Google Adwords is a advertising network using which you can create and place ads for your business on different Google partner websites. Unlike traditional advertising like Banner Ads, in Google Adwords you don’t have to worry about the costs and budgets because you will be charged on click basis only to the maximum amount of budget you specify for your campaigns.
These advertisements are displayed in the Google Network which comprises of :
- Google SERPS – The Search Engine results pages, generally on the top and the right sidebar section.
- Search & Content Websites – On millions of websites, blogs, news portals etc through the Adsense Platform which can help you in reaching 86% of Internet users Online.
- Google Services – The ads will also be displayed on different services Google offers mainly like Gmail on the sidebar of the Inbox.
- Mobile Devices – Google Adwords allows you to display advertisements on the full browser supported smart phones like Apple iPhone when someone searches through the browser based search box or visits any website which has Adsense ads.
Google is continuously expanding its advertising network with different options and has also started offering advertisements on Television & Pay Per Call service. The advertisements are displayed on the Google Search results under the title of ‘Sponsored links’ clearly mentioned to inform the visitors that these are paid links and not the natural organic results. If you have catchy advertisements, then for sure you will be getting higher number of visitors or clicks on the ads placed through Google Adwords. In order to reach a higher audience you need to select the option to display ads on the content sites which are part of the Google Network.
Contextual Advertisements :
Google Adwords allows you to display targeted ads which are related to the content displayed. This means that the service would match the ads with the content displayed on the search results pages and this is all a automated system. The system would scan the text of the whole web page for different keywords and then display advertisements related to them. Ex : If a person has searched for information related to Advertisements, then the Google Adwords program would return with related ads and display them on the Top of the Search Results and also on the sidebar.
Sample Adwords Ad :
Adwords Ad Formats :
Google Adwords allows you to display advertisements in a total of 5 different formats as mentioned below. We will give you more information on each of these in detail in our next chapters.
AdWords Text Ad
AdWords Image Ad
AdWords Video Ad
Rich Media Display Ad
AdWords Mobile Ad
Adwords Charges : Google Adwords does not have any monthly charges or fees but there is a very nominal activation fees when you are registering with the program for the first time. The following is the information on Account Fees and Payment Options for new users.
Activation fee: $5.00
Minimum cost per click (CPC): $0.01
Minimum cost per thousand impressions (CPM): $0.25
You can pay your monthly payments using Debit Cards or Credit Cards and the service is available to most countries allowing you to make the payments in your local currency. You can find more information on the fees here.
Many of you would have advertised in the local newspaper or the Yellow Pages and these companies charge you a fixed rate based on the ad size for a specific period, while there is no guarantee on the number of views or targeted traffic, but in case of Google Adwords you can target your market, fix the rate at which you can pay per click which can also be considered as the cost to get a customer to your business. A simple ad creation, account setup process, activation and the campaign starts following which you can expect highly targeted visitors to your website who may purchase the products you are selling.
In case if the whole system confuses you or if you have a very high budget and not much experience in this sector then its recommended to find Google Advertising Professionals who are certified by Google on the basis of a few tests and who are capable of handling your campaigns. These are Online Marketing Professionals, agencies, and other individuals like search engine marketers (SEMs), search engine optimizers (SEOs), and marketing consultants who manage their own Adwords accounts or offer a service to handle your account for a charge or commission. You can find professionals certified by Google here.
Read our Next Chapter on Google Adwords Account Setup.
