I have signed up my company for Google Marketing with Google AdWords. I created an ad with a coupon. I would like to search google and see what my prospects see. I tried using one of the search words I had seen had the largest volume of activity on my Google AdWords report. Can you also give me more information about how this tool differs for a prospect who googles and gets my existing business url?

Laura Madeira

• Google_AdWords_Guru_Erin (Nov 7, 2006 2:09 pm)

Hi Laura,

Thanks for your question. With AdWords, your ad is eligible to appear in the column labeled 'Sponsored Links' on the right-hand side of the search results page (some search results pages also show ads in the blue shaded box at the top of the page).

Your ad is triggered by the keywords that you've entered into your keyword list. The free search results, on the other hand, differ in that website listings are added to search results via an automated system. The system uses software known as 'spiders' to crawl the web looking for sites to add to our index. Sites’ positions are automatically determined and are not triggered by keywords.

If you've tried searching on your keywords and haven't been able to see your ad, there are a few possible reasons for this. I recommend viewing the troubleshooting checklist at https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=46182&topic=8819 to find a solution.

Erin

Wow, I did a search on Google using one of the most active AdWords I had assigned to my campaign and my company was listed at the top of the search window in the blue area!

Now, another question. I decided how many $$ I want to commit monthly to this advertising. How exactly am I charged? When a users clicks through to my website?

What if a small business owner does not have a website?

Also, I created a coupon with my add, but I could not see how a prospect could find that coupon.

Thanks for your replies!

You may also want to know that I am one of 7 National Trainers for Intuit out promoting this feature on the Accountant Update Tour so I am excited to share this new 2007 feature with many others!

Laura

• Google_AdWords_Guru_Erin (Nov 8, 2006 2:48 pm)
• Google_LBC_Guru_Joel (Nov 9, 2006 3:25 pm)

Hi Laura,

Thanks for your post. Since you’ve created a keyword-targeted campaign, you’ll only be charged for clicks that your ad accrues. You can then expect to be billed either after 30 days, or when your initial credit limit of $50 is reached, whichever comes first.

If a small business owner doesn’t have a website, they’ll have the option to select ‘I don’t have a webpage. Help me create one’ in the account creation process. They can then create a hosted business page to use in AdWords ads. You can find an example of a hosted business page at http://biz.googlepages.com/pagead/imgad?id=CN3_p-61ta-KywEQrAIY-gEoATIIAf0--T33Bqk

Erin

Hi Laura,

I just wanted to follow up on your question about coupons. Please note that these coupons are unrelated to your AdWords ads. Instead they are linked to your free local listing on Google Maps.

Once your listing appears on Maps (for yours, probably in the next week or so), it will display with the coupon. To find listings on maps search the with the complete business name and ZIP code associated with the listing on maps.google.com.

The following is an example of a user submitted listing with a coupon link:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=steven+F.+Udvar-Hazy+Center+IMAX+Theater+near+20151&ie=UTF8&cid=38908705,-77441055,8832452562378704556&li=lmd&z=14&ll=38.924995,-77.43722&spn=0.038795,0.069351&om=1&iwloc=A&iwd=1

Thanks for using this new product!

Joel

I noticed that when I signed up for AdWords, I was in the Starter Edition of Adwords, and that there was an option to go to the standard edition. Can you explain what the difference is between the starter edition and the standard edition? When should I consider upgrading?

• Google_AdWords_Guru_Erin (Nov 9, 2006 5:28 pm)

Hi BikeRetailOwner,

Thanks for your question. In general, the Starter Edition is intended to help new users begin using AdWords in the easiest possible way. Because of this, it doesn't have some of the more advanced features that the Standard Edition offers, such as individual keyword bidding, advanced regional targeting, and the ability to create multiple Ad Groups and campaigns.

You can view a side-by-side comparison of the two editions at https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=31774.

The decision to upgrade is entirely up to you. Once you’re ready to take advantage of some of the more advanced features, you can upgrade at any time by clicking ‘Graduate to Standard Edition’ at the bottom of your ‘My Ad Campaign’ page in your account.

Erin