A fresh look for AdWords Express

Today, when you log into AdWords Express, you’ll notice a brand new look. We’ve listened to your feedback and worked with a lot of small businesses to streamline the AdWords Express experience. It’s part of our ongoing efforts to make Google products more beautiful and efficient.

Clearer stats and reporting graphs
Small business owners have told us that they’re busy and that they don’t want to spend time looking for the information they need. We redesigned the dashboard to show you at a glance how many views, clicks and calls your ad has generated. There’s a simple pie chart for tracking your monthly spending, and you can also compare results over time with the new performance graph.

A faster, simpler signup
We’ve made some significant improvements to the signup experience. Now there are just 3 steps to start advertising: select your audience, create your ad, and select your budget. Getting your ad set up shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.

Real-time ad previews
With the new real-time ad preview box, you can now see your ad created right as you type.  Just hover over the icons to preview all the ad formats that are available based on the text you provide. Try it out by creating an ad at google.com/adwords/express.

We’re constantly working to improve the AdWords Express user experience to make it easier for small businesses to get their ads online. Keep the feedback coming!

Posted by Cinthya Mohr and the AdWords Express User Experience Team

AdWords Express is now available through My Client Center

As AdWords Express continues to grow (now available internationally in 15 countries), our AdWords Premier SMB Partners have asked us to make it easier for them to tap into AdWords Express for their clients. We’re happy to announce that starting today, these partners, along with agencies and other third parties, can create and manage AdWords Express accounts at scale through My Client Center (MCC).

Using AdWords Express via MCC can save agencies and other third parties time and overhead by eliminating day-to-day management for local, small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). AdWords Express complements existing AdWords services provided by agencies today by offering them a new option to help SMBs get started quickly with online marketing. Third parties can now create new accounts by simply selecting ‘AdWords Express’ through the MCC. Get more details and instructions on using AdWords Express through MCC in the AdWords Express Help Center.

Steve Curry, President and CEO of 411.ca, a site serving millions of Canadians, has the following to say about AdWords Express:

"We have been using AdWords Express through MCC in a beta trial and have found it to be very simple to set up. Since AdWords Express doesn't need ongoing account optimization, it's a great tool for us to be able to efficiently deliver a valuable advertising solution to our SMB advertisers.” 

For more resources on My Client Center and other tools to effectively manage large accounts at scale, visit the AdWords Help Center.

Posted by Nicholas Boos, Product Manager

AdWords Express holiday offer extended for a limited time

Still scrambling to stay ahead of the holidays? We want to help you make the most of the last 2 weeks of the year, so we’re extending our offer to double your AdWords Express investment. Just start using AdWords Express to attract new customers to your U.S. business, and you'll get a free advertising credit in January worth what you spend on AdWords Express ads between now and December 31, 2012.*

Reaching potential customers online is a snap with AdWords Express. Just select your business category, write an ad, and set your budget. Where and when your ad appears is managed automatically, and you only pay when potential customers click on your ad for more information. And in mid-January, you’ll receive a free advertising credit for that amount you spent on AdWords Express ads in December.*

Get started today at http://www.google.com/adwords/express/.

Posted by Richard Holden, Product Management Director, AdWords Express

*Terms and conditions

A free month of advertising from AdWords Express

The holidays are a busy time for everyone, and small businesses are certainly no exception. To help businesses reach new customers this season and keep the holiday spirit rolling into 2013, we have a special offer for new AdWords Express users in the U.S. If you sign up for AdWords Express before December 16, 2012, you’ll receive a free advertising credit in January worth what you spend between now and the end of this year.*

Since AdWords Express launched in July 2011 in the United States, we’ve seen businesses from toy stores to tree farms use AdWords Express to get their businesses discovered online. After 16 busy months, AdWords Express has expanded its borders to 12 additional countries and 9 languages, so that gift shops in Germany, heating contractors in the U.K., and surf shops in Australia can get on the map in front of potential customers in time for the holiday season.

Watch these businesses talk about how they use AdWords Express to maximize sales in the busy season:

Remember, the sooner you start advertising online, the more holiday customers you can reach and the more free advertising credit you can earn, so visit google.com/adwords/express today.

Happy holidays from the AdWords Express team!

Posted by Enrique Muñoz Torres, Sr. Product Manager, AdWords Express

*Terms and Conditions

Measure Your Success: Call Reporting Now Available in AdWords Express

How did you find us? There's a good reason so many business surveys include this question: understanding how people connect with your business is important. When people search for local businesses on Google, they may want to check out a website, but there's a good chance they'll want to just give you a call. That's why we initially launched call reporting for AdWords customers—to help businesses use search to connect with people over the phone. Now, we're expanding this feature to AdWords Express customers so local businesses can benefit as well. Call reporting allows you to quantify the offline value of your ads by seeing how many phone calls your ads generate.

How search ads can make your phones ring
When you sign up for call reporting, we will replace the phone number in your Google Search ads across desktop, mobile, and tablet with a toll-free Google forwarding number. When customers call this number, we’ll automatically forward the call to your business and report in your dashboard that the call was made. This allows you to keep track of how many calls your ad is generating for your business. You can see it all right in your AdWords Express dashboard.



Okay, I’m in! How can I do this?
To edit your call reporting preferences, go to your AdWords Express dashboard. Click the ‘Manage your ads’ tab and you’ll see a checkbox for call reporting. If this is selected, on your dashboard you will see calls in addition to clicks and views for your ad.



Currently, call reporting is available for US businesses using AdWords Express. For more information on how it works, set up, and pricing, please visit the AdWords Express Help Center.
Posted by: Venkat Rao, Associate Product Manager, AdWords Express

Recap of SMB Hangout on Air: Special Edition

Last week we hosted an SMB Hangout on Air with Google ads executives and advertisers. For those of you who missed it, or would like to take advantage of the tips and ideas shared, here's a recap of what we covered:

• Three tips for success: Francoise Brougher, VP of Global SMB Sales & Operations, shared that success with AdWords comes from having properly established goals, a well defined audience and highly relevant ads. 
• Recent improvements to AdWords product: Paul Feng, Director of Google AdWords Product Management, talked about the new campaign creation flow, the Display Network tab and the ease of creating mobile-specific campaigns. 
• Setting up strategy and saving time managing AdWords: Kim Clinkunbroomer, AdWords Certified Partner, got some tips from Paul on ways to save time in managing account with the use of AdWords Express and automated rules in AdWords. 
• Video ads and Remarketing: Tom Sands, AdWords Certified Partner, received advice from Francoise on getting the most out of video ads, and learned from Paul how with the new Remarketing Tag, clients can deploy a single tag once across their whole site and build remarketing lists based on visitors segments. 

 If you missed this Hangout on Air - don’t worry - you can watch the recording now on the Google Business YouTube channel!

Posted by Agata Krzysztofik, Google Ads Team