I have used Google pay-per-click advertising in the past, sometimes with occasional success, but sometimes I’ve wasted a lot of money. Here’s the big problem I have with pay per click advertising in specific and internet advertising in general. You and your business are always going to be vulnerable to a bigger player coming in and buying up all the best words and space to blow you out of the water, even if they lose money doing it, just to gain market share. And these days, no matter how big you are, you never know when someone could be bigger that you are and could try to run you out of business. 10 years ago, Microsoft had never heard of Google. But what if Google and Apple merge and together try to out advertise, at a temporary loss, in order to take Microsoft down. Microsoft could be vulnerable.

I think the lesson for small businesses is that advertising dollars spent now often get a one-time payback, plus they breed an addiction to that new pipeline of business. If the pipeline shuts down or is shut off, you are in real trouble. I prefer to think of it in terms of resource allocation. Yes, $50 for a day’s worth of pay per click ads might generate $7500 in business for me. But that same $50 I could also use to produce a how-to video on public speaking that could be on YouTube and dozens of other video sites for the next 20 years and could perhaps generate hundreds or thousands of views and perhaps many clients. I have 50 or so videos I produced 4 years ago that to this day average about 400 (combined) views per day. Was this investment well worth it? Yes.

I think for the average small and mid-sized business owner, they are far better off creating content that is useful for their customers and prospects in video, audio or text format, than they are simply buying ads. Creating content creates long-term bonds and a positioning of expertise. Ads, create a short-term click.

The other problems with advertising is that it takes a great deals of time, focus and thought on the part of a business owner to truly master the intricacies of internet advertising. Yes, it can pay off handsomely for a few. But this is time that the owner could also be creating content that is of genuine use to that company’s clients and prospects. Long-term, I think the owner is better of creating content and building community and building relationships with clients and prospects. Advertising, even great advertising, doesn’t do that.