Providing Creative Alternatives

Google Adwords: what are they?

When you go to Google and search on a topic, you will see the main listings down the left side of the page, with a white background. Sometimes there is a listing at the top of the page, with a colored background.

Then over on the right hand side of the page, there may be one to eight little boxes, under a small heading that says "Sponsored Links." Those are what I am writing about.

Here's how it works: an advertiser decides to create an ad on a particular topic. It has to meet Google's requirements not to be hype in punctuation or style and it can only be short text. If you accidentally break one of their rules, they will suspend your ad and email you. Once, this happened to me, and the email I received from a Google staffer actually had a much better wording suggestion!

You can easily read Google's information on how to use the ads, even without creating an account. Just do a search on any topic till you get one that has some ads on the right, then go to the bottom of the row. It will say "See your ad here." Click on that, and then take the quick tour and look around.

Using Google Adsense

When the advertisers set up their ads, they can choose whether to have their ads shown just on Google or also on websites that show the ads. Webmasters who show the ads earn part of what the advertiser paid -- and how much that is depends on the particular ad -- when someone clicks on it. This is appropriate for some websites and not for others.

For example, my dog training website is about the newer positive methods of dog training, not using traditional approaches. Since most dog ads are for the old-style training, I wouldn't want to have any ads. If you have a website that you might want to run the ads on, here's a page at Google about the program, which is called Adsense.

Here's an ebook on Adsense: using other people's Adwords ads to make money on your site

The Definitive Guide to Google Adsense is by William Charlwood, an internet marketing consultant -- I've learned a lot from him. He writes in a clear and readable manner, and explains a lot of the ins and outs of using this very worthwhile program.

To find out more, check out The Definitive Guide to Google Adsense. This will take you to the page where Charlwood describes the ebook, the insiders' newsletter, and more.

Please note that a lot of people have put up websites that are not very good, in the hopes of making money with Adsense. Some of them have succeeded but it is getting harder. Google and the other search engines are getting better at weeding out the poor sites. For example, if you buy articles that are being used on other websites as well, duplicate content filters may keep your site from being listed or from ranking well.

Should you use Google Adwords?

If you have products to sell, Adwords are likely bring you new customers for a surprisingly low cost. That's worthwhile!

If you are an affiliate, you can place Google Adwords that lead to a page you have written preselling a product... that is, recommending it without repeating the sales letter the viewer will get when they click from your page to the merchant's page.

What we've done

I have been using Google Adwords for several years, both for products we created ourselves and for things I sell as an affiliate. It has been very cost effective for the ads that I've continued to run.

I tried some things that didn't pan out. Your market research is pretty inexpensive, and you can set a maximum that you are willing to spend per day. You also choose the keywords that your ad will be shown for, and how much you are willing to spend on each ad. If people don't click, I don't pay... this kind of marketing is callled pay-per-click. I select phrases carefully. Prices have gone up generally since the early years.

There are other companies besides Google that do pay-per-click. So far, I am sticking with the Google Adwords, because I like some of its features: if your ad contains the phrase that people are searching, those words are bolded. If your ad gets a good click-through rate (CTR, and something that Google shows you on your account page), then it will rise up the list of ads, and you will be spending less than ads below you that are less relevant.

Relevant... that is a word they like at Google. If you make ads relevant to your keywords, you'll get the clicks, Google will be delivering relevant content to the viewers, and the viewers will click because the ad is relevant to their needs.