Creating a Google Ads Account

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is defined as the marketing technique to incorporate advertisements on third-party websites or search engines.

Look at the example below, where I typed on Google search engine "kickboxing classes."

The first 3 search results are all paid searches. The people or companies advertising these kickboxing classes are paying to have their ads appear to consumers searching these specific keywords.

Because I am using the Google search engine, the SEM tool we will be learning about is Google Ads.

To create an account on Google Ads, follow the steps below:

1. Type "Google Ads" on your search engine bar or go to https://ads.google.com/home/.
2. Select "Start now" to create your account.
3. You will be prompted to start a new campaign. Select the objective of your ad campaign next.
4. Select your business and begin customizing your target audience.
5. After selecting your target audience, you may begin to customizing your first ad!
6. Before you can make your ad campaign go live, you will be asked to set up a budget. We will discuss budgeting on a later post.
7. Review your campaign and start advertising on Google using Google Ads!

For my example, I've chosen to advertise my organization's Instagram page. After my campaign has run for a while, I can see if my advertisement has been successful. Google Ads is also linked to Google Analytics to provide customers with a true understanding of the effect of their ads on their pages.

In the weeks to come, we will go more in-depth on Google Ads and the different ways it can be used to drive traffic to your website.