I’m going to say it right now – Facebook Ads are not effective. In fact, this time next year, you’ll see people using less of them and going back to adwords. I know I’m going against the grain here – but because there are 500 million registered users on the Social Networking Website, doesn’t mean your going to get a lot of conversions.

Here’s the deal. When people sign onto Facebook, what do the usually do? They write junk on their walls and upload videos and pictures of their kids that people really don’t care about. It’s like a brag fest. I really think it’s one of the biggest waste of time when it comes to general use.

People do not use FB as a search tool. A stalker may search for someone where he can keep an eye on – but that’s about the only search there is. Maybe I’m being to harsh, but dag gone it, this really isn’t a effective SEO tool – at least when it comes to advertisement.

Case in point. I’ve done Facebook ads for two clients so far because they really wanted to go that route. I did tell them that people usually go their to socialize, not search for products. They disagreed and off we spent money on advertisement. I spent a while learning how to “play the FB advertisement game”, and did get a steady stream of traffic in. However, there were no conversions.

I’m not saying that everyone that advertises on FB will fail. There are some success stories. However, for the majority, they are not hitting pay dirt.

I’m also reading about a lot of people are trying to break the 1% CTR. Are you kidding me? I have to admit – we’re not coming close to the 1% mark as well. However, I did hear about a couple people getting 2% to 3% CTR – ooooooohhhhhh!

Look, the reason why people are advertising on Facebook is because of two reasons: One, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than Adwords. Two: There’s a lot of people using Facebook. However, to me, that doesn’t mean jack squat. You go to any SEO forum and ask people how they are doing with their FB ads – I will pretty much guarantee you that there aren’t that many success stories.

So what should you do if you want to pay for your traffic? My humble opinion – stick with Adwords. It’s more expensive, but at least people are on Google for one thing…to search – not to upload pictures of their vacations. Gimme a break.