blog

Paid Advertising, or SEO? | Finmark Solutions

Finmark Solutions — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:23:45 GMT

"So I'm looking at my budget, some people are telling me to do SEO, some people are saying do paid advertising like Google Ads".. this is a common dilemma.

There are a few levels to this - and it all hinges around a few key questions:

What do you want to achieve?
What is your budget?
Is this for a business venture or personal hobby?

Key differences:

If you're looking for fast results, Google Ads can deliver, at a cost per click. Think "renting the billboard". Results within hours, but as soon as you stop paying it's off. Google Ads is also not the only paid ad platform out there (bing, Facebook etc), but just the most well known and used.
If you're looking for long term investment but with free cost per click, SEO (which means "search engine optimisation") is the thing for you. Think "buying the billboard", it takes higher upfront cost and time to pay off but once it's paid off it keeps ticking along delivering almost free results. Note - it's not free, it does take initial and continued investment of some sort to keep it highly ranked, because other competitors are always vying for the spot.

The most effective method for most businesses is a hybrid - a method best described as "Bullets then cannonballs" (a term borrowed from Jim Collins). I'll explain in a minute why the opposite is usually not good.

The reason this is effective is that most digital marketing campaigns are heavily reliant on a few very profitable keywords, and it's often hard to know what those keywords are when you start.

Google Ads is like tracer bullets, you can pay a couple of dollars a click, put up ads on your products and see which ones really take off, which ones get clicks, and which ones get conversions (sales). If you're like most businesses, you're after the sales, so you want to watch these keywords results, and find the highest performing ones. This process may take either days or months depending on your search volume (you need enough "statistical significance" to know it's a trend and not just a blip).
NOW you're ready for the big guns - the SEO. You've identified the top keywords you want to nail. Now you either DIY or outsource, but you put time and effort into building content and backlinks all around those high performance keywords. This will take months and thousands of dollars usually, but once you're ranked, every click is free, it's just the SEO maintenance cost ongoing.

So, why start with Ads? Because here's the opposite scenario:

You start off with some assumptions of which keywords are going to work,
Spend months and thousands of dollars to get them starting to rank, and then find that they're unprofitable (i.e. even though they get traffic they don't get the required sales).
This means you're back at square one, and not only that, you've got a site now ranked for the wrong things, which you'll have to work harder to change because Google has already begun to categorise your website in it's algorithms into a different set of keywords than you now want.

Here's broadly what this might look like for a business with a 3,000/month marketing budget and a digital consultant. Note - consultant fees can vary greatly and you often get what you pay for - if you're a big company and requiring professional assistance, don't be surprised at paying a lot more than this. Also sometimes if you spend a lot more upfront, you'll get faster feedback and therefore faster ROI.

Month 1: you pay 1,500 consultant fees to get the Ads campaigns setup. You spend $1,500 on ad spend (clicks) to test it out
Month 2: You've figured out which ad spend is working, and the right keywords. You spend $500 on ads (to keep the customer flow going), $1500 on the consultant to manage the ads and SEO campaign, and the remaining $1,000 into backlinks and content creation around the top keywords you've identified, along with potentially building up your Google My Business ranking, additional directory listings, and social media presence. You also ensure you've got analytics setup that are clearly showing you which channels (SEO/ADS) are bringing results.
Month 3: You do the same thing, and you wonder why it's not working because it feels so long!
Month 4: Google Ads is still the only thing you can see is working at the moment (which is also why it's important to keep going with it because it's bringing you sales in the short term).
Month 5: you start to see the rankings climb and start getting sales off organic listings.

Now, here's the point of decision: you've got SEO starting to work, do you turn off ads? The answer as usual, "it depends". If you're fully satisfied with the amount of organic traffic and sales, then possibly yes, you can carry on with free traffic. However there are a few points to consider:

Google is profit-focused, and continues to rank ads above organic results. This means there will always be traffic you'll miss that click on the top results.
Is the ad cost exorbitant or are you making a lot more money out of the product than what the ad spend is? Sounds silly but if you had a machine that you could put a dollar into and get two dollars out, how many times would you do it? As many as possible! So if it's working and growing your business, there may be no reason to ever stop, just carry on with both.
You may even want to consider carrying on ads just to test out new keywords - i.e. keep firing tracer bullets and finding the targets, and then feeding them into your SEO campaign later.

Ok, that that's the "what", and the "so what"!

Now, how about the "now what?"

If you're a hardcore DIY-er then you will want to check out the articles on this site as to how to learn to run Google Ads and how to perform SEO yourself.
If you're keen to do it yourself but need an initial guide, then contact Finmark for a strategy session to give you a personalised roadmap you can use to go and execute on.
If you want both the strategy and execution built and "done for you" as a whole package, contact Finmark for a success package, which combines a discovery session with an execution plan and also the implementation of it.

