If you’ve ever tried Google ads, spent money, seen nothing happen, and sworn them off forever — you are not alone. And according to paid marketing expert Zaid Ammari, the problem usually isn’t the platform. It’s the plan.
Zaid is the founder of PPC Masterminds and one of the first people to ever create a retargeting course online. He joined me on Gratitude Geek to break down what actually works in paid digital marketing — and what quietly drains your budget while your Google rep smiles and suggests you increase your spend.
Key Takeaways:
- Google ads aren’t inherently expensive — but going in without a budget plan makes them that way
- Retargeting is the most underused and most affordable paid marketing strategy available
- If you’re selling products under $100, paid ads may not be your best first move
- Committing to at least 6 months gives any strategy — ads, SEO, or organic social — a real chance to work
- Higher pricing can signal higher quality and actually increase sales
1. Know What Google Ads Actually Cost Before You Start
Before you spend a single dollar, Zaid recommends running an estimate first. You need to know your average sale value, your estimated cost per click (which you can get from Google for free), and a rough close rate for leads. From there, you can build a realistic picture of what you’d need to spend to get one sale.
Zaid has a free PPC calculator on his site at ppcmastermind.com where you can plug in those numbers. If the math doesn’t work — if your product sells for under $100 and your cost per click is high — that’s important information. Better to find out before you spend than after.
“Figure out how much you make from a sale first. Then you can estimate how much you need to spend to get there.” — Zaid Ammari
2. Your Google Rep Is Not Your Budget Advisor
This one stings a little, but it’s worth knowing: Google reps are incentivized to help Google, not your bottom line. Their most common recommendation? Increase your budget.
That doesn’t mean they’re useless — but go into those conversations with your numbers already in hand. Know your acceptable cost per acquisition before anyone suggests you scale up. You’re the one who has to sleep at night with that ad spend, and Zaid was clear: your budget should not give you nightmares.
3. Commit to a Minimum of 6 Months — Whatever You Choose
This applies to Google ads, Facebook ads, SEO, Pinterest, organic social — everything. The businesses Zaid sees fail most often are the ones that start, hit a rough patch at month two, and pull the plug. Then they spend years telling people “Google ads don’t work.”
Six months isn’t an arbitrary number. It’s the minimum amount of time a strategy needs to gather data, stabilize, and give you something meaningful to learn from. If you’re not prepared to commit to six months of a strategy, Zaid’s advice is simple: wait until you are.
4. Install Your Tracking Pixels Now — Even If You’re Not Running Ads Yet
Here’s something most people skip when they’re just getting started: install the Facebook pixel and Google Ads tracking code on your website before you ever run a single ad.
Why? Because those pixels are quietly collecting data on everyone who visits your site. On Google, you need a minimum of 1,000 users before you can run retargeting. The sooner you start building that list, the sooner retargeting becomes available to you. It costs nothing to install. There is zero reason to wait.
5. Retargeting Is the Most Underused Tool in Paid Advertising
If you’ve ever visited a website, looked at a product, and then seen that exact product follow you around the internet for two weeks — that’s retargeting. And according to Zaid, it is the single cheapest, most effective paid marketing strategy available to small business owners.
Here’s the psychology behind it: most people don’t click the retargeting ad. They see it, and then they go directly to your website or search your brand name. Either way, they come back — and you barely paid for it. Start with the simplest version: anyone who came to your site but didn’t buy, and anyone who added something to their cart but didn’t check out. Those two lists alone can make a real difference.
6. For Products Under $100, Organic Traffic Is Your Friend
Paid ads have a real floor. When you factor in cost per click, your time analyzing data, shipping, and platform fees, selling low-ticket products through paid ads often means you break even at best. Zaid was honest about this: if your product is under $100, paid ads are probably not your most efficient starting point.
What works better? Organic social, Pinterest, SEO — and uploading your products to Google Shopping, which has a free tab where products can appear without any ad spend. It’s not instant, but it’s sustainable and it doesn’t require a monthly budget that keeps you up at night.
7. Price Reflects Value — Don’t Underprice Your Way Into a Corner
Zaid told a great story about this. He was the first person to ever create a retargeting course online, and he priced it higher than competing courses that came after it. Result? He outsold the cheaper ones.
The lesson isn’t “charge more for the sake of it.” It’s that price communicates quality. If your price is too low, potential customers may assume your product or service isn’t worth their time. And if you underprice and then land more orders than you can fill — like the furniture company story from this episode — you end up canceling orders and returning money. Know your true cost of production. Price from there, not from fear.
Zaid Ammari is the founder of PPC Masterminds and creator of one of the first retargeting courses available online. Connect with him at ppcmastermind.com.
Stay Groovy!
PS – If you’re a Gen X woman building a sustainable solopreneur business — without the hustle, without the overwhelm — you’ll fit right in around here. Come hang out in the Gratitude Geek Lab where we experiment together, in real time, with real budgets and real lives. Learn more about the Gratitude Geek Lab
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