1) Get a new Google account

We recommend having a stand-alone Google account for your AdWords account. Once this account is set up, it’s very easy to give users access as required. There are two reasons for having a stand-alone AdWords login:

• If an employee creates the account using their standard email address, this might cause access complications when they leave the company, and
  
• If the AdWords account is for a business or part of a business, it makes it easy to transition the AdWords account (and other Google linked properties) to a new owner.
  

Pro tip – jump into Gmail and quickly create a new Google account there. Then set up a redirect to the email address of your choice. Once you’ve completed giving required permissions, you may never need to use this new account email address again.

2) Set your goals. Why do you want to use AdWords?

Answering that question will help you work what you should be measuring. It’s easy if you have an ecommerce website as you will be measuring sales. If you don’t use ecommerce, do you want newsletter sign ups, downloads of your product information, applications for a job, or premium membership? The reason for thinking about your goals now is that once your AdWords account is live, you’ll start spending cash and it makes sense to be able to track that spend from the very first moment.

If you’re already tracking website goals (or sales) in Google Analytics – perfect. If not, then you’ll want to get your goals set up and tested before you turn AdWords on. If you don’t have Google Analytics tracking, then this is the perfect moment to install that free tracking software on your site.

3) Allocate Budget

How much money can you allocate to AdWords in this initial testing phase? If you’re a small business dipping your toes into the AdWords space for the first time, why not look at $10 per day? Start small and get a feel for how this AdWords business works before committing too much. Test whether AdWords is right for you.

4) Think of some keywords

What might someone who is looking for your service or product search on? At this point, we recommend just adding a few keywords to get the account up and running. For example, if you run a motel in Ponsonby, then a starting keyword could be as simple as “motel Ponsonby”. You can find additional help in in our blog on AdWords keyword research.

5) Prepare your first ad

At this point you just need a single ad to help get this show on the road. You will need a header (with a maximum of 25 characters) and two lines of text (each with a maximum of 35 characters). If you’re comfortable with either Excel or Google sheets, you and AdWords are going to get along just fine. We’ll have a comprehensive discussion on building and optimising your ads in later blogs.

Pro tip – If you are using excel or Google Sheets, use the Len Function to check the number of characters in a cell. Type =len and the cell you want to check. 

Now get your credit card out because you’re ready to sign up for Google AdWords.

If this seems like hard work, then please don’t hesitate to contact us.  We would love to set up and optimise your first AdWords account for you.