Can someone please explain to me how it works? How much will I get charged? Will it benefit my forum?<br /><br />-- 06 Feb 2012, 21:48 --<br /><br />BUMP. No one uses Google AdWords?
I used adwords, but I just use the free vouchers which my web hosting and Google Adsense gave me for being an Adsense Partner.
You set up a campaign in Google Adwords, and you can tell Adwords how much you want to pay per click. Once your voucher or money expires, the advertising campaign will stop.
Google Adwords is best if you are promoting a site like Amazon.com where you can make a lot of money when the visitor buys an iPod, iPad, or other goods from your site , but Adwords can be expensive for content sites which earn very little money from ads and affiliate marketing.
I wouldn't recommend adwords for this purpose. You may get hundreds of clicks, with only two or three people joining your site, if that. Your best bet would be to market your site on similar sites, without spamming of course.
YOU set your budget and how much (max) each click is worth. If wanted you could set it to $0.01 / click. Though note, that the system (AdWords) is designed to where highest bids are always placed. This means that depending upon your niche and what area you are trying to advertise in, could result in that ad NEVER being displayed - forcing you to raise your bid amount.
Also note, that if unregulated this can get OUT OF HAND and you can go BROKE FAST. You always have to monitor the clicks and the return rate of these clicks. Just because you get a click doesn't mean you are making money from that click. If you are selling stuff, BE HONEST - why would you want to lie to then pay someone to see your site for 10 seconds and leave because it was a lie?
Be catchy, yet be honest, with what your link destination is about. Only then will you succeed in AdWords marketing.
Unless you have a load of money to spend to test keywords then I would suggest only using free vouchers you receive from Google or are given from a partner.
IMO Forums do not really need Adwords. Once you have started going you should slowly receive traffic from long tail keywords. The hard job is converting the traffic to signed up members who will contribute to your forum.
I think Adwords could work for certain types of sites like lawyer, credit card sign up, cash for gold, and online college courses sites where a few costumers may turn into a lot of revenue if they hire you as a lawyer, sign up for high interest credit cards, sell their gold for cash, and sign up for an online college course which can earn the owner of the sites thousands or more money in the short or long term to pay for Adwords.
But, for forums, and content site it is not worth it unless you have a source of income like Adsense, online store, or paid membership to pay for advertising, web hosting, and domains, and you want interested visitors to visit your forum or content site, and spending money on Adwords is not a problem for you.
Adwords was just a waste of my money. Don't use it, especially for a forum. The best thing for a forum is to build content and member base. It's not easy but will only happen over time.