Google Adwords Campaign Basics

Even if you're completely new to the world of Internet marketing, you probably already know that running a Google Adwords campaign is one of the most cost-effective ways of getting your product or service out there for public consumption. How this works is the marketer (that would be you) creates a short text advertisement, and then specifies which keywords should trigger the ads. Then when Internet users type in the keywords on Google's search engine, the ad appears. You only pay when a user clicks on your ad -- and even then, you specify how much you're willing to pay (bearing in mind that your bid factors into the overall ordering of your ad).

Putting together a successful Google Adwords campaign does take a bit of hard work, especially for beginners who haven't yet learned the ropes. Fortunately, since this marketing mechanism has been around for such a long time, there are countless online tutorials, e-books, and other resources to help you navigate the basics. By following the advice of seasoned Internet marketers, you'll be able to put together an effective Google Adwords campaign that will get the results you want.

Speaking of results, that should be your first consideration when setting up your Google Adwords campaign. What kind of specific results are you after? Are you looking for more traffic? Increased sales volume? Longer visits from potential customers? Setting out a few quantifiable objectives at the start will help you focus your ads and yield better conversion rates.

The most important component of a successful Google Adwords campaign is choosing the right keywords for your ad copy. Choosing something too broad (for example, the word "golf" if you run a golf equipment webstore) is unlikely to lead to conversions because the competition will be too stiff. Choosing something specific -- but unrelated -- to your business (such as "golf vacations") will increase your traffic, but won't translate to additional sales because you don't have what the users are looking for.

And finally, in order to have an effective Google Adwords campaign, you must monitor your statistics and tweak any ads that are not performing up to snuff. Stat and data analysis tools can be found in your user panel, plus there are all kinds of third-party software products that can provide you with even more insight about how well your ads are doing and how many click-throughs or visits they're generating. This is definitely not a "set it and forget it" type of venture, so if you don't have time to follow up on your Google Adwords campaign, don't expect miracles.

Getting a Google Adwords campaign up and running does take some strategic planning, but once you get used to the process, it becomes much easier. This is a fantastic, relatively low-cost way to market your brand, so get started now!