Google AdWords is a pay-per-click (PPC) direct response marketing tactic, meaning that you pay every time someone clicks on your ad, regardless of what they do once they get to your site. They could stay on your page for less then a second or they could spend a million dollars there. Regardless, you pay Google the same amount of money.

Therefore, you want the after-the-click experience to be as positive as possible if you want to convert the lead to a sale. That may sound obvious, but I now manage a number of AdWords campaigns for my company and getting management to understand that just sending people to our homepage isn’t a very smart idea.

Before I started placing ads I did a ton of research and I can tell you, many Google advertisers create a terribly frustrating and annoying experience for users once they reach their site. And by doing this, they are wasting their time (mine, as well) and money. In order not to provide users with a miserable after-the-click experience, follow these simple tips:

1. Take the time to look at others who are buying the same keywords you are buying. Don’t go nuts clicking because they are paying for it, but click through all the ads. (The best ones are usually near the top.) What do you notice about their landing pages? What are the best ones doing that you aren’t? What can you do better?

2. When someone clicks on your ad, they want instant answers to these questions:

• How does your product or service work?
• Does your product meet my need?
• How much does it cost?

If you aren’t answering all of these questions in three seconds or less, you are losing potential sales.

3. Don’t just drop someone on your home page. Unless your home page is selling the exact product you are pitching in your AdWords, don’t get lazy and just send them to your site with an attitude of “just keep looking, you’ll find what you are looking for eventually.” They won’t find it! They won’t look and you’ve just wasted your money and their time. Good AdWords creative point users to a single page that answers all three of the questions above.

4. Don’t buy up a bunch of peripherally related keywords in the hope that clickers will land on your site. This was another mistake my boss made in his direction to me. He thought process was “if some is good, more is better.” This isn’t the case. Start with a very narrow focus. If you have other products or services you want to sell, buy keywords specific to them and run another campaign for each item.

5. Give customers an easy way to contact you. Make it simple to get hold of you via e-mail, phone, chat, you name it.

6. Google AdWords should be used to generate leads, not build your brand. Don’t think that just buying keywords and getting people to click over to your site and see your logo and name is a good idea. It isn’t. Again, it is a waste of your money and the time of a potential customer. Google AdWords present a great marketing opportunity, but only if you get the right information out there.

This is only the first of many posts I am going to write on this topic. It should also be said I am still learning. So if you have any suggestions, comments, or questions leave a comment. Although I’ve only been placing keywords ads (also using Yahoo! and MSN) for a little under six months, the ROI is amazing (but more on that at a later date).