Google AdWords™ For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Using AdWords Express

If you have a local business and you want to tap the power of AdWords without having to work or think too hard, AdWords Express may be just the ticket. Google has been trying for years to balance two completely opposite goals:

• Make AdWords the most robust and results–accountable advertising medium ever.
• Make it simple enough for anybody to use.

In our opinion, Google has done a great job with the first goal, but at the expense of the second.

AdWords Express is Google's latest attempt to create an AdWords program for small business owners who don't want to deal with all the nitty-gritty details of keywords, CTRs, bidding strategies, or even ad writing. Again drawing on the example of Yellow Pages listings, in the old days, a Yellow Book rep would visit your store about three months before the new book was to come out and ask whether you wanted to put in a listing. You said, “Sure,” and the rep basically did the rest. All you had to do was make sure the phone number was right and approve the design, and you had a professionally designed Yellow Pages listing.

Like the Yellow Pages, AdWords Express functions by taking the advertiser through a simple wizard and then creating the entire campaign automatically. Unlike the Yellow Pages, though, AdWords Express charges you only when it sends you a click. The only things you have to do are name your categories, write an ad with a headline and two description lines, and choose a maximum monthly budget (see Figure 12-2 ...