If you’ve read this chapter to here, you have a good grip on how an AdWords account is structured and how an AdWords campaign proceeds. If you’ve read up to this point but skipped Chapter 6, and feel a little shaky in your under-standing, I urge you to absorb Chapter 6 before proceeding with this section.
Here, I walk you through opening an AdWords account. The steps aren’t diffi-cult, and Google offers brief instructions on each screen. But in opening an account, you prepare your first AdWords campaign (or, to be more accurate, the first draft of your first campaign), so you should have the basics under your belt first.
their effectiveness using third-party tracking software. A simpler way to track the ads would be to create separate Ad Groups for ads with and without calls to action. Perhaps even simpler, go
back to the two ads in the same Ad Group, but create two different landing pages. In that sce-nario, you can track the traffic of both landing pages in your site logs.
All right, then. Time to ease into the AdWords marketing lifestyle. Follow along:
1. Go to the AdWords page at adwords.google.com
2. Click the button labeled Click to begin.
3. Select your target language and country, and then click the Save &
Continue button (see Figure 7-10).
You might be thinking, “Whoa! I’m just trying to set up the account, not build the campaign!” If so, relax. This is just Google doing its own mar-keting by roping you into the first steps of campaign design. (Google fig-ures you’re more likely to finish the process if you’re forced to start it.) Google walks you through basic geo-targeting (this step), setting up an Ad Group, and writing an ad.
Your selections aren’t important at this stage, but if you’ve thought ahead to your target languages and countries, go for it. If not, leave the default selections or click English (under Languages) and United States — entire country (under Countries). Chapter 10 explores issues of geo-targeting in detail. You may change these initial selections at any time.
Figure 7-10:
Select one or more target languages and countries.
4. Create an Ad Group.
Simply type a name for your first Ad Group. Remember, you can change or delete the name at any time. Simply call it test groupif you want to get past these steps quickly.
5. Scroll down the page and write an ad (see Figure 7-11), and then click the Create Ad & Continue button.
Writing ads is a concise art that I discuss previously in this chapter. Spend time on this step if you like, or throw something together quickly and move on. Fill in every box. Remember, the display URL should be short because it’s visible in the ad. The destination URL is the Web location of the landing page.
6. Choose keywords (see Figure 7-12), and then click the Save Keywords button.
Keyword selection is a complex and important issue that dominates a big chunk of Chapter 9. If you haven’t absorbed that information and engaged in painstaking keyword research, the keywords you enter at this step are nearly meaningless. Google provides a few hints, scratching the surface. Throw some keywords into the box and move on.
Figure 7-11:
Write your first ad, but don’t labor too hard.
You’ll undoubtedly change it later.
7. Select a maximum cost per click for your keywords, and then click the Calculate Estimates button.
Chapter 9 discusses setting CPC for individual keywords in an Ad Group.
Never mind that now. And while you’re in the mood to disregard things, never mind Google’s suggested CPC. Delete that figure and type some value that seems fair to you. It doesn’t matter what it is — you’ll adjust the CPC in the next step. After clicking the Calculate Estimates button, the screen reloads with the Traffic Estimator’s information columns filled in.
8. Adjust the maximum cost per click until you’re satisfied, and then click the Save & Continue button.
Here, you’re shooting for a reasonable daily budget and a respectable page position for your ads. The information columns estimate the volume of clickthroughs per day for each keyword, the average cost (per click and per day) for each keyword, and the average position for each key-word. (Look back to Figure 7-8.) Every campaign is in constant flux, its costs and positions determined by competing advertisers and search patterns in Google.
Figure 7-12:
Keyword selection is an ongoing process.
You’ll likely change your initial choices.
9. On the next page, click the Continue to Step 3 button.
This page offers you a chance to create a second Ad Group. You certainly may, but for our purpose (which is just getting the darn account open), plow onward.
10. Type a daily budget, and then click the Save & Continue button.
This is where you determine the maximum you want to spend, per day, to operate this Ad Group.
11. Enter your personal information, read the terms and conditions, and then click the I agree — Create my AdWords account button.
12. When you receive Google’s verification e-mail, click the link in the e-mail to establish your new account.
When you follow the preceding steps to establish your AdWords account, you don’t activatethe account or put your newly created ad in distribution. Your new Ad Group awaits you in the AdWords Control Center, inside the account.
A separate procedure activates the account and begins your campaign. That process is mercifully shorter than opening the account. Just do this:
1. Go to the AdWords home page here:
adwords.google.com
2. Log in to your account using the e-mail address and password you established in Step 11 in the preceding list.
3. In the Control Center (which is discussed with gusto in Chapter 8), click the My Account tab.
4. In the My Account section, click Billing Preference.
5. On the Billing Preferences page, fill in your contact and payment information.
6. Click the Save Changes button.
Entering and saving your billing information activates the account and initiates the distribution of the ad in the Ad Group you created to open the account. If your selected keywords are popular search terms, and your daily budget is high, you could begin generating thousands of impressions and (possibly) a truckload of clickthroughs with frightening speed — within minutes. This is not the time to shut off your computer and go to the Neverland Ranch. There might not ever be a good time to go to the Neverland Ranch. Never mind that.
If you want to put on the brakes, click the Campaign Management tab and use the Pause button to temporarily stop your campaign.