1. Log into Your Google AdWords Account Login Here: www.google.com/adwords/

If you don't already have an account, you can register for one here: https://www.google.com/adwords/get-started/

2. Start a New Campaign Click on the "+Campaign" Button.

3. Choose "Search Network Only"

Running ads on the Search Network is the most common way of setting up your champaign. This choice allows your ads to appear on Google SERPs alone. Selecting "with Display Network" extends your reach to smaller search engines like AOL, and thousands of other sites. We want to target consumers who are actively looking for our products on Google, so we are choosing "Search Network Only".

4. Choose "All Features"

This will allow you to choose certain times of each day for your ads to be shown. I'll explain later how this option will help keep your account stats higher (CTR) by not gaining ad impressions during less performing hours.

5. Name your Campaign Something Relevant

You may be setting up many more campaign, so make sure to properly keep your titles relevant to keep track of your campaigns.

6. Uncheck "Include Search Partners" on the "Networks" Section

Google automatically checks this for you, so make sure that it is not checked. This will keep your ad impressions only showing within Google's paid search results.

7. Target Your Geographical Area. Choose "Advanced Search"

Enter Your Targeted Area

Fine Tune Your Results

Save Your Results

I work mainly in Colorado Springs, CO, so I will target my area, plus a 10 mile radius to make sure that consumers in my extended area can find my ad. You can also target zip codes, radius of location, and many different other options. Play around with this section for a while to get the best results.

8. Choose to Manually Set Your Own Bids for Clicks On your "Bid Strategy", choose "Focus on Clicks" and then choose "I'll manually set my bids for clicks."

The other options here are good to learn about and use later on to optimize your campaigns. For now, stick with the most common way to set up your ads to get started with an easy Pay Per Click campaign.

9. Set Your Default Bid for Clicks & Daily Budget for Your Ads

The amount you enter here is not necessarily the cost that you will pay for clicks. It is the maximum amount that you are willing to bid. I usually enter $5.00 here and end up paying around $0.40 to $2.50 per click on my ads,

depending on my keyword's popularity. If you aren't willing to pay much for a click, Google may not take your campaign seriously enough to show it in the paid SERP's.

10. Set up your ad schedule based on when most people are searching for you keywords.

This is one of the most important parts to help keep your click through rate low. I have my ads running everyday, except Friday. I run my weekend ads from 9:00 am to 10:00 pm and my weekday ads from 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm. This is the optimal time for my area, based on my past AdWords data. One of the major benefits of managing your own AdWords account is that it will reveal consumer search habits and trends to you.

11. Choose "Save and Continue"

Your Campaign is now setup! Now let's continue onto the Ad Group section.

12. Name your "Ad Group" with a relevant title.

13. Choose "Text Ad" and start creating your Ad

This is where you will need to focus your efforts over time to get your keywords and ad text optimized to its highest and best potential. Your headline is the large print at the top. Try to use your most important keywords here. You have two lines for the description to help sell your ad to the consumer. Try to find sentences that have your main keywords in them, while still promoting your advertisement well. Don't go too keyword heavy. The "Display URL" is the URL that you want shown under your Headline. I usually use my domain name here. The "Destination URL" is the URL for the webpage that you want the consumer to land on once they click on your ad.

14. Enter Your Keywords

This is one of the most important parts of the whole process.

Click here to view my tips for finding good keywords using Google AdWords Keyword Planner at the bottom of this page. 15. Click on "Save Ad Group"