There are many different options when it comes to digital display advertising, but the most popular and effective is AdWords. AdWords is an advertising company that is owned and operated by Google. You’ve undoubtedly seen advertisements from this program, as they show up on virtually every search you perform through the Google search engine.
In addition, millions of websites display AdWords advertisements through a program called AdSense. This program allows website owners to earn money by displaying the advertisements of businesses that market using the AdWords program. Once you cut through all the different layers and technology of this program, it can really be summed up by saying that this one program is where Google makes the vast majority of their money.
What does this mean for you?
The reason Google is able to make so much money from their AdWords program is because it is an extraordinarily effective way to display advertisements to people. The reason why it is so powerful is because it allows you to target a very specific audience.
For example, if you buy an ad spot on television or radio, it will be broadcast to everyone who happens to be watching. Some of them may be interested, but the majority of them won’t care. The same can be said if you purchase a dedicated advertising spot on a normal website. If, however, you use AdWords, you can choose to only have your advertisement shown to people who will likely be very interested in what you are selling.
How does it Work?
When we set up an AdWords campaign for you, we don’t just submit an advertisement to the program and allow it to be shown throughout the AdWords network. Instead, we choose very specific keywords that people are searching for, and only display it when they are typed in to Google. In addition, we can further narrow it down based on the geographic location of the person who is searching, or even their age or other interests.
This is all possible because Google gathers information about users, which can then be used to help display the most relevant advertisements possible. If you own a carpet cleaning business in Miami, FL for example, we may decide to have your advertisement display only to people who are from the Miami area, and area searching for something like, “How do I get a red wine stain out of a shag carpet.” Of course, we will identify dozens of other keywords to target with your ads.
As you can imagine, by only showing your ad to people who are clearly interested in the services you provide, you will be able to convert a much greater percentage of them into buying customers.
Costs of AdWords
Another thing that many people like about using the AdWords display advertising program is that you can manage your expenses extremely easily. When setting up the program, you choose to ‘bid’ on having your ad displayed to potential customers. You can set the most you will be willing to pay per click, and then Google will only charge you the minimum required level. So, for example, if you and another company are ‘bidding’ on the same keyword, you would only pay $.01 more than whatever the other companies max bid was.
In addition, you can set limits on how much you want to spend per day, and even choose to only display your ads during certain times of the day. Depending on the keywords you are targeting, they will generally cost anywhere from $.50 to $5.00 per click.
While this might sound like a lot to pay for a single click, you will need to keep in mind that when set up properly, you can convert a very high percentage of the clicks into sales. If you are converting even just 15% of clicks into sales, it is easy to see how it can be very profitable to run these types of advertisements for your products or services.
If you are an existing customer who is interested in using AdWords, please contact your dedicated sales rep. If you aren’t yet working with us, please contact us and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have.
