Free Google AdWords Credits, The DBS Recession Buster
Let’s face it – the economy is in bad shape. There are talks of inflation and increased taxes in the news, and it looks like growing a small business just isn’t going to get any easier any time soon; however, Denton Business Solutions (“DBS”) is here to help.
Thanks to Google, we can give twenty businesses $100 Google AdWords credits for FREE. As we’ve written before, Google AdWords is a program that allows a business to purchase targeted online advertising on millions of websites across the Internet, including the search results on Google.com. There is no minimum monthly spend, no long-term contract, and you can change your ads or cancel your entire account at any time. It has been proven to be more efficient than print or other older advertising methods many times over, but don’t take our word for it – see what these small business owners have to say about the AdWords program:
If you’d like to use Google AdWords to jump-start your small business’ growth, we’d be delighted to help you get started with a free $100 credit. Just send us an e-mail and we’d be happy to get you set up!
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How to monetize your website with Google AdSense
What is Google AdSense?
Have you ever noticed those tiny little ads all over Google products? As we briefly explained in “Stretching your Advertising Dollar“, Google’s paid advertising (called “Google AdWords”) is not only how Google makes most of its money, but it’s also one of the most efficient advertising programs in the world. It pre-qualifies a consumer before showing him your ad, the tracking analytics that come with it are first class, but… I digress.
Example of Inline Google AdSense Ad
We’re here to talk about making money with AdSense, not spending money on AdWords. Google AdSense is the global advertising network through which Google displays the paid advertisements of Google AdWords customers. Google’s advertising network includes all of Google’s own “properties”, search sites such as EarthLink, Netscape, and Compuserve, affiliate advertising networks in the Double-Click Exchange, and last but certainly not least, you.
That’s right – you can become a part of Google’s global advertising network. But the question is… should you? If you recall from the AdWords article, Google displays ads relevant to what the viewer is already looking for. That means that if you run a website about microwavable organic pet treats, you can be reasonably sure Google will serve ads on your site that are also related to pet food. If you’re a blogger devoted to sharing “Petcake” consumption with the world this could be a great way to make some extra cash from your site, but if you’re running an e-commerce site you could end up displaying ads for your competition!
You’ve decided AdSense is right for you… now what?
If you’ve decided Google AdSense would benefit you, head to http://www.google.com/adsense to begin the account setup process. After applying, a Google employee will review your site to make sure it is complete, easily navigable, and has some substance to it. If everything looks good and your site conforms to the AdSense Terms of Service you will be welcomed to the Google AdSense program via e-mail two or three days after your submission.
Once your account has been approved, you can start placing ads on your site. Just login to your AdSense account and you’ll be able to copy the HTML code required to display all sorts of different ads – text-based ads, graphical ads, and more. Then just paste the code onto your site where you want the ads to display and you’re off and running.
In summary, Google AdSense can be a great revenue generator for a popular website, but unless you already have a sizable readership you won’t see overnight results. Keep working at building great content and eventually you will start seeing some paychecks.
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Stretching your Advertising Dollar with Google AdWords
How are you marketing your company today? How much are you paying for advertising? Is it performing to your expectations? How much does your marketing cost for each new customer gained?
Consider a new way to advertise. A way that allows you to control exactly how much you spend every day on ads. A way that allows you to market your products only to people who live in your target geography. A way that pre-qualifies customers and will only show your advertisements to people who want what you’re offering. Does this sound too good to be true? Fortunately it’s not too good to be true. It’s Google AdWords. Watch the video below for a brief introduction then read on.
As the video explains, Google AdWords allows a company to place text-based online ads within Google search results. But that’s just the beginning. When an advertiser partners with Google AdWords, they also gain access to the Google Display Network, which allows ads based on rich media, images, or video rather than a “plain” text ad. This network contains over one million websites of every flavor imaginable, including every site running Google AdSense (See “How to Monetize your site with AdSense“), YouTube, Google Maps, Google Finance, and the rest of the Google family; as well as the entire DoubleClick network and more. Within Google AdWords advertisers can even buy a TV spot… for as little as twenty dollars!
But how does it work? Basically, when you place an ad you enter a bid for how much you’re willing to pay for that ad to be displayed a single time. When a user searches for something related to your ad, Google compiles a list of all the relevant ads and displays the ones that have a combination of the highest cost-per-click (CPC) bid and the highest relevance to what the user is looking for. Google always strives to improve the end user experience so rather than dispalying only the highest paying CPC bids Google will reward advertisers with more advantageous ad placement for writing accurate ads and providing users with the content they’re actually looking for once they “click through” to your site.
And how much does it cost? Merely a one-time activation fee of $5 USD and whatever you would like to budget for ads. There is a minimum cost-per-click bid of $0.01 USD and a minimum cost-per-(thousand)-impression bid of $0.25 USD. Aside from those pricing guidelines the cost is completely up to you. Raising your bid will raise your ad’s visibility and lowering it will decrease visibility. Google actually does try to keep advertising costs reasonable though – as the Google Adwords support pags describe, “the AdWords discounter will automatically reduce your actual CPC so that your winning ad is charged only what is necessary to maintain its ranking above the next-highest ad.” And don’t worry, you’re not on your own in determining how much you should bid – Google offers serveral free tools to help you.
And that’s really just the beginning of Google AdWords. Doesn’t that seem much more economical than more traditional advertising? We certainly think so. Do you have a success story or a question about Google AdWords? If so just leave a comment below!
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