by: Ted Prodromou

As consumers, the majority of us use Google to search for information, products, and services, because Google finds exactly what we are looking for. If you are a business owner and want people in need of your products or services to find your website, paying Google for one its advertising services, such as Google AdWords, is a surefire way to increase web traffic. The issue is not whether Google can help, because they have garnered proven results. The question is only how much they can help and at what cost.

The Google AdWords program has more than doubled some of its customers' monthly traffic by placing relevant ads along the right-hand side of its organic search listings. If you have ever used Google's search engine, you have seen AdWords advertisements listed under "Sponsored Links." If you sign up for Google AdWords, your ads will only appear to people who enter keyphrases that are relevant to your company's offerings.

To further increase traffic, Google pays companies for displaying AdWords advertisements on their websites. If, for example, your company specializes in discounted furniture, you would pay Google for advertising space on all searches for "discounted furniture." Google would not only display the AdWords ad on its own site, but also display the ad on informational sites dedicated to discounted furniture of all kinds.

Google AdWords should not, of course, be the entirety of a marketing campaign, but it is often an excellent addition to an overall strategy. Google AdWords is a pay-per-click service, meaning you only pay when the advertising results in traffic. Before you start using Google AdWords, I highly recommend watching the Getting Started With Google Adwords video at which is available after you log into your account. Read all of the Google support guides before you start bidding. You can spend a lot of money if you don't know what you're doing.

The absolute best Google Adwords resource is Perry Marshall at www.perrymarshall.com. Perry's been using and studying Adwords since it was released in 2002. His website is full of great information and I highly recommend all of his products.

Another essential tool is Wordtracker which helps you select the very best and most popular keywords for your campaign. You can get a free trial of Wordtracker at www.wordtracker.com. This is the most powerful keyword analyzing tool on the market.

If you are overwhelmed and need some guidance, we can perform a thorough analysis to determine whether Google AdWords will be lucrative for your particular business, and map out the best AdWords strategy to follow. To learn more, contact us at (415) 785-1796 or via e-mail at valiss-info@valiss.com.