Google Adwords presents a cost-conscious solution for any company to begin online advertising. Because Adwords is both technical and artistic, it is best to use professional counsel like a firm or media buyer to set-up a campaign.

With Adwords, potential customers can be recruited by organic Google searches, and companies are able to highly target potential customers by geographic region and through select keywords. For example, a local-based company would want to set their Adwords within a 20-mile radius to ensure they are reaching the right location.

Ads are made up of campaigns, each containing one or several search terms. Google allows advertisers to have any number of campaigns. Adwords is unique in that the ad is created based on the message or service the potential customer is searching for, not the message the company wants to deliver to the potential customer, as with a traditional ad campaign.  

Costs for advertising incurs each time an ad is clicked, up to a prefixed daily amount. Those costs can go as low as a company wishes, although $250 a month seems like the lowest reasonable amount. How does the budget limiting work? If a campaign budget is set at $10 per day, once that budget limit is reached, the ad will not appear for the remainder of the day. The cost per click for each ad will vary depending upon the popularity of that keyword.

For a company beginning Adwords, it’s best to start small and build spending and campaign size once a better understanding is gained of how Adwords functions and what keywords are most effective. Ideally, there should be a dedicated employee, or an outside media buyer, to monitor and modify the campaign on a continual basis.

An effective Adwords campaign requires continual monitoring and refinements. Google provides several helpful tutorials and tips for best practices with Adwords.

- Bailey