As soon as any business dips its toe into digital marketing
it is almost guaranteed that the idea of launching a Google AdWords campaign
will come up.
As the search engine powerhouse on the web, Google’s reach
extends to almost everyone online in one way or another, regardless of the
search engine or web browser they use. However, launching a Google AdWords
campaign is not for everyone.
First, businesses need to understand what an
AdWords campaign is and what options running one presents.
What Is an AdWords
Campaign?
Google offers companies the ability to advertise within
their search results through the AdWords platform. To do this, businesses write
ads within a prescribed character limit which are then displayed in shaded “ad
windows” when users search for specific keywords, designated by the business.
It is this program which generates majority of Google’s revenue which, in 2012,
exceeded $42.5 billion.
When a company decides to launch an AdWords campaign, there
are several steps that they must take. Collectively, these actions represent
the “campaign.” Minimally, each campaign includes designating a budget for the
project, defining its scope, and writing the copy.
AdWords Campaign
Choices
In addition to the normal work that goes into designing a
marketing campaign, AdWords also offers users the ability to choose from
different payment structures that are built to meet the needs of their diverse
market of advertisers which includes small, local businesses and multi-national
corporations alike. The two most basic choices are known colloquially as CPC
and CPM advertising.
CPC advertising is short for cost-per-click. This is a
results-driven payment structure which allows companies to post their ads on
Google without paying anything up front. Instead, users bid on a certain
keyword relevant to their industry.
Their ad is displayed in order according to
the price of their bid, higher bids on top. These ads appear in the “sponsored”
listings box at the top of the screen on any Google search. The business,
however, only pays Google the agreed upon bid each time a customer clicks on
their ad.
The other option for AdWords campaigns is CPM short for
cost-per-mille or thousand impressions. In this system, businesses pay
according to the number of views that their ad gets (i.e. the number of times
their keywords are actually searched) rather than for clicks only.
Understanding AdWords
The business of online advertising is rich, as is evidenced
by the size of Google’s pocketbook, but there are a lot of small nuances that
make a campaign succeed versus fail. The key to getting this end of digital
marketing is answering the simple question:
What is an AdWords campaign? From
here, the sky’s the limit in your ability to learn about and launch a
successful one of your own.
