Google AdWords Tips For Beginners | Google AdWords Strategy, Setup, Basics

I'll go over some Google AdWords basics as a little refresher for beginners, then we'll get into a little more strategy and go over some important tips.

OK, picture the results page that you see after you search for a keyword in Google's search engine. What you see is two columns; one wide column in the middle of the page and one narrow column on the right side of the page.

The column on the right contains Google AdWords. AdWords is Googles version of pay-per-click advertising. You bid on keywords for your ad, Google places your on search results pages, you pay when people click on your ad. You are essentially paying Google to drive web surfers to your business.

The column in the middle of the page is mostly "organic search results". You can advertise here for free with e-zine articles, press releases, and SEO, but that is another topic.

Also, note that your AdWords impressions will not only display on Google search results pages, but also on Google's partner sites which include AOL, Blogger, Earthlink, and HowStuffWorks. Google calls this "search network" advertising.

Your ads can also show up on websites that are not partners with Google. This is called the "contextual advertising" or "content targeted AdWords".

As a marketer, your "contextual targeted AdWords" will show up on websites that have AdSense on them. Websites owners can use Google AdSense to place relevant contextual advertisement on their site.

AdSense - for the website owner to make money via clicks from web surfers on their website.

AdWords - for marketers to promote a website.

If this difference between AdWords (for advertisers) and AdSense (for website owners) is unclear, then check out my article AdSense versus AdWords.

If you're a beginner, then you might be wondering "What are benefits of using AdWords?" Google AdWords can provide massive exposure for your product, service, or opportunity. How else can you get your product in
front of people all over the world?

It also provides targeted marketing. You can advertise only to people who might be interested in your product or service. They type in a keyword and press "search", then your ad shows up. It's like you're reading their minds. This targeted marketing is good for you, because you won't be wasting money advertising to people who aren't interested in what you have to offer.

Another benefit is the quick results. Within 15 minutes you could be getting feedback. Quick feedback is really good when you're split testing several ads. Which brings me to another benefit of Google AdWords -

It's easy to split test. In seconds you can create a different [but similar] advertisement. The ads alternate, so you can see what works and what doesn't. Keep the ads that work; stop the ones that don't work. Then, find out why the good ads work and try making hybrids of the working ads to make an ad that really works well. When I say "the ads that work", I'm talking about statistics. With Google AdWords, you can track things like how many people looked at your ad, how many people clicked, and how many people entered your marketing pipeline.

There are tons of great reasons to use AdWords, but there are also some things you need to watch out for.

First, is the "Google Slap". Google will jack up the price [possibly out of your price range, so your ad won't be displayed] if your ads are not relevant to the keywords. So, here's a "tip", make sure you give people what they are looking for.

Another issue to contend with is some niches too competitive or pricey for beginner AdWords users. Try getting an ad for the keyword "AdWords"... it's prices have been bid up. One way around this is to advertise to a smaller niche, like "Beginner AdWords Guide" or the phrase "AdWords Guide for Beginners ". I'll talk more about this in the tips section.

Another downside is the meticulous attention you must pay to ads when you are testing to make sure you didn't make a mistake that would cause your ad to not get any impressions.

Also, there is a fairly steep learning curve, so without a guide and some tips, you could end up wasting your time and money.

The only other potential negative to using Google AdWords is the limited space in the ad... but that's what makes it a fun challenge!

Check out this website "5 Days to Success with Google AdWords" to make sure you avoid making costly mistakes.

Now that we've covered the basics, learned how AdWords can help your business, and learned about some potential challenges, let me guide you through my simple strategy.

First, set a weekly budget and stick to it. Don't get in a bidding war for the top spot with your competitors. It might be best to settle for a lower position (at a cheaper price per impression) and wait for your click-through rate to move you up in the list of ads. Oh, I almost forgot - your ad's position is roughly calculated by max-bid-price times the ads click-through-rate. As you can see, increasing click-through-rate (by having interesting and relevant ads) will increase the ad's position as determined by Google's formula. OK, glad we got that out of the way. No more math from here on out, I promise.

Second, decide where you want your ads to show up geographically. Do you want your impression to show up on people's computers locally, in your state, nationally, world wide?

Third, decide on your market or niche. One way to find your niche is to ask yourself, "Who is my ideal customer?" or "Who is my ideal prospect?". Another way to decide on your niche is to do keyword research. You may not be able to compete for a broad keyword like "real estate", so have to do some keyword research to find your niche... Like "real estate license".

How do you find out what keywords you should bid on and use in your ads? Well, you need to look at the number of searches there are for each keyword. Then find out how competitive they are and how much they cost.

There are free keyword tools out there that will do this for you. I like Digital Point's Keyword Suggestion Tool and Google AdWords' Keyword Tool".

Bookmark these pages, then come back to finish this article.

Your goal, when doing keyword research, is to find targeted keywords that have low completion. This helps you in two ways. One, targeted keywords filter out people who aren't interested in your product or service, so you won't be wasting time or money. Two, targeted keywords are generally cheaper.

Tip 1 Be Relevant - Don't try to advertise a new diet pill to people who are searching for pet supplies. Google will "slap" you with a huge cost per impression. Stay focused on your niche. This will add more value to your customers, so Google will like your ad. Google rewards relevancy.

Tip 2 Use Targeted Keywords - More specific keywords have low traffic, but also have a lower cost and lower competition.

Tip 3 Use Negative Keywords - If you are selling a travel guide, then you might want filter out people looking for "free travel guide".

Tip 4 Put the keyword in the Display URL - That way, Google will put more of your ad in bold when it is displayed on the results page.

Tip 5 Put the keyword in your Title - More of your ad will be in bold and you'll show more relevancy

Tip 6 Pick an attractive Display URL - Which looks better www.AdWords-Guide-URL.com/keword or www.AdWords-Guide-URL.com/pagename=obviouslyAnAffiliateLink44549977201743284792834528745 you don't have to use the URL that you want to drive traffic to.

Tip 7 Study your Competitors - Watch your competitor's ads and see which ones are around the longest. Chances are, the ones that work well will be used for a long time.

Tip 8 Split Test - Weed out the losers, run with the winners. Also, learn why the winners work and use that to build even better ads

Tip 9 Set A Budget - So you don't spend all your advertising dollars in 10 days on ads that don't work

(If you like these tips, please rate my lens. Thanks a bunch!)

There is a lot of information you must to learn to succeed in Adwords and I can't fit it all in this one article.

But, you can learn a lot more from Perry Marshall's free 5-day course. I've checked it out... it's good stuff.

It's not just some crappy sales pitch, Perry actually gives away a bunch of valuable information that will help your business move forward (just like I've tried to do with this article).

Also, his course has some excellent examples you can use as a model for your advertisements.

It's a free 5 day course called "5 Days to Success with Google AdWords".

It's definitely worth checking out.

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I hope these Google Adwords Tips were helpful.

Type [ctrl]+b to bookmark this Google Adwords Guide for Beginners.