Example page of search showing Ads at the top & SEO results below.

How do I learn how to manage Google Ads? | Finmark Solutions

Finmark Solutions — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:23:44 GMT

How to Learn Google Ads Yourself (and Actually Get Good at It)

If you’ve ever thought, “I wish I could just learn Google Ads myself instead of paying an agency,” — good news: you can. It’s not as complicated as it seems, especially if you follow the right order and use the right resources.

Time investment? Estimate 10-20 hrs to grasp the basics. Then another 10-20 hrs to start getting comfortable. Then it can be a lifetime of improvement because it keeps improving & changing & adding new features; i.e. Google Shopping, Google Performance Max, Youtube Ads, Display Ads, etc.

Google Ads is powerful. Very powerful. Within minutes, you can have your ad in front of thousands of people. This is a ability that didn't exist until the internet age - but it has to be handled right to get results, it isn't just an automatic fix to your marketing.

The first thing you need to know about Google Ads (formerly called Adwords), is that it has an 'idiot tax'.

What does this mean? It means that if you setup the campaigns without optimising them, you can end up paying double than someone else for less results.. for example person #1 can be getting clicks for $5 each and getting 20 / day, where person #2 is paying $10/click and only getting 10 clicks a day. This is to do with a thing called "quality score" which means that Google ranks how you've setup campaigns / ad groups / ad text / landing pages / and tracks click - through - rate and conversion rate, to determine whether your offer is the best one, and if the setup & results of the other guy/gal is better, then Google will reward them with cheaper cost & more visibility because they're giving customer satisfaction, which is what Google's aiming for - it wants to ensure that users get a good & relevant experience.

So if you don't have the time to spend to get it right, keep in mind that sometimes it's better to pay an agency to do it for you because while you might be paying hundreds (or thousands) per month, they may be saving you that in ad spend if your campaigns aren't optimised. Just keep that in mind when doing your calculations.

Which is the second thing to note - relevancy is everything. If you are advertising what customers want, and customising all messaging around that, you'll do alright, but if it's of questionable value, Google will pick that up by the click-through-rate and the response, and downrank you. So ensure what you're advertising is relevant.

With all that said, if you are still keen to go ahead & learn Google Ads yourself - below is one path I recommend for anyone wanting to go from beginner to confident Google Ads manager. There are many other resources but this gives you a start, and you can find your own resources beyond these once started.

Step 1: Start with WordStream’s Free Guides

WordStream’s How to Run Google Ads

WordStream is hands-down the best place to start. Their guides break down how to set up your first campaign in plain English. You’ll get a quick understanding of how Google Ads actually works, including:

How the ad auction and bidding system really functions
What “Quality Score” means (and how it affects your costs)
Step-by-step setup for Search and Display campaigns

They also have a free “Google Ads Grader” tool, which you can connect to your own account. It automatically audits your setup and gives improvement tips — think of it like a digital coach that grades your campaigns and tells you where to focus first.

Pro tip: Don’t try to master everything. Focus on Search Ads first. Ignore Display, Video, and Performance Max until you understand keyword intent and ad copy basics.

Step 2: Read the 80/20 Guide to Google Ads

The Ultimate Guide to Google Ads by Perry Marshall

The guide to Google Ads for small business owners and marketers who want to think strategically about their marketing & also find ways to maximise ROI quickly. Perry Marshall teaches the 80/20 principle in all of his training, meaning that, for example, 80% of your results will come from 20% of your keywords and campaigns, and how to use this principle to drill down & quickly identify the key levers to pull and not waste time getting results.

This book helps you:

Focus on profitable niches instead of wasting money on broad traffic
Build systems for testing, measuring, and scaling ads
Understand why your competitors are winning and how to out-position them

It’s practical, not academic. You’ll learn to think like a strategist instead of a technician.

Step 3: Level Up with Advanced Automation (Optional)

Mike Rhodes’ 80/20 Agency & AI Training

Once you’ve got your first few campaigns running and can read a Search Terms Report without sweating, you’ll eventually hit a ceiling, and that’s where Mike Rhodes comes in.

He’s one of the top Google Ads minds globally, co-author of Perry Marshall’s later editions, and a master of automation, scripting, and AI integration. His teaching is next-level — ideal if you want to manage large budgets or build automation to handle repetitive optimization tasks.

Note: This is not beginner-friendly. It’s more for when you’re comfortable with Google Ads basics and want to go deeper into performance optimization.

Step 4: Practice > Perfection

You’ll learn faster by running small experiments:

Start with $10–$20/day and test different keyword match types (Exact, Phrase, Broad).
Write multiple ad versions and let Google’s algorithm pick the winner.
Check your Search Terms Report weekly — it’s the single most valuable learning tool.

