Adwords for Artists - my journey. Part 2

Note: If you haven't read part 1 of my series on Google's Adwords program then click here.

Cost, Pay-per-click and Payment options.

Something that deterred me (and I'm sure many others) from using Adwords was the idea of pay-per-click. That is, every time someone clicks on your ad, you pay Google money. Google has the largest ad network bar none online which gives rise to the notion that millions of people will suddenly start clicking your ad and you'll be taking out a second mortgage on your house just to cover the debt.

Thankfully this notion is unlikely, as evidenced by Dan's experience in his article, Advertising Your Artwork with Adwords But Not Getting Many Clicks? in which he received only 2 clicks (at a cost of five cents per click) on his ads in his first two week period. More importantly though, you can set a daily budget and set a specific time period your ads will run.

For example, I signed up for Adwords and decided to follow Dan's lead, signing up for the Standard Edition, with a budget of five cents per click up to a maximum of one dollar per day. Doing the math, that's 20 clicks per day before my ads will stop showing across Google's network.

I also chose to pre pay my account via bank deposit rather than have the clicks automatically deducted from a credit/debit card. That way I can budget an exact figure and have my adds running until my prepaid amount runs out. If you pay by credit card then you'll need to pay more attention to how many days you want your ads to show up on the network for.

If you prepay your account the minimum spend is AU$20.00 of which AU$10.00 is an account activation fee. I decided to stick with the minimum for the moment just to make sure my bank deposit is successful before committing more funds.

Note that if you want your ads to start showing immediately then you'll need to pay via credit/debit card. The disadvantage of bank deposit is that you'll have to wait for Google to receive your money transfer before your ads begin to run. I actually chose this option because, for me, it makes my book keeping easier.

At the time of writing this article I'm awaiting my money transfer to reach Google. This can take up to 5 days. Given that I did the transfer on a Saturday, I'm guessing it'll be about Tuesday or Wednesday at the soonest before my ad becomes active.

By the next article my ad should be up and running. When that's happening I'll show the ad I'm starting out with and I'll also have a look at some of the keywords I'm using.

To finish up this article I think it important to remind you that, although Adwords does cost you every time someone clicks your ad, that is actually what you want to happen. People clicking on your ad - the more the better.

Not just any people either. The strength of Adwords is that those people clicked on your ad because they are interested in what you have to offer. If you're an artist in the business of selling art (like me) then the ideal situation is that, for every click on your ad (costing a few cents), you make a sale that brings in a few dollars pure profit.

It's not that different from paying a commission to a gallery for selling your art.

Read the final installment of this series here [ Part 3 ]

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