Stop blaming yourself for a "Black Box" you didn’t build.
Everyone in marketing wants your money.
The platform profits when you waste money. The agency profits when you spend it. You are the only one incentivized to save it.
I wrote this blog to expose the "Black Box" and show you how to protect your business. I don't sell management. I sell the solution you need to stop losing money on ads.
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PPC Coach: Learn Google Ads with Protective PPC™ (Without Paying a Forever Retainer)
Stop Paying a Forever Retainer. Most business owners think they only have two choices: struggle with Google Ads alone or hand over a massive monthly check to an agency. I’m showing you a third way. In this post, I break down the Protective PPC™ approach—how I coach you to own your account, stop the "Automation Tax," and build a profitable system you actually understand. No black boxes, just results.
Why You Need a Google Ads Account (Even If You Aren't Running Ads Yet)
Confusion is a billable hour." The ad industry profits when you feel too intimidated to touch your own Google Ads account. But you don't need a budget to start building an asset. Here is the strategic reason why you need to install your pixel today to start banking data for free.
The Death of the Discount: Why "Value-First" is the Only Way to Scale PPC in 2026
Are your sales actually hurting your business? In 2026, constant promotions don’t boost revenue like they used to. Instead sales erode margins, train the algorithm to chase bargain hunters, and destabilize your entire PPC account. This article breaks down the cost of over‑discounting and shows why shifting to value‑first messaging is now the sustainable way to grow.
Google Ads for Therapists: Why Your Ads Are Losing Money (and How to Fill Your Caseload)
Most therapy ads fail because of a system misalignment—but how do you actually fix it? In this tactical breakdown, we dive into the "Diagnostic Math" of your account. From escaping the expensive "Broad Match Trap" to fixing the common "Psychology Today" messaging mistake, these three strategic shifts will help you stop subsidizing Google’s profits and start filling your caseload with high-intent clients.
The "Big Therapy" Problem: Why Ohio Practitioners are Being Priced Out of Their Own Communities
Multi-billion-dollar aggregators are buying up the digital ad real estate in Central Ohio and selling your own leads back to you. It's time to stop paying the "Aggregator Tax." Learn how local therapists in Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland are using Protective PPC™ to reclaim their caseloads and fight back against Big Therapy.
AI Isn’t the Disruptor. The Platforms Are.
AI isn’t disrupting advertising — the platforms are. Microsoft and Google’s new AI agents are collapsing the funnel, taking over the decision layer, and redefining who even qualifies to compete. If you’re not designing your signals intentionally, you’re already behind.
Reddit Max Campaigns: Another Ad Platform Moving to Automated Campaigns
Reddit just launched Max campaigns — but behind the cheaper CPCs and shiny automation is a deeper risk most advertisers won’t see. Here’s how Reddit’s community‑driven signals can over‑index, distort performance, and quietly mislead small businesses in 2026.
Platform Behavior Hub: Protecting Small Business Ads from Automation Drift
This is a content hub that supports my posts that breakdown how major platforms behave — Google, Bing, Meta, Reddit, and more — and why small businesses feel rising ad costs and unpredictable automation. Learn the platform behavior patterns shaping paid ads so you can make safer decisions before you spend.
Is Your Google Ads Account Underperforming? Here’s When a PPC Coach Becomes a Smart Investment
If your Google Ads campaigns feel unpredictable, expensive, or confusing, you’re not alone. After 17 years auditing PPC accounts, I see the same issues over and over: wasted spend, bad tracking, and the wrong bidding strategy. Here’s how a PPC coach helps you fix what’s broken and finally get consistent, high‑quality leads.
The Rule of 100 Clicks: Why Your Google Ads Team Must Resist Impatience
Everyone feels the pressure to "fix it now" when they see a keyword with high spend and zero conversions. But I'll be direct: that urge is the single biggest destroyer of profitability in premium paid search accounts, whether you're selling software or generating qualified B2B leads.
Making a decision to pause or change a keyword after just 20 or 30 clicks is an act of emotion, not optimization. You're actively sabotaging the machine learning algorithm you paid Google to run. The solution is the Rule of 100 Clicks—a non-negotiable threshold that forces you to wait for actual, significant data.
You have to trust the process.