Google AdWords™ for Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter 1. Profiting from the Pay-Per-Click Revolution

In This Chapter

• Introducing AdWords

• Understanding the difference between AdWords and other forms of advertising

• Getting an overview of direct marketing

• Seeing AdWords through your prospects' eyes

Have you ever bought an ad in the Yellow Pages? I remember my first time — I was terrified. I didn't know what to write. I didn't know how big an ad to buy. I wasn't sure which phonebooks to advertise in. I had no idea what headings to list under. I had to pay thousands of dollars for an ad I wouldn't be able to change for the next 12 months. And I had recurring nightmares that I mistyped the phone number and some baffled florist in Poughkeepsie got thousands of calls from my customers.

Why am I telling you this? (Aside from the fact that my therapist encourages me to release negative emotions?) Because I want you to appreciate the significance of Google AdWords as a revolution in advertising.

You can set up an AdWords account in about five minutes for five dollars. Your ads can be seen by thousands of people searching specifically for what you have, and you don't pay a cent until a searcher clicks your ad to visit your Web site. You can change your ad copy any time you want. You can cancel unprofitable ads with the click of a mouse. You can run multiple ads simultaneously and figure out to the penny which ad makes you the most money.

You can even send customers to specific aisles and shelves of your store, depending on what they're searching ...