Sharing all things about pet-friendly travels and full-time work from home setup

How to Use Google Adwords and Google Partners for your Business

Without Google Adwords, my business is dead. To confess that using Adwords changed my life is exaggerated but I stand for what I say… up to the end.  I cannot think of any word that can describe how it helped my online shop acquire unprecedented sales for a bootstrapping online entrepreneur like me.  However I prefer not to divulge any numerical figures to support my statement because I want to protect the interests of my travel business partners and mine as well.  There will be a right time and a right place to do that.  

For the meantime, just picture it this way: I gave up my 8-year old very stable job to pursue an online career. .. all because of Google Adwords.  Now call it serendipity because I also found another path worth taking –   the world of online advertising. In fact I am readying myself when the time comes that I need to give up my online shop which is my only bread and butter from the start to become an online advertising professional.  I know it is going to be really hard. It’s like breaking up with your first love because you have finally found your true love. .. even if it meant losing everything you have and starting all over again.


It was in December of 2012 when I started using Google Adwords upon following my brother programmer’s advice who learned that I am selling tour packages in my blog but I hardly close any sales.  The stars seemed to perfectly align in the sky that time because I also received an email from Google regarding a promo offer for Adwords first time users. I only need to pay P500 for a P2500 worth of credit! I did not know how I was targeted by Google but I think one reason is I use Google Adsense  - Google’s platform for advertising. This is also another avenue of making money out of valid clicks from an advertisement shown in my blog.  I hardly make money out of this before since my blog is not famous so I don’t have a lot of visitors… until I started using Adwords. I received tremendous traffic that I was literally blown away. Of course I add a lot of valid contents in my site that helps too. 




Now I know you are going to ask, YES I PAY FOR THIS TRAFFIC. I don’t mind though  because the profit that is given back is X TIMES MORE than what I paid. That is why I want to share this to every business owners particularly those who are just starting.   

Weeks ago I also took TWO seminars about Google Adwords Fundamentals and Advanced – Search from a Google accredited learning academy. Each of these is 2-days long and there is an examination after. The fee is P6, 000 each so if you take the two that will cost you P12, 000! This amount of money is already big for a freelancer like me but I knew this amount is worth it so I have no problem paying.  Note that for Google Partners, the seminars and examinations are 90% off so that’s only P600!

What is Google Adwords? This is a platform where advertisements of products and services are placed next to organic search results to attract traffic and sales.  You can see these on top, sides or at the bottom of Google’s search pages upon typing a particular query. This is Google’s main form of revenue that is why they can make their other products free of charge like gmail, search engine, translate etc…
They are in the form of a text ad, image banner, rich media ads and videos. Note that if you are a business owner and wants to use this, you should have a basic knowledge of how search engine works particularly how to use the right keywords for your ads. Budget is not a problem here because it does not matter how big or how small your budget is. There is no particular amount required. You are free to set an amount you are willing to gamble, that’s it!

What is good about  Adwords is this is not a game of whoever has the highest money to spend, wins. There are other factors that will determine whose ad will be placed on the very top of the page: the landing page of the website, quality score, relevance of the ad message, click-through rate so and so forth.  For text ads which is the most basic type of advertisement in Adwords, you only pay when someone clicks your ad.  Again it is you who decide how much you  are willing to pay for each of the clicks and for how many clicks you are willing to pay to pay each day.

Now you might wonder what is the credibility of those traffic that is sent by Adwords to your site? Those people who are only typing the keywords of your business will only get to see your ads. Meaning if they are not looking for a product or service that concerns your ads, it won’t show up. This method of finding potential clients are targeted which is one of the most effective way of marketing.

You need to have a credit card where you will allow Adwords to bill you of your paid clicks. If you think you cannot handle your own Adwords campaigns, you may join Google Partners and find an individual like myself or an accredited agency run it for a fee.  The fact that they are listed on the Google Partner Search, meaning they have passed the  Google AdWords certification:  a professional accreditation that Google offers to individuals who demonstrate proficiency in basic and advanced aspects of AdWords. It also means Google recognizes them as an online advertising professional.  

I decided to join Google Partners because I want to help more online shop owners especially those who started just like the way I did – without knowledge of how online advertising can make or break a business. Also this is one of my baby steps to fulfill my dream of becoming a digital nomad who can work anywhere and anytime I want. I want to travel around Asia or maybe the world for months and make a living via online.

Profile pic of Google handout courtesy of Wide-Out Workforces Inc where I took my Google Adwords certifications and exams. 

Disclaimer: I am not in any way promising A SURE SALES in your business in any way through Adwords. All I meant is  a considerable amount of TRAFFIC website. It will still depend on what is the quality and affordability of your product.

I will talk more about Google Partners in my next post. Stay tuned!  

No comments