How can one start Google Adwords advertising?

Many people wonder is Google Adwords advertising any effective? Is it easy to run ads through Google Adwords and how much costs you may bear on your ad campaigns? There are many similar questions that come up in the minds of newbie advertisers. Here is given a basic idea of Google Adwords which will help you understand how to start Search Engine Marketing and what to do and what not.

Where Ads are Displayed– A Bird’s Eye View for New Advertisers:

There are 2 networks on which ads are shown. One is Search and Search Partners and the second is Display Network. The Search and Search Partners include web sites such as Google, Ask, AOL and other web sites which have powered their web sites with Google Search technology. If you are going to select this network your ad will appear on all Google and its search partners sites. Most expert advertisers, however, even choose the Google Search for Search Engine Marketing (SEM) campaigns. Keep this in mind you have the liberty to choose any network for your Adwords campaign.

The second network is Display network. All the web sites or publishers which have partnered with Google Adsense display ‘Ads by Google’ on their web site. If you want to receive maximum exposure and clicks you can choose the display network for your campaign.

It is, however, recommended to never choose the both networks if you are a new advertiser because you will end up in lost Dollars and also a low Click-Through Rate (CTR) on your ads which can result in a low Quality Scores (QR) and a less optimized Adwords account. There are a few specific terms here which will be explained in the notes below.

Policies and Terms and Conditions:

Before starting even the first campaign through your Adwords account you should read Adwords Terms and Conditions and the policies. Never forget to read these texts because even a simple violation of rules can result in account suspension which can seriously affect your business.

How to Start your First Campaign?

Make an Adwords account which is essentially a gmail account which will be used for signing into your Adwords account.

To start an ad campaign, first of all choose the Google Search network only. Start with a few campaigns and use 3 to 4 ad groups per campaign. Know exactly what is your target market and which search terms they use to search your products and services and/or the topics related to the niche you are in. There is a handy Keywords Research tool provided by the Adwords. Use this tool for determining the search volume for each keyword.

After selecting the keywords, adjust the campaign settings. The settings area consists of many parts. Most important of these include: Location (to choose in which parts of world/countries your ad should display), Language, Networks and Devices, Bidding Option and Budget. Pay close attention to each option. You can choose manual bidding for individual keywords which will help you control costs and increase effectiveness of your search advertising efforts.

Ad Copies:

The ad copies concept is described separately here because of its immense importance. You need to write catchy ads in order to receive clicks. The best practice in this regard is to include the search terms in your ad title and the ad display URL. Also try 2 to 3 versions of ads on each campaign to check which ads are getting the most clicks.

Campaign Goes Live, What Next:

Google Adwords system is very efficient. You can see your ads go live in a few minutes. Use the “Ad Preview and Diagnostics” tool to check on which positions on Google Search your ad is showing. You would have to daily manage and check your account in order to optimize the overall performance of the Adwords account. After a few days you will notice that you are receiving clicks on your ad which will give you the idea about Click Through Rate, Quality Scores of the keywords and the Conversions you are achieving.

There is another important feature called the Negative Keywords. Always check this feature to check how many irrelevant keyword searches resulted in clicks to your ad. Always stop the negative keywords.

About Landing Page:

Landing pages are of the prime importance. Your SEM maneuvers can give you traffic but to convert that traffic into customers you need high quality landing pages. the basic principle about landing pages is that they shall contain the keywords being search on the Search Engines. The relevant pages help you to get high quality scores as well as high conversions. Therefore, I would recommend you to design your landing pages through the help of a professional web designer.

Definitions:

CTR: It means Click Through Rate. Lets say your ad is seen by 100 people and out of these one hundred only 1 person clicked on the ad. In this situation the CTR will be 1%.
Quality Score: Quality Score (QR) is a complex score calculated by Google Adwords system which depends on various factors such historic Click Through Rates, Quality of the landing page and the relevance of the keywords to the ads (http://support.google.com/adwords/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=10215).
Conversion: A conversion can be a sale, a lead generated, or form sign up by the customer.

Nauman Lodhi is director at Sorcim, which publishes software and apps. Sorcim is behind the android optimization app, ST Cleaner & Booster

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