The Fast-Track to Using Google Adwords

Remember back when Al Gore allegedly said he "invented the Internet?" Well, he didn't, it was Google. Alright, I'm kidding, but sometimes it does appear that way. Google has consistently launched one killer application after another, and they weren't playing around when they entered into the pay-per-click arena with their "Adwords" program. Adwords is one of the largest online advertising networks, reaching more than 80% of all Internet users.


So how does it work? You choose keywords/phrases that are related to your products/services, write the text ads that will be shown when someone performs a search for your keywords, set a daily budget and the cost you want to pay every time someone clicks on your ad (C.P.C), and you're ready to run. There is no activation fee and no minimum monthly spend amount.

Ads are called "sponsored links", and appear along with search results on Google, as well as other affiliated search engines and "content sites" in the Google Network. This type of keyword based advertising will help you to reach a highly targeted audience quickly and easily. Not only can you run text ads, but also image/animated ads - even video. If you're a beginner at pay-per-click marketing, I would suggest you start out with text ads. You'll need to "learn to walk" before you run.

So what does a text ad look like? It consists of a 25 character headline, a description that is 2 lines of no more than 35 characters, and what's called a "display url". This url can reflect any domain you like because when it is clicked upon, the browser will take them to your "destination url". This is set up behind the scenes and does not appear in the ad itself.

A 3 line text ad might sound like a lot of room, but it's not. You've got a small area to make a huge impact on the searcher and make them want to click. Don't underestimate the power of a well written ad. If you don't know a lot about how to write "good copy", I suggest you study up. You'll want to include what's referred to as a "call to action" somewhere in the description. You'll also want to include your keywords if possible in your title and ad copy so they will appear in a bold font when your ad is displayed. For help see: http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/text/18779.html

You also need to send them to the page that's most relevant to your ad copy. This page is called a "landing page", and you'll want to make sure it converts. A conversion happens when the visitor performs the action you intended. For example, signs up for your newsletter, buys your product, etc. With Adwords conversion tracking you'll be given a snippet of code to paste on your web page wherever any conversion takes place. For example, your thank you page. This allows you to track how well your pages are converting. You can also use Google Analytics. For more see: http://www.google.com/analytics/

Now that landing page load time is being factored into "quality score", you'll also want to pay attention to your page's load time. Quicker is better. For more information on this topic see....http://tinyurl.com/4bsyaq

Now, let's talk about keywords. The biggest mistake most people make is choosing single keywords. You're much better off with two and three word combinations. For example if you sell dog food, instead of targeting a generic term like "dogs", you'd be better off selecting "dog food". Remember, these keywords will be responsible for triggering your ads to appear, so do your homework and choose wisely. Targeting the wrong keywords can be a very expensive lesson. For help in choosing keywords use Google's tool located at- https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

When setting up your keywords, you'll also need to choose what's called a "match type". Here are your options:

1) Broad Match: The default setting. Searchers can enter your keywords in any order and your ads appear. Not the best option for targeted traffic.

2) Phrase Match: Your keywords must appear in the exact order for your ads to appear. This is more targeted than Broad Match.

3) Exact Match: This is the most targeted option. The searcher must type in your key-phrase exactly for your ads to appear.

4) Negative Match: You choose words you don't want your ads to appear for when searched upon. For example, typing in the word “-free” would stop your ads from appearing if someone typed that word before your key-phrase.

So who decides which ads will appear at the top? This is called "ad rank". Ads with the highest ad rank will appear at the top. Here's the formula, at least at this time as it's always open to change. Ad Rank=C.P.C. (cost per click) X Quality Score To understand this formula you'll need to know what factors go into "quality score".

Quality Score is determined by :

1) How relevant the keywords and ad copy are to the search query.

2) "The historical Click-through rate of the ad, and of the matched keyword on Google".

3) It also includes your account history, which looks at the click through rate of your keywords and ads.

4) Landing page load time.

And, according to Google "other relevant factors". One tip to increase your ad rank is to increase your cost per click, and improve your ad copy and keywords in order to increase your quality score. Ad ranking is determined slightly differently for the search network compared to the content network.

For the content network it looks like this:

Ad Rank= Content Bid X Quality Score

What is the difference between the Content Network and Search Network? Good question. I thought you'd never ask. This is another option you'll have to decide upon when setting up your account. If you choose "search sites", your ads are displayed on search results pages only. Google's search network consists of: AOL, Netscape, Earthlink, Compuserve, AT&T, Worldnet, Ask.com, Shopping.com, Froogle and of course Google itself.

If you choose for your ads to appear in the "content network", this includes community websites, online publications and other information based sites that choose to display Adwords ads. Partners in the content network include sites such as: Google's Gmail, About, Lycos, NY Times.com, Infospace, Reed Business, HowStuffWorks, Business.com, Food Network, HGTV, MarthaStewart.com and many other content based websites. Ads are targeted to the content of the individual pages.

You'll also have some control over where your ads appear and don't appear with what's called "placement targeting". You can actually pick and choose from websites you'd like your ads to appear on, or not to appear on. For more on placement targeting see http://tinyurl.com/5zwfy9

You can opt in to both search and content networks, or just one.

At this point you're probably thinking this is a lot to learn. And you're right - it is, but there are plenty of online resources to help you such as: SEO Secret

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How to get quality related and relevant backlinks ?

Someone new starting out in the business of Affiliate Marketing can often get overwhelmed by all the little things that need to be done in order to make their business successful. Finding related and relevant backlinks is one of the first road blocks that can get in your way and unless you have someone to explain the basics to you finding those relevant backlinks can be very difficult.


Backlinks can come from a number of places but I'll tell you with how I've learned to get my related and relevant backlinks. Here are seven pretty simple steps, that if followed a few times, will get you over the hump of finding quality related and relevant backlinks for your site.

1. I presume you already have a niche. If you don’t, then jot down some ideas about your hobbies or things that interest you and create your niche.

2. From your niche, do some keyword research and chose some nice keywords that are used - but not a ton. If you can find keywords that are used between 10,000 and 50,000 times or so then you are doing good. Use Google's Keyword Tool to help you find this info.

3. Now with your keywords, go to Google Search and enter them in with quotes around them. This will tell you what the supply is for your keywords. If the supply of your keywords is between 50,000 and a 100,000 then that is good. If it gets above the 500,000 range, then you are competing with several people to supply content.

4. With your keywords in hand start writing article. Use your best keywords and start writing 300 to 500 word articles about them. Place your keywords in your article to get about a 3 to 5% density. Make your articles informative and completely your stuff.

5. Publish your article with places like EzineArticle, HubPages, GoArticle, and Squidoo. Make sure that for your title you use your keyword and try and place it at or near the beginning of your title. squidoo-tag-buddy.info is an excellent tool that helps you fill in all those tags effortlessly.

6. With your article published then you are ready to start getting backlinks. Your articles are one way of getting relevant related backlinks. Another way is to join related forums and start writing good comments. I like to use my keywords in my comments because they will often get picked up by the search engines. When looking for forums, choose the ones that are related to your niche. In your comments place your signature. Your signature will have your Website URL. That is your related backlink.

7. A good backlink tool will help you find related forums and related Websites. I’ve found getbacklinksforfree.info to be an excellent tool for find quality forums and related backlinks.BackLink Agent can assist you in finding 100s of related and relevant backlinks!

You simply can't get enough backlinks so when you’re finished writing your articles just keep writing more articles and leaving more comments. It’s very important that you get quality related and relevant backlinks to boost you’re standing with the search engines.

Using good keywords I've been able to get my articles indexed by Google in just a matter of hours

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