How to Advertise with the Google Search Engine

If you want maximum exposure for your web site then you should consider placing keyword based ads with Google to drive traffic to your site and business. They are by far the best search engine on the Net right now and there Ad program is effective and reasonably priced. You also control the cost which is a major plus.

Click the link below to open the Google Ad page…. then scroll down on this page for detailed instructions.

http://www.google.com/intl/en/ads/

1. Click on Get Started With Ad Words

2. Then …Create Google Account

3. For beginners, select the Starter Edition ad program to get a feel for how the whole process works.

4. Your Ad will show up in the right hand column of the Google search results page and will look like this ...

You are probably thinking ... "when does my site ad info show up in the left side of the Google search results"? This will happen over time as your site developes popularity and is deemed by Google to be a relevent link to show their search visitors. This will occur even after your Google Ad program expires. The key here is your site's popularity to visitors.

How it all works:

The Google Ad Program is designed around “keywords”. You pay per click when someone finds your Ad on the first page and clicks on it. What you are looking to do is set up “keywords” that you think people will type in the search box in Google to find a business like yours, or your competitors. The keywords can be a single word, multiple words, or phrases and you can use as many as you want. Once a visitor types in a keyword or phrase you are interested in using, Google will display your Ad on the first page shown. The key to getting on this “first” page though is based on how much you “bid” for that keyword the person used.

For example, let’s say that your competition used a keyword phrase of “insurance recruiter” and their Ad shows up in the number one position on the first page. To get that number one position let’s assume the competitor “bid” .75 cents per click for this keyword phrase. And let’s assume that the second Ad showing under them bid .74 cents. Google will display Ads based on who paid the most (bid) for the “insurance recruiter” keyword phrase to attain the number one and two slots respectively, followed by the next lowest bids for positions three, and four etc.. You don’t pay anything for the keyword phrase used by the visitor in the Google search box… you only pay when someone clicks on your specific Ad that shows on the first, second, third page etc. (right column only) that Google displays. You don’t need to be in the number one position to be seen if the bid cost is prohibitive to attain it. You can choose to bid what it takes to get you in the 4th, 5th or 6th position. You are still on the first page so that accomplishes the primary goal of being found. Again, keep in mind that the amount you bid will determine the page(s) your Ad will be displayed in... the higher the bid the better your chances of getting on that first page ... the lower the bid and your Ad will show up in the later pages.

This all sounds somewhat complicated and potentially expensive, but the plus side is you control the cost of your Ad program and once you experiment with it you will find it easy to manage. At time of sign up Google will ask you to place a budget via your credit card (deposit) for the Ad program you want. You can set up a budget of just $25 dollars and set a daily click limit of say $5 per day. What this means is that once your $5 daily limit is met (in this example 5 clicks on your Ad at $1 dollar per click) you will not incur anymore expense. Of course that means your Ad won’t be shown again until the next business day and the process repeats itself until your $25 budget is exhausted. You will receive daily email from Google advising of you of the traffic you received from all of the keywords you set up and that people clicked on, along with the current cost of your Ad campaign. These emails allow you to track activity, costs, and the effectiveness of your keywords campaign. So if your keywords are not generating the activity you want then you can go back and adjust your keywords or bid prices to achieve the level of activity you expect… this can be done daily or hourly if you want. Further, once you set up an account and create your Ad campaign it will show up in the Google search index within minutes which allows you test the effectiveness of your keywords and bid price. Just type in the keyword you used (bid for) and look where your Ad is ranked.

The whole process is pretty slick and works very well.