Document what works. Keep a “Google Ads Journal” where you note:

Which keywords convert
Which ads get high CTR
What negative keywords you’ve added

You’ll quickly start to see patterns.

Bonus: Tools & Resources Worth Using

Category	Tool	Purpose
Learning	Google Skillshop	Free official certification courses
Research	Keywords Everywhere	Keyword data right inside Google search
Optimization	WordStream Grader	Instant audit and tips
Tracking	UTM.io	Clean campaign URL tracking
Automation	8020 Agent	AI-based ad optimization and automation

Final Thoughts

Can't stress this one enough - ROI, ROI, ROI - track it & keep it top of mind. The cool thing about Google Ads is that you can track results much easier than most other marketing channels. Use that to full advantage, and ensure that every dollar you send out is coming back with friends.. if that isn't happening, then use all resources to hand - quality score improvements, bidding management, or tweak your landing page or offer until it does.

For this reason, the best Google Ads experts usually started off learning 'on their own dime' which meant they had skin in the game and felt the impact personally when it didn't work. If you're on someone else's dime, respect that & treat it like it's your own money you're spending - it must return results or don't do it.

Synup Review | Finmark Solutions

Finmark Solutions — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:23:25 GMT

Synup Review – Local SEO Listings Management Tool

Synup is a local SEO and listings management platform for agencies that combines listings, reviews, social, SEO, and agency-operating features in one system.

To try this tool yourself, visit this link: https://www.synup.com/en

Best used for

Agencies managing business listings for multiple client locations.
Agencies that want review management alongside listings management.
Teams needing bulk listing edits, duplicate suppression, and directory distribution.
Agencies that want local rank tracking and visibility benchmarking built into the same platform.
Agencies wanting a broader operating layer around client work, such as pipeline, tasks, proposals, payments, and churn forecasting.

Not ideal for

A single-location business that only needs a very lightweight listing tool.
Businesses looking purely for a general SEO platform focused on backlinks, technical site audits, and broad keyword research.
Companies wanting a simple DIY local listing tool without the added agency-operating layer.

Those points are an inference from Synup’s positioning toward agencies, client accounts, team members, and location-based add-ons, rather than a direct statement from Synup.

Typically used by

SEO agencies
Web design agencies
Advertising agencies
Web hosts and domain providers offering marketing services
Franchise and multi-location marketing operators
Resellers / local marketing partners such as media, directory, telecom, or SaaS-related providers.

Key features

Listings management across 75+ directories.
Bulk connect and bulk edit listing functionality.
Automated indexing of published listings.
Duplicate suppression for listings.
Review management for client locations.
AI local posting and bulk local posting access.
Campaigns and profile automations.
Monthly keyword rank tracking and visibility benchmarking / share of voice views.
Agency OS functions such as leads, sales pipeline, tasks, activities, proposals, payments, invoicing, e-sign, and client summaries.
White-label and client portal capabilities.

Pricing

Synup’s pricing page currently shows an agency OS structure plus product add-ons. Pricing can change, so check Synup directly before publishing or making decisions.

Synup OS plans

Startup: $79/month billed annually or $99/month billed monthly. Includes up to 5 team members, up to 25 client accounts, up to 50 client users, listings management for 25 locations, and review management for 25 locations.
Agency: $199/month billed annually or $249/month billed monthly. Includes up to 10 team members, up to 100 client accounts, unlimited client users, listings management for 100 locations, and review management for 100 locations.
Scale: $799/month billed annually or $999/month billed monthly.

Listings add-on

Listings Pro: $35/location/month. Synup describes this as an add-on to Synup OS plans and includes listing on 75+ directories, bulk connect/edit, automated indexing, duplicate suppression, bulk local posting, AI local posting, profile automations, campaigns, and monthly tracking for 10 keywords.

Other pricing notes

Synup also lists additional client accounts at $1.50 per month on the pricing page.

Pros and cons

Pros

Clear support for multi-location listings and reviews.
Strong fit for agencies because it combines client operations and local marketing delivery in one platform.
Includes bulk listing workflows, duplicate suppression, and directory distribution.
Has published pricing, which is better than platforms that force all buyers into sales-led quoting.
Includes white-label and client portal options.

Cons

The structure is more agency-centric than small-business-centric.
Core functionality may require understanding both the OS plan and add-on pricing, which is not as simple as a single flat plan.
Buyers looking for a pure all-round SEO suite may still need to compare it with broader SEO platforms. This is an inference based on Synup’s positioning around local presence, listings, reviews, social, and local SEO workflows.

Alternatives:

BrightLocal
Yext
Moz Local
Semrush Listing Management
Whitespark

Bottom line

Synup is best suited to agencies and multi-location local marketing operators that want listings, reviews, local visibility tools, and agency workflow features in one platform, rather than just a simple single-location listings tool.

Start writing here...