AdWords 101: Setting up a campaign (Part 2 of 2)

Now that summer has drawn to a close, it's time to get back into the classroom and learn more about the basics of AdWords. In our last AdWords 101 post before the summer, we discussed how to set up a keyword-targeted campaign. Today, we'll finish up this two-part post by discussing how to set up a site-targeted campaign. To begin let's first explore how keyword-targeted campaigns are different from site-targeted ones; the most important differences include how the ads are targeted, where your ads appear, how you are charged for the ads, and which ad types can be used.

With site-targeted campaigns, you choose specific sites, not keywords, where you would like your ads to appear. Ads will only appear on sites within the Google content network, and not on Google.com or Google's search network. In addition, site-targeted campaigns are priced by CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) -- that is, you set the price you'd like to pay for each 1,000 impressions the ad receives. Clicks do not factor into the price you pay; you will be charged whenever the ad is shown to a user.

How do you know if a site-targeted campaign is right for you? Site-targeted campaigns can be a good option for businesses that want to promote an existing brand or a new product to a large audience. But they also work for small advertisers who want to reach a very precise audience; for example, if you sell fishing gear, you may want to target your ads specifically to sites that fishing enthusiasts visit frequently. The best way to gauge if site targeting is right for you is to set up a campaign and experiment to see what works best.



To get started with a site-targeted campaign, click the "site-targeted" link next to "Create a new campaign" on your Campaign Summary page. The setup wizard will then run you through each step to creating your site-targeted campaign; here are a few tips:

1) You'll find that the first few steps in the setup wizard are almost identical to those of the keyword-targeted campaign setup process. As with keyword-targeted campaigns, you'll want to choose a descriptive title so that you can locate it easily in your list of campaigns.

2) When asked about your language and location targeting preferences, be sure to consider where your potential customers are located, and what language(s) they may speak. If your product or service is only available to customers in a specific geographical location, you may want to target your ads to users in that location only. (Even though you're targeting a specific site, we'll only show your ad on this site to users in your specified location).

3) With site-targeted campaigns, you also have the option of creating an image ad. Image ads can be created in a variety of standard sizes, and you can read more on the specifics of image ad guidelines and requirements. (Note: Video ads have a separate setup process, which is outlined here.)

4) The next screen takes you to the Site Tool. You have a variety of options when it comes to choosing the actual sites for your campaigns:

• Browse categories - you can browse categories such as "Beauty and Personal Care" or "Health" to select specific sites from a list generated by Google


• Describe topics - you can enter specific terms such as "organic hair care products" or "diabetes" to see a list of sites that are related to those topics


• List URLs - if you have specific websites in mind, you can enter them here to find out if they are available on the Google Network to display your ads


• Select demographics - you can choose to target a specific demographic audience, or you can choose options such as gender, age, household income and ethnicity. This option is only available for campaigns targeting the US.
  

When the list of suggested sites is displayed, you can click to add individual sites or all of the suggested sites to your list of selected sites shown on the right hand side.

5) The "Set Pricing" step will review the list of sites you've selected, and indicate which sites will accept text ads, image ads, or both. This is also where you'll be able to select your daily budget for this campaign, and specify your max CPM. Recall that site-targeted campaigns are priced per-thousand impressions, and not per click.

6) After choosing your budget and max CPM, you'll be taken to a review page so that you can confirm all of your campaign setup selections. Hit "Save Campaign" at the bottom.

7) Please be aware that your site-targeted campaigns, which show only on the content network, must be reviewed and approved before they will begin running.

Here are some additional topics in the AdWords Help Center that you may find useful:

• What is Site Targeting?
• Site Targeting Overview
• About the Content Network
• Image Ads Overview
• Video Ads Overview

Posted by Vivian, Inside AdWords crew