Tonight I got a gift that, for me, is very hard to get. The gift I got was true relaxation and the feeling of inner-peace. The stress faded away, I shadow-boxed in my underwear for an hour listening to Warren Buffett videos, I loved on our dogs, and then I threw on Maroon 5 and looked up old friends on Facebook to see what they’re up to these days and hoping they’re happy and doing well. It was a perfect, quiet, relaxing night.
This feeling of peace is hard for me to come by. Every day I’m in the business trenches. It’s fun. It’s exciting. It’s worth it. But it’s hard and it takes its toll. I wouldn’t have it any other way. But it is hard. Do other entrepreneurs admit that? I don’t know what they do. But I know for me, I’m a realist, and the capitalist, against all odds game that I play every day is a hard game.
And that hardness manifests itself in a quiet, but ever-present, ever-buzzing stress that I feel almost every minute of every day. When life is business, the business is always there. The challenges, the tasks, the risks, the worries, it’s always there. You can’t escape it. It’s just there. And that’s okay. Again, the juice is worth the squeeze and it’s a voluntary game I’m playing. But it’s stressful and I feel some level of being on almost every minute of every day. It’s very difficult and rare for me to unplug and actual feel like I’m off work and truly relax.
But tonight, bless this night, I got that feeling of true relaxation.
And where did it come from?
Most people would never guess.
Manual bid management.
I manage some large Google Ads accounts that are very important to me. I really want them to go well. And they’re a high priority for me and my business.
These accounts are older, they’ve been running a long time, and they’re very optimized. Search terms are near perfect. Ad copy is great. Keyword targeting is expansive. They’re running right.
And interestingly enough, what I find myself focusing on most, and what I find makes the most impact on these accounts, is manual bid management.
Call me old-school, but manually managing bids is where I’m at. I’ve strayed from time to time, tried to get fancy here and there, but I always come back to my baby, manual bid management.
I don’t know how to describe manual bid management better than just saying it just works. When done correctly, manual bid management is effective, it gets results, and it gives the manager power.
About once a week I’m updating the bids in these large accounts, and tonight that’s what I was focusing on. I went through my accounts, reviewed the last two weeks of data, and made bidding decisions, campaign by campaign. It was a beautiful thing.
This campaign hasn’t spent much and has a lower position, up the bids this much.
This campaign is getting a great CPA, has a lower position, and I’d like to get more volume even if that pushes the CPA up a little, okay increase the bids this much.
This campaign is getting a bad CPA, let’s lower the bids.
Check for problem keywords, oh yes, this keyword has spent triple the CPA goal and doesn’t have a conversion, lower the bids.
And on and on.
I felt like MJ in the fall of ’95, I’ve still got it.
Managing bids manually and getting great results, it’s just an unrivaled Google Ads pleasure. You’re responsible for the great results. You’re in control. You’re in the driver’s seat.
After a few hours of managing bids manually, knowing I had my big accounts on track and running the way they need to run, I felt a sense of inner peace and true relaxation. I felt light. I knew that I’ve got these accounts in great shape and tomorrow will very likely be a great day for those accounts because I’ve got the bids set right.
The lightness I feel tonight, the peace I feel tonight, the way She Will Be Loved sounds tonight, it’s all due to manual bidding.
Manual bidding. She will be loved.
