As a visual storytelling blog, we wouldn’t typically focus on a digital content marketing agency. However, one such company out of Asheville, North Carolina, is making great strides to assist non-profits that have yet to take advantage of Google Ad Grants.
Google gives eligible organizations up to $10,000 a month in free search engine ads. It can be a lifeline to a communications department that has seen its budget trimmed because of downturns in the global economy and the uncertainty over advancements in artificial intelligence.
But free money, even in advertising, doesn’t guarantee success.
So, I spoke to Justin Belleme, founder and director of strategy of JB Media Group. (To be clear, I have not been offered money to write nice things about him or his organization.) Belleme, who describes himself as a serial entrepreneur, now runs a successful media agency that provides non-profits a full suite of services, which includes support for Google Ad Grants.
Belleme points out that while it’s true many eligible organizations don’t apply for the free advertising (the sign up process can be a bit daunting), an almost bigger problem lies with those that underutilize the program. He says common pitfalls include promoting content that’s not optimized for the interests of an organization’s audience, creating landing pages that don’t balance education with engagement, and seemingly a lack of technical understanding of how to set up Google Ads so it targets the right people.
All of this leads to a lackluster return on investment — even if it’s free — and results in apathy for what should be a well received resource. Belleme has seen this happen too many times, and says it doesn’t have to be this way.
Jack Zahora: One of the things that’s a prerequisite to get a Google Ad Grant is having a “quality” website. That’s a bit subjective isn’t it? What are Google’s expectations?
Justin Belleme: Absolutely. It’s a bit vague. We often find situations where Google determines the site doesn’t meet its standards, and we have to go on a wild goose chase to figure out what’s wrong. Some common issues are extremely slow load times, especially for photos and video, sites that are built using really clunky page builders, and another factor is content quality. We found some sites that don’t have enough content about the topics that the organization want to be known for.
I imagine cyber security is also a consideration?
Actually, a lot of sites that use old plugins are susceptible of being hacked and having malicious code added to them. And we find that sometimes smaller nonprofit organizations aren’t sophisticated enough to recognize when that happens. If Google detects any sort of malicious content on the site, it will not allow you into the program. Or if it finds it after you’re in the program, they will suspend your account until you fix it.
So, in a way, Google is incentivizing quality through free ad space?
Maintaining the quality standards that Google requires can result in a substantial source of web traffic. We have a couple of clients who’ve been in the program since 2011 and have surpassed a million dollars in free advertising from Google. We also work with some smaller organizations, which are going after health health related keywords, where the traffic from the Google Ad Grant makes up to 70% of the new traffic going to their website.
A million dollars? At what point does Google cut you off in hopes that you’ve been addicted to its advertising?
So to clarify, it is a $329 per day credit. It doesn’t roll over. If you don’t use it, you lose it. But as long as you maintain the the rules of the program, then you can seemingly stay on the program as long as you like. But they have made the program more difficult over the last five years for non-profits, so many organizations are increasingly struggling with it more and more.
Expand on that. What makes it more difficult for nonprofits to use the program?
We don’t have any insider knowledge on what’s going on in Google, but my team has a theory that there may be less staff in the Google Ad Grants program, because we’ve seen somewhat slower response times in terms of customer support.
Would you articulate how the user experience has changed for NGOs, and why that might mean they need your help?
Well, mostly what it comes down to is when we have an issue with an account, like it’s been paused or suspended for some sort of policy violation, and we want to understand what Google thinks that they did wrong. From what I’ve learned from my team in our strategy meetings is that the process of submitting such an inquiry has slowed down a lot over the last few years. But also, Google is increasingly requiring additional technical requirements of how an account is set up and optimized. For larger organizations, they probably have that capability in house, if they’re more sophisticated when it comes to things like Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics. But for smaller organizations, organizations that don’t staff those skills, it becomes increasingly difficult for an entry level marketing person to make the most of the program. And that’s where my team can come in and make the program worthwhile.
(This conversation was edited for clarity and brevity.)
