Paid advertising · FAQ
Paid advertising questions, answered.
The questions business owners actually ask before spending on ads — what PPC is, Meta versus Google, what ROAS really means, how to budget, why ads underperform, and what management costs. Short, honest answers, no jargon.
Paid advertising basics
What is paid advertising (PPC)?
Paid advertising is buying placement in front of people who are searching for or likely to want what you sell, instead of waiting to be found organically. PPC — pay-per-click — is the most common model: you only pay when someone clicks your ad, and you bid against other advertisers for that click. It covers search ads, social feed ads, video, and display, and the appeal is speed: you can be in front of buyers today rather than waiting months for SEO to compound.
What's the difference between Meta ads (Facebook/Instagram) and Google ads?
Google ads catch demand that already exists; Meta ads create it. On Google, someone types what they want and your ad answers that search, so intent is high and you're capturing people already looking to buy. On Meta (Facebook and Instagram), people aren't searching — they're scrolling — so your ad has to interrupt the feed and make them want something they weren't actively hunting for. That makes Google strong for high-intent, search-driven demand and Meta strong for visual products, discovery, and building an audience from scratch. The right one depends on whether people already search for what you sell.
What is ROAS, and what counts as a good ROAS?
ROAS — return on ad spend — is the revenue you earn for every dollar you put into ads, so 3x ROAS means three dollars back for every one spent. What counts as good depends entirely on your margins: a business with thin margins might need a high ROAS just to break even, while a high-margin business can profit at a lower one. There's no universal good number. And one honest caveat: the ROAS your ad dashboard reports is often inflated by view-through attribution, where it credits sales to people who merely saw an ad but didn't click — so always check it against your real revenue before trusting it.
What's the difference between SEO and paid advertising?
SEO earns traffic over time for free; paid advertising buys traffic instantly for a fee. With SEO you invest in content and your site, and rankings compound for months or years after — but it's slow to start. With paid ads you pay for each visitor and the traffic stops the moment you stop spending — but it works the same day you turn it on. The smart play for most businesses is using paid ads to get results now while SEO builds the durable, lower-cost foundation underneath.
Budget, results & creative
How much should I budget for ads to start?
It honestly depends — there's no universal starting number, because the right budget is set by your market and your goals, not by a rule of thumb. In a competitive market or a high-priced niche, clicks cost more and you need more budget to gather enough data to learn what works; in a cheaper or local market you can learn for far less. The goal early on isn't profit — it's buying enough data to find what converts. I'd rather scope a realistic starting budget around your actual goals than quote you a number that doesn't fit your situation.
How do I know if my ads are actually profitable?
Measure ad spend against real revenue in your own books, not the ROAS your ad dashboard shows. Ad platforms often inflate results through view-through attribution — they take credit for sales from people who only saw an ad and never clicked, which makes the dashboard look better than reality. The honest test is to compare what you actually spent against the revenue you can trace back to it in your store or CRM. If the dashboard and your real numbers disagree, trust your real numbers.
Why aren't my Facebook or Instagram ads working?
Usually it's the creative, the offer, or the targeting — not the platform. On Meta, the ad has to stop a scroll and make a clear, compelling promise, so weak creative or a vague offer is the most common reason ads stall. Other frequent culprits: targeting that's too broad or too narrow, a landing page that doesn't match the ad, or pulling the plug before the campaign has enough data to learn. The fix is to isolate one variable at a time — usually starting with the creative and the offer — rather than changing everything at once.
How fast will I see results from paid ads?
You'll see traffic the same day you turn ads on, but reliable, profitable results take longer. The platform needs to gather enough data to learn who converts before performance settles, so the first stretch is mostly learning, not optimizing. Clicks and early signals come fast; a campaign you can trust the numbers on takes weeks of testing creative, audiences, and offers. Anyone promising guaranteed profitable results on day one isn't being straight with you.
Do you make the ad creative too?
Yes — I make both static and video ad creative. Creative is usually the single biggest driver of whether an ad works, especially on Meta, so I don't just manage the campaigns and leave you to source the visuals. I produce the images, the video, and the copy as part of the work, and we test variations to find what actually stops the scroll and converts.
Cost & getting started
What platforms do you run ads on?
I focus on Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Google, because those two cover the demand-capture and demand-creation sides for most businesses. Google catches people already searching for what you sell, and Meta puts you in front of people while they scroll, which fits visual products and discovery. Which one — or which mix — makes sense depends on whether people already search for what you offer, and that's something we scope together rather than defaulting to running everywhere at once.
How much does ad management cost?
Management is scoped and priced up front around your goals, separate from the ad spend that goes to the platforms. There are no open-ended retainers or surprise invoices — we agree on the scope before anything starts. And the promise is simple: if I don't deliver, you don't pay.
How do I get started?
Start by telling me what you sell and what a new customer is worth to you, then email luke@crewsive.com. We'll figure out whether Meta, Google, or both fit your goals, scope a realistic starting budget, and plan the creative — so the first campaign is built around your real numbers, not a generic template.
Still have a question?
Tell me what you sell and what a customer is worth to you. I'll tell you straight whether paid ads are a good fit — and we'll scope a first campaign built around your real numbers.
or email luke@crewsive.com
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