Google AdWords™ For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Using the AdWords Wind Tunnel

How you use the wind tunnel depends on what type of business you're trying to fly. If you use AdWords primarily for generating leads, you'll follow a different path than if you expect visitors to make a purchase directly from your website. You'll also use different strategies for a local business than for a national or global one. For now, we'll start with the simplest model: an e-commerce business that sells online to anyone in the United States.

In the AdWords wind tunnel, you'll run quick and inexpensive tests to answer the following questions, in order:

1. Is there enough search interest in my products?
2. If yes, what's the best way to structure my AdWords campaigns?
3. When I have a reliable flow of traffic, what does my website need in order to turn visitors into buyers?
4. Can I make money using AdWords? If so, how can I expand my AdWords campaigns to get even more traffic?
5. If I can't make money using AdWords, can I improve my website and other aspects of my marketing to optimize other media that are less expensive (but also less flexible)?

These questions translate into the following tests:

1. Discover the volume and expense of search traffic in your market to determine whether the AdWords Search Network and search engine optimization (SEO) can be worthwhile areas of focus.
2. Based on favorable keyword volume and cost metrics, use the data from the initial tests to structure and build out your AdWords account most effectively.
3. After your AdWords account ...