Understanding Google Adwords

Adwords is coined from the phrase 'advertising keyword'. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Alta Vista and many others use the accessibility of the Internet to provide companies with a medium by which they can advertise to a specific target market.

Google adwords give companies a cheap yet effective way to advertise the products and services that they offer. One advantage is that, instead of making it a "hit or miss" campaign, this advertising strategy actually targets a specific audience.

Take the following as an example. Jeff, an 11-year-old student in the United States, is surfing the Internet for related articles about a science project so he would go to www.google.com.

Upon typing in the keyword 'science project' and pressing Enter, Jeff would see a list of search results on the left side. On the other side. he would see a list of 'sponsored links' which are related to the topic that he is researching about.

The sponsored links are actually the adwords which are offered by Google, and if you are an advertiser and you get this service from them, then you would have to pay Google based on the number of clicks that the link gets.

Once Jeff sees a particular link that he is interested in, it will lead him to a company's web site. The beauty of the Internet is instant access.

Once Jeff finds out a particular web site where there are a lot of helpful hints, links, and articles that can be useful for his school assignment, then he can easily give out the web site to his friends.

This would create more hits to your web site, increase traffic, create more leads and finally result to more sales.

The benefits of Google Adwords to Advertisers

With adwords in a search engine such as Google, you can enjoy the following benefits:

1. you can control your company's advertising costs by having a set budget

2. you can create your own advertising campaign and advertising content

3. you can monitor and control traffic

4. test campaigns can be conducted to determine whether an advertising strategy works or not

5. Google adwords appear on a different side of the screen so the users would know that the link is paid for

6. you can target a specific market with Google adwords

The rule of thumb is, a higher payment for an adword would put your link in a higher position on the link.

However, you still need to view things from Google's perspective. Google would want to profit from your company's advertising campaign.

If a particular sponsored link does not live up to Gooogle's expectations and do not gather enough numbers, then the link can be eliminated. Take a look at the guidelines set by Google to make their adwords work to your benefit.

'How to Create Google Adwords and Make them Work for your Company'

The first step is to open a Google adword account. Beforehand, you should have a specific target market and it is very important to consider the following factors: age group, social class and gender of your target market, as well as the language and target country.

Make sure that your product is geared towards the region where your products and services are offered.

Also, it is important to set a budget range for a Google adword campaign. Selecting keywords is quite crucial as this would determine the results of your advertising campaign.

Have a clear understanding of the guidelines set by Google about adwords. Make sure that you bid a good enough amount so that your link will be at least on the top three position once a user types in the keyword.

Once you have enticed Internet users to visit your web site, your job does not stop there. You should have a very systematic web server log. You might have thousands of visitors but how may of them would actually stay and lead to sales if they leave your site immediately?

Use every click to your advantage and make sure that your web site is designed in such a way that nobody leaves without getting at least a lead, if not a downright or absolute sale.

Finally, you should learn how to use the tracking tools offered by Google to have a better idea about the keywords that work. Once you have an idea of which keywords work for your target market, then you can revise your advertising campaign to get better results.

Google adwords is a very effective, easy and affordable way to advertise the products and services that your company offers and you should learn how to make their guidelines work to your advantage, to increase your sales and benefit your company.