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* Online Advertising

One way for a business to generate leads is through online advertising, and Google AdWords is probably the most popular system in use today. Google places ads alongside its normal search results. It also places ads directly on other web pages beside regular content. These web sites have opted to allow Google to advertise in return for a percentage of revenue.

* Creating a Google Adwords Account

It is relatively straight forward to sign up for a Google Adwords account. Go to Google's main page and click on "Sign In". On the next page click on "Create an account now", then fill in your details. This creates a Google account. To start an Adwords campaign, click on "Adwords" and follow the set-up instructions.

* Writing an Online Ad

Google has some rules for writing ads, which can be found by clicking on "Help" and then "Ad Requirements and Guidelines". The main rules are not to use excessive capitalisation nor make claims about a product that is not supported by the information on the product's web page. Google is trying to protect consumers from fraudulent wording and large capitalised text which may draw people in.

The best idea when writing an ad is to be truthful about a product and use normal capitalisation. Other ideas are to offer a free sample or discount in the ad, mention special sales or qualities that distinguish the product from others. These are fairly normal advertising strategies, but with Google text ads there are only 4 lines to write in : a title, two ad lines, a web page address line.

Being concise is the key and the overall strategy is to get the target market, and only the target market, to click on the ad and come through to the product's web page, also called the landing page. It is on that page that the potential customer will be persuaded to buy the product.

*Generating Leads

Once a customer is through to the product (item or service) web page, there are several ways to generate a sales lead. Offering a free sample, newsletter or consultation in return for the customer's e-mail address is fairly standard. Following up with daily or weekly information e-mails with news, sales, tutorials or other free samples can build a trusting relationship.

Make sure at the bottom of every e-mail contact there is an opt out procedure from future e-mails. It is also a good idea to reassure the customer before taking an e-mail address that it will not be sold or given away to a third party for marketing purposes.

The key is this: "Don't Make the Customer have to Think". Attention spans in people surfing the internet are extremely small. Any tiny obstacle can make a potential customer click away from the web site.

Learn more about this author, Mark Hansen.
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