Fellow member of the list, Simon Kassab (name shared with permission), asked:
“I want to become Sweden’s best Google Ads specialist focusing on ecommerce, what areas of knowledge would you recommend me to master within ecommerce?”
Two-part answer here.
First, I think there’s a lot of value in restating your goal.
- Becoming the best specialist in anything, especially Google Ads, is highly subjective and rarely worth the effort.
- Even if you could define a clear way to measure progress towards becoming “the best,” investing in other directions would almost certainly create more value and deliver a far higher ROI.
- I personally would like to be “the best Google Ads specialist for my clients.” (*) Easier to achieve, and much higher value.
Second, to become a really good Google Ads specialist for your e-commerce clients, here are a few things I would recommend:
1. Obviously, you need to master the foundations of Google Ads and move beyond them. Anyone can get a Google Ads certificate. Very few study the support docs on a weekly basis.
2. Master conversion tracking for e-commerce. Anyone can add a conversion tracking tag to a thank-you page. Very few communicate returns, cLTV, and profit to Google Ads.
3. Master product feed management and Google Merchant Center. Anyone can upload products. Very few know how to optimize product attributes, use supplemental feeds, and use feed rules to their advantage.
4. Master Standard Shopping vs PMax architectures. Anyone can “launch PMax.” Very few can control it.
5. Master P&Ls. Anyone can read Google Ads metrics. Very few consider unit economics, contribution margin vs gross margin, and cashflow management.
6. Master the art of scaling. Anyone can increase budgets and spend. Very few take these into account: inventory constraints, diminishing returns, and seasonal demand (Nordics can be extreme here).
(*) Notice the stress on the “my” part. Being very selective in what clients I take on makes it a lot easier to be “the best for my clients.”
– Nils
PS: Wednesday is ‘Ask Me Anything’ day. If you’ve got a question to which my answer would benefit a larger part of the community, send it my way, and I’ll try to answer it 🙂