Google AdWords™ For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

The Two Online Marketing Camps

Each web page you send visitors to has one of two goals:

• Capture a lead.
• Make an immediate sale.

  This is known as an e-commerce page — or, as we like to think of it, a wallet-out page.

Each goal requires a different strategy, so we make a big deal about this distinction throughout the book.

Camp #1: Lead generation

In case you got a little lost in the numbers in the previous section, we want to make sure you got the moral of that direct marketing story: It's a process of multiple steps. Seth Godin (marketing guru and author) compares direct marketing to dating. You wouldn't walk up to a stranger in a museum and propose marriage. (If you did, and you're happily married 17 years later, please don't take offense; we're not talking about you.) In fact, there are a lot of things you wouldn't suggest to a stranger in a museum that you might very well suggest to someone who knew you a little better. (If you're not sure what these are, check out Dr. Ruth's contribution to the For Dummies series.)

Direct marketing operates on the premise that you have to earn your prospects' trust before they become your customers. As with dating, you demonstrate your trustworthiness and likeability by asking for small commitments with low-downside risk. Your ad, the first step in the AdWords dating game, makes a promise of some sort while posing no risk. Your visitor can click away from your website with no hassle or hard feelings. AdWords' Editorial Guidelines commit you ...