Resources
Everything we have written about running ads — what the words mean, how to set it up, how the platforms compare, and what it actually costs.
ROAS, CPC, Performance Max — each defined in a sentence.
Open the glossarySide-by-side on what each one lets you control.
Compare platformsReal numbers from accounts we run, with sample sizes.
See the numbersClick-by-click walkthroughs, nothing assumed.
Start a guideGuides
Step-by-step walkthroughs — exactly where to click, nothing to guess.
Ad Creative: What the Data Actually Says
Targeting used to be the lever. The platforms took it back, and what is left in your control is the ad itself. Here is what the evidence says about making one — including the 4 famous numbers that fall apart the moment you look for the source.
Grant Google Ads Access in 2 Minutes
Read the guideGrant Meta Business Manager Access
Read the guide43 Static Ad Formats and What Each Does
Read the guideAd Creative Testing: Volume, Win Rates and Fatigue
Read the guideAd Hooks: What Actually Holds Attention
Read the guideHow to Advertise on ChatGPT, Step by Step
Read the guideAI Ad Creative: Adoption, Measured Lift, and What Consumers Say
Read the guideB2B Ad Creative: The Largest Measured Quality Gap in Advertising
Read the guideChatGPT Ads: Restricted-Category Approval
Read the guideWho Can't Advertise on ChatGPT Yet
Read the guide10 ChatGPT Prompts for Google Ads
Read the guideClaude Connectors for Ads: What Claude Can Read and Change
Read the guideGoogle Ads Changes in 2026: What's New and What Works
Read the guideHiring a Google Ads Freelancer: Rates and Red Flags
Read the guideGoogle Ads Clicks but No Conversions: What to Check
Read the guideWhy Your Google Ads Aren't Working: 5 Checks in Order
Read the guideHow to Connect Microsoft Ads to Bytown in 4 Steps
Read the guideMarketing Agency for Small Business: 2026 Costs
Read the guideMeta Muse AI Agent and Your Ads: What It Can Do
Read the guideMicrosoft Ads for Small Business: Is It Worth Testing?
Read the guideUser-Generated Content and Creator Ads: The Data
Read the guideWhy Creative Is the New Targeting
Read the guideComparisons
Head-to-head on the decisions that actually cost money: what each platform lets you control, and what it costs.
ChatGPT Ads vs Google Ads: First $500
Google sells you a keyword. ChatGPT sells you a conversation. A field-by-field comparison of what you can control, what a click costs, what you can measure — and where an SMB's first $500 should actually go.
Read the comparisonAgency vs Freelancer vs AI Tool vs DIY: Who Runs Your Ads
4 ways to run your ads, compared on what they cost in 2026, who does the work and who owns the account. For a business spending $500 to $3,000 a month, my answer is an AI tool with a human checking the big decisions. Here's why, with 5 real switches and what happened to their numbers.
Read the comparisonMicrosoft Ads vs Google Ads (Bing Ads) for Small Business
Microsoft Ads (formerly Bing Ads) is the search channel most small businesses forget. Here's how it compares with Google Ads on cost per click and cost per lead, what the published benchmarks really measure, the 30-day test I run, and when to skip Microsoft entirely.
Read the comparisonOfficial Ads MCP Servers vs Bytown MCP (2026)
Every major ad platform except LinkedIn now has an MCP server, and they differ on the one question that matters to an owner: can the AI only read your account, or can it change and delete things too? A platform-by-platform table, with dates and sources.
Read the comparisonBenchmarks
Real cost data from the accounts we run, by vertical, with the sample size printed next to every figure.
What ChatGPT Ads Cost: CPC and CPA
Everyone quotes OpenAI's recommended $3–5 bid as though it were a cost. It is a ceiling. These are the numbers we actually pay, by vertical, with the sample sizes attached.
See the numbersHow Bytown Benchmarks Are Built
Every number Bytown publishes traces to a named source, a stated window, and a committed query or script. This page is the contract — what we measure, how we aggregate it, what we refuse to publish, and what happens when something changes.
See the numbersMicrosoft Ads Benchmarks: CPC and Cost per Lead
Every guide says Microsoft Ads is cheaper than Google. Per click, my numbers agree. Per lead, it's a coin toss, and the reason is conversion rate.
See the numbersUS Brands Advertising Most in Europe
Google publishes every ad served in the EU, and over half a million of the advertisers behind them are American or Canadian companies. Nobody had ranked them. This is the leaderboard — who runs the most ads in Europe, in which categories, updated monthly with open data.
See the numbersBest of
Tools, connectors and agencies ranked by a method printed on the page — including where Bytown loses.
Platform deep dives
Everything an owner needs on one ad platform, in one page.
ChatGPT Ads for Small Business
What ChatGPT Ads actually cost, who can buy them, what you can target, and how to run them with the same discipline as search.
Read the guideAd examples
Real ads from public ad libraries, by industry — how long each ran, why it works, and a prompt to recreate it.
Glossary
Every paid-ads term an owner actually meets, defined in plain English by someone who ran the campaigns.
The Bytown Advertising Glossary
ROAS, CPC, retargeting, Performance Max, ChatGPT Ads — each one answered in a sentence before the detail starts.
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Describe your business. Bytown drafts the campaign for Google, Meta, LinkedIn, Microsoft and ChatGPT, and you approve every one before a dollar moves.
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