The Basics of Pay per Click Advertising - Setting Up an Account

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There is a lot to learn in order to make a success of your PPC campaign and this article just covers the basics needed to get an account up and running.

Before you start, you should gather together the information that you will need to open your account:

  • An email account - This is for Google to send you the confirmation emails. It is also used as your username when you log into your Adwords account. If you already have an account with Google for Google mail, Ad Sense or iGoogle, you will be asked if you want to use your existing log in details or create new one just for Adwords. If you want to use your existing login, make sure you have the details to hand.
  • Your VAT number - If you are VAT registered, Google will want your VAT number for billing purposes.
  • A credit or debit card - Have your card details to hand.

Ok, so you are now ready to set up your account.

Sign Up

  1. Go to http://www.adwords.google.com.
  2. Click Start Now.
  3. You will then have two options: Starter Edition and Standard Edition. Select Standard Edition, and click Continue
  4. You will be asked whether you already have a Google account:
    • If you have a Google account you have two options:
      1. Use your existing log in details
      2. Create a new login just for Adwords
    • If you do not have a Google account, select I do not use these other services
  5. Click Create account (or Continue if you already have a Google Account):
    • If you used an existing Google Account to create your AdWords account, you can now sign in to your account
    • If you used new login information, you will be sent a verification email. Click on the link in the email and then log into your account

Before We Continue...

Before you create your first campaign, it is important that you understand the structure of a Google Adwords account. When you first sign up, you will need to create a campaign. Generally you would only have one campaign, unless you had a number of businesses in which case you would set up a campaign for each business. Within the campaign you have Ad Groups. Each Ad Group contains a set of keywords and the advert(s) that will be shown when someone searches for one of the keywords with in the group. The diagram below may help to explain this a little better:

Google Adwords

As you can see from the diagram things like language, location and daily budget are set at the Campaign level so, if you do have more than one Campaign, you can set a different daily budget for each.

Create Your First Campaign

After signing into your Adwords account for the first time, you will see a button reading Create your first campaign.

  1. First you can choose your language and the country or countries you would like your ad to be shown in. You can even choose to show your ads only to users in specific cities or regions. Make your selection then click Continue.
  2. Time to write your very first ad!
    • Try and put your main keyword in your headline.
    • Enter your web address as the display url (e.g. for our ads, we have VanillaGecko.co.uk)
    • The destination url should be the page you want the visitor to be taken to when they click on your ad. For example, if you sell cameras and your ad is for Canon cameras, your ad would be deemed more relevant if your destination url was your Canon cameras page, not just your home page.
    • Click Continue
  3. Now you need to enter some keywords.
    • Try to keep the keywords relevant to the products and services you offer on your site – Google will reward you for it.
    • Use multiple word keywords - users are much more likely to type in two-word or three-word combinations than a single word. An example would be canon digital camera rather than just camera.
    • Click Continue
  4. Enter the amount you're willing to spend on this ad campaign each day.
  5. Enter the maximum amount you're willing to pay each time a user clicks your ad (CPC or Cost per Click). Although you are asked to set a CPC for the entire campaign, you can actually change the CPC for individual keywords within each Ad Group. Doing this enables you to save money on the better performing keywords or those with less competition while bidding slightly higher on others.
  6. Click Continue
  7. Review all the selections you've made. Click Edit to change any selection.
  8. Click Continue to billing and then enter your billing information.
    • TIP: Using pre-pay is a good way to start with Adwords as you have full control over what is being spent. With prepay, you pay an amount into your account and Google will let you know when your balance is running low so that you can top it up.

And that’s it! You now have a Google Adwords account up and running. You should regularly look in on your account to improve your adverts and get the most out of your keywords in order to build a really successful campaign.

It may take a little bit of time and effort to really start reaping the benefits of Adwords, but once you get going in the right direction, you get a snowball effect, with your Campaign going from strength to strength.

A Word of Advice

Never spend more than you can afford.  It is easy to get carried away placing higher and higher bids on your keywords and before you know it you’ve spent a fortune!  This is why it is always a good idea to start with pre-pay to keep control of what you are spending.   Start small and once you have your Adwords account making YOU money with successful click throughs, then you can start investing a little more into your campaign.



Adwords Glossary

Ad Group: You can have many ad groups within a Campaign.  Each targets it’s own set of keywords and has one or more ads

Average Position: This is the average position of your ad within the ‘Sponsored Links’ results.  1 – 3 is the best place to be, but as long as you are between 1 and 6 your ad will be shown on the first page.

Broad Match (Default): A keyword or phrase without any quotes or brackets.  Both singular and plural forms of your keyword will be included and your ad will be triggered whenever someone’s search includes your keyword or phrase.  For example if your keywords are canon cameras and someone types canon slr cameras, your ad will be shown.

Phrase Match: Your keyword or phrase is enclosed in quotes, e.g. “canon camera”, then your ad will be shown when that phrase is written in that order, possibly with additional keywords before or after.  For example, compact canon camera would trigger your ad, but canon slr camera would not.

Exact match: If you enclose your keyword or phrase within brackets, e.g. [canon cameras], then your ad would be triggered only when that exact phrase is entered on its own with no other terms in the query.

Campaign: The ads in a given campaign share the same daily budget, language and location targeting.  A campaign has one or more Ad Groups within it.

Impressions: The number of times your ad gets shown on Google or its network partners.

Click-through rate (CTR): The number of clicks your ad or keyword gets divided by the number of impressions.  In other words the percentage of people who actually click on your ad after seeing it.

Conversion: Google allows you to track when a user who came to your site via Adwords goes on to buy something or request more information on your site.  This is a conversion.

Conversion Rate:  The number of conversions divided by the number of clicks.

Cost Per Conversion:  For any campaign, Ad Group or keyword, this amount you spend on Google clicks, divided by your number of conversions.

Cost-Per-Click:  The amount you pay each time a person clicks on your ad.

Max CPC:  The maximum cost-per-click you’re willing to pay.

Average CPC: The overall average amount you actually pay each time a person clicks on your ad.  This may be lower than your bid amount.

Daily Budget:  The maximum amount you’re willing to pay for any one day.  Probably best to work out your monthly budget then divide by 30 to get your daily budget.

Destination URL:  The actual URL people will go to when they click on your ad.

Display URL:  The URL people will see in your ad.  This has to be the same domain as your landing page/destination URL, but does not have to be the exact same URL.   For example your Display URL could be www.CanonCameras.co.uk while your destination url might be www.CanonCameras.co.uk/compact/accessories.html

Disapproved:  Your ad content doesn’t meet Google’s Editorial Guidelines.

Keyword:  A search term (word or phrase) people use to find your product or service.

Keyword Status:
  - Active:  Your ads are showing normally.
  - Ads show rarely: Your quality score is low & you’re being seen little.
  - Bid is below first page:  You are not bidding Google’s minimum required bid for this keyword for it to consistently show on the first page

Negative Keyword:  Put a minus (-) sign in front of a keyword in your list to stop your ad showing when people include that term in their search.

Quality Score (QS):  Google’s assessment of how relevant your ad, landing page & website are to each keyword.  A higher QS gets you a lower minimum bid.