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A Guide to AdWords
by: Chris Rivers
If you're a regular internet user,
you have undoubtedly used Google recently. And why wouldn't
you? It's a great service. It'll find what you're looking
for faster and more accurately than anyone else. Of
course, Google is a publicly traded company that needs
to make a profit and in the process of commercializing
their technology, the company has created one of the
most consistent revenue streams for webmasters today,
AdSense.
AdWords is a pay per click program in which ads are
targeted to search results and website content with
advertisers paying for each click received. Where your
ad appears depends on how much you bid on certain keywords
and how relevant the ad is to the search. In contrast
to other types of affiliate programs, you do not pay
a percentage of the sale you make, but pay a few cents
(the minimum is five) for every visitor sent to your
site.
This approach has several advantages. First, using
the same technology that drives Google's search results
to deliver your ad results in your message appearing
to only the most interested potential customers. Also,
instead of having to recruit affiliates, your ads begin
appearing immediately across Google search results and
its network of AdSense publishers.
The key to success with this program is to be as specific
as possible. Once you are logged in to your AdWords
account, you can see estimates of the number of clicks
that certain keyword combinations will bring. There
are two benefits to being specific. One, The more you
give Google to work with, the better targeted your ads
will be, and therefore the more successful. The other
benefit is that general keywords (for example, hosting)
receive more bids and therefore cost more than more
detailed phrases (Linux web hosting 30GB bandwidth /
mo). Use this to set up a small budget to test the program
and learn what works for your specific site. Be sure
to take advantage of the free statistics Google offers
to perfect your campaign.
Of course, even if you don't have a site you can still
take advantage of this program to make money. One common
technique is to sign up as an Amazon Associate (their
free affiliate program) and make ads on AdWords using
their links as the destination. Essentially, you are
paying a few cents for every click you send to Amazon,
but are receiving a percentage of every purchase made
on the site. Moreover, you can use Amazon's ad copy
and product titles to make your ad. If done correctly,
this alone can be a successful business.
There is a lot more to explore and experiment with,
remember: advertising is an art, not a science, but
by now you should have a general idea of how AdWords
works. Good luck!
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