AdWords for Newbies (and the rest of us) - Part One

Part One in a ten-part series on Google AdWords. I would imagine that the most seasoned AdWords veterans will find this to be mostly a refresher course, but my hope is that all readers find it very useful.

Getting Started…

I am assuming that you have setup the account, but even if not, that is fairly self-explanatory.? So, the next step is funding the account.

First, be prepared to spend some money.? Expect to lose money early on if you have never done it before, for many reasons including:

1. Your ads are new and therefore are considered at the bottom of the totem pole by Google. It costs more for you to get to the top.
2. You are weeding out under-performing keywords.? This alone can cause an otherwise profitable campaign to lose money.
3. You are testing (well, you should be) landing pages, ad copy, etc.? You will try some crazy things just to see if they work, and a lot of them won’t.? Until you settle in and learn what works and what doesn’t, you will likely throw away some money.? But remember, it is all worth it, because for every failure, you will stumble upon something that makes it all worth it!

If your account is under 14 days old, make sure you get an AdWords voucher. Often times they are free (just do a Google search for “AdWords vouchers), but you can also buy them cheaply at the marketing/webmaster/affiliate forums.? Find the biggest one you can (at least $50.00).

Next up…broad vs. exact matching.