversions/dp/0470610123/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=landing+page+optimization&qid=1567387788&s=gateway&sprefix=landing+pa&sr=8-3

I found this book extremely helpful both in the steps to get an account, and to understand how to obtain additional domains (which I'd been told was not possible) - https://www.amazon.com/Google-Grants-Playbook-Definitive-Breakthrough-ebook/dp/B01MG9CXAY

https://www.amazon.com/Google-Analytics-Demystified-Hands-Approach/dp/151485824X Is a good book, it's not an overnight thing. Start by getting google tag manager set up.

It's not. I've read it. The fundamentals of adwords are the same and the strategies in that book are absolutely crucial and you would do yourself a huge disservice by passing it up.

​

Edit: Also, it's 4-5 years old: https://smile.amazon.com/Advanced-Google-AdWords-Brad-Geddes/dp/111881956X?sa-no-redirect=1

You need to do both.

1. One with geo keywords set to target anyone anywhere who types those keywords with GEO.
   
   
2. One without geo keywords set to target only people in your target area.
   
   I'm guessing you're used to doing online international or national campaigns, is that correct? The above stated process is standard operating procedure in local search campaigns.
   
   Read "Advanced AdWords" by Brad Geddes - Third Edition. It has a very detailed explanation on this.
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Google-AdWords-Brad-Geddes/dp/111881956X
   
   

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Advanced-Google-AdWords-Brad-Geddes/dp/111881956X/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

about the most solid grounding you can get in adwords and how to plan/structure/execute ppc campaigns

Mike Rhodes - Ultimate Guide to Adwords

Link

First:
http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Guide-Google-AdWords-Million/dp/1599184419

Second: http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Google-AdWords-Brad-Geddes/dp/111881956X/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=51qNA-w7TXL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR127%2C160_&refRID=067Y1BH3800X4A8QJ62N

Third: Take Over The World.

That's the go to PPC holy book

Just published Double Your Website Traffic: A Complete Guide Using Content, SEO, PPC, and Social Media and I think it's right up your alley. Plus, it's just $.99 on Kindle today: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YF3V2J1

Not a course but this book by Perry Marshall helped me out a lot when I wanted to learn more: https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Guide-Google-AdWords-Million/dp/1599184419

https://www.amazon.com/Google-AdWords-Dummies-Howie-Jacobson/dp/1118115619

Rather than rewrite this again, I'll point to this. You have the same situation.
https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusiness/comments/5cqs2x/critique_of_my_shopify_sitehow_to_drive_traffic/
You haven't been studying your Seth Godin
I have to disagree with u/master_jeriah Your site is not up to par. The bar is extremely high these days. Especially with these kinds of products. Try thrivethemes or soem wordpress theme that is geared towards conversion, http://aaronbartholomew.com/high-conversion-wordpress-themes/ or just use shopify and upgrade your product photos.

And as far as adwords go, in my opinion you are doing it all wrong. You should never use any kind of manager until you really know what you're doing, only then use it to save yourself time, but never sleep on it even with one eye open. Google will bleed you dry in a second. Start off small with a limited budget. Use spyfu or something like it to copycat your competition. Use only exact match keywords and limit by time of day etc to avoid bots and looky loos.

they link directly to the book on amazon

Bad Decisions: only $3.99
Six terrible tales of unfortunate
choices. Perfect for Halloween