Archive for May, 2010

When you find yourself in a position to search out information online, where would you begin your research? I’m guessing you’ve said Google. There is little doubt that Google is the 800 lbs gorilla of search engines – by far one of the most popular and most used web sites worldwide. It’s time for you, as a home based business owner, to fully embrace Google and use what is commonly referred to as the greatest marketing and advertising tool ever created: AdWords.

There are many, many wonderful resources that have been written and published on Google AdWords best practices. So, I am not going to reinvent the wheel in this article. What I would like to do is discuss a number of the AdWords idiosyncrasies I’ve discovered on my own that I have not seen discussed in any other article. These are just things you should be aware of and keep in mind when setting up an AdWords account of your own.

Firstly, I’d just like to mention that becoming proficient in Google AdWords is very similar to becoming a good auto mechanic – you can read all the books and articles you want on AdWords but you’re never going to really learn it or become proficient at it until you roll up your sleeves and get your “hands dirty”.

In the same way a mechanic may have attended school and has read many books on the subject of cars and engines, he’s not an actual mechanic until he gets his hands dirty and actually works on an automobile.

Having said that, here are 4 things I’ve discovered about AdWords only after I’d started using it:

1) Google will not allow “non-standard punctuation” in any of your ads. Non-standard punctuation is described as: tilde (~), asterisk (*) or pipe (|). The funny thing is though, I found this out when I ran an ad that did not contain any of these elements. The ad I tried to run had a headline which read: “Lost Job? So What!”

Although I was not able to see how or where a question mark or exclamation point would be considered “Non-standard punctuation”, I had to change the exclamation point to a period for the ad to be accepted. I’m pretty sure I’ve even seen this exact punctuation in other ads in the past. But, Google occasionally changes their rules so you just need to make sure you’re always operating within acceptable AdWords parameters.

2) Google will not allow excessive punctuation such as multiple exclamation points (!!!). I ran an ad one time with a point I wanted to place great emphasis on and chose to do so with three exclamation points. Doing so violated an AdWords policy and I had to change my ad to reflect a single exclamation point.

3) Including a direct call to action within your ad is a no-no. Statements such as “click here” or “go there now” are not allowed in your ads. You can work around this one by saying something like “details on next page” within the advertisement.

4) When setting up your ad, you will enter both a display web address and a destination web address. The Google user will not see the destination address, they will only see the display web address in your ad. The destination address is where the user will be taken if they click on your link. The display web address must be an actual, working web address.

This may make loads of sense on the surface. After all, why would you ever want to display anything BUT a working web address? Well, consider this: I have a web site I was promoting in one of my AdWords accounts. The actual web address being promoted is www.RidForeclosure.com but, I chose to hyphenate the displayed address just to make it easier for the user to read. I figured it was easier to read www.Rid-Foreclosure.com. Of course, in the event my link was clicked on, the user would’ve been taken to my real web site (address without the hyphen). That all kinda makes sense, doesn’t it?

But, because my actual site address is not hyphenated the ad was rejected. Instead of www.RidForeclosure.com I wanted it to display as www.Rid-Foreclosure.com but Google found this to be unacceptable.

The above are only a few examples of the things I’d learned about Google AdWords that only experience had taught me. That is what I meant when I said earlier that you will only become really proficient with AdWords after you begin using it.

I am sure there may be many other nuances of AdWords that I am not yet familiar with that I’ll discover over time. Plus, Google changes their rules and requirements from time to time so what was OK yesterday may not necessarily be so today.

Setting up a really effective, hard hitting AdWords campaign is as much an art as it is a science. Ongoing education, use and discovery are what I’ve found to be three key components to effectively using my Google AdWords account.

For those who may be intimidated or overwhelmed by it all, you may want to work with a Google AdWords consultant to help you to set up your first account. Consultants offer experience based on a mixture of research, training and, most important, real-world, hands-on experience. They understand their clients’ needs and dispense advice when it’s called for. If you plan to hire a consultant, don’t wait too long. In general, you should provide yourself with as much lead time as possible. The success of your company depends on your readiness to fully embrace and use all of the wonderful technologies we have at our disposal today.

The two things a home based business entrepreneur does not have a disposal amount of are time and money. Use both of these resources wisely, and to your fullest advantage, and watch your business sore to new heights.