In this article, I cover many of the basics associated with effective PPC advertising. Keep in mind that Google isn't the only provider of online advertising. None-the-less, Google AdWords is certainly the most popular.



Any good online campaign begins with clear objectives. Are you promoting your business? Asking users to fill out a form? Buy from a jump page? As they say, begin with the end in mind.

Once you've established the purpose of your campaign, keep in mind that the number of people seeing your online advertising depends on how well you've chosen your keywords. If you choose a set of unpopular keywords to trigger your PPC advertisement then you shouldn't expect your advertising to be shown very often.

Google AdWords provides a traffic estimator as a feature that can give you a sense of expected traffic. You should use this to determine your possible out of pocket costs and what you should expect to spend on a daily basis.

The most important elements of a Google AdWords campaign include:

? Display URL. The more relevant this appears to be to the keywords you're bidding on, the better.

? Keyword choice. Generally speaking the more targeted, the better. You'll get less clicks but they will be people who specifically want your product or service.

? Advertising headline and text. The headline is the most important of these. Make sure it relates to the keywords you are bidding on - this will help keep the cost of your advert down.

? Landing page URL. This needs to be relevant to your keywords and advert. If you're bidding on Britney Spears then you shouldn't be sending people to a page about nuclear physics. It's not relevant and Google will penalize you by charging a lot more for your clicks.

? Per-click Budget. How much are you willing to pay per click? Determine what you are willing to pay per conversion (lead or purchase) and estimate how many visitors it will take for a single conversion.

? Daily Budget. The amount of money you are willing to spend in a 24 hour period. Keep in mind that if you're making money, it's okay to spend money.

These are just some of the basics associated with a successful AdWords campaign. The truth of the matter is that being truly successful with Google AdWords takes knowledge and experience. The more you work with pay per click advertising, the better results you'll have.

There are tons of books, ebooks, and tools that are available online to help you succeed with your advertising. I recommend picking one up and learning about the components of a successful campaign. That said, nothing can replace the actual experience you get from running your own pay-per-click campaigns. It's easy to open an account on Google AdWords and costs very little to start. So don't delay and start building real world experience.