Google AdWords, also known as Google pay-per-click or Google PPC advertising, is Google’s text-based advertising system where your ads – created by you using powerful keywords/key-phrases related to your business – get displayed as sponsored links next to the natural search results on Google.com and all its partner websites (optional) when someone launches a Google search using one of your keywords.

This is how Google AdWords works: You deposit a certain amount (could be as low as $5) in your AdWords account when you initiate it, depending upon your advertising campaign budget. Your payment meter, against this deposit, does not start ticking unless someone, a potential customer, clicks through on your displayed ad. Your ad will continue to be displayed as long as this deposit lasts, which will depend upon how much cost-per-click you have bid on your keywords. Google AdWords features tools that allow you to control the costing and schedule of your ad campaign.

Google also rewards its advertisers if their ad has a good click-through rate. Google AdWords’s model of pricing is not just based on keywords alone, it also takes into account the click-throughs. So if you have released a well-written relevant ad that is generating a good number of click-throughs, expect a cost-cut by Google.

Google’s text advertisements are required to be short, with one title line and just two content text lines. So it is of utmost importance to pack maximum punch into these two lines of copy using powerful keywords and punch lines in order to trigger click-throughs on your ad by your target audience and convert viewers to visitors and visitors to clients. Apart from writing an effective ad copy, you need to follow a scientific approach to spotting inexpensive yet powerful keywords, keyword bidding, budgeting, choosing your landing page, etc., if you want your AdWords campaign to be successful and yield maximum return on investment.

Here are some tips that you can use to exploit the Google AdWords to your advantage and derive the maximum benefit out of your campaign:

Tips

- Bid rates on Google AdWords are not fixed and are forever varying. If you bid 50 cents on a keyword and the next guy bids 51 cents, your ad is less likely to show up than the guy who has bid just 1 cent extra. You can try playing the same game too and reach an appropriate figure by hit and trial.

- Do not enter into a serious bidding war. Instead, be creative and write attention-grabbing copy and make your landing page eye-catching. But do not make wild claims about your product or services; just highlight the most important and unique features.

- Mention your product’s price in your ad in a clever way. This will keep freeloaders off and you will save money by avoiding useless click-throughs.

- In Google PPC, you can specify that when certain keywords are searched for, your ad should not show up: for example, free, cheap, crack, gallery, etc. If you specify these “exclusions”, you will get rid of unwanted and expensive traffic.