Whilst Adwords allows you to access 100 million people in less than 10 minutes and is therefore probably the best internet marketing tool available, it is also the most difficult to master.

This isn't news and everyone knows this already you may say, however only a select few are really making the big money.

Why is this?

Well it's because only the so called internet marketing gurus know how to effectively leverage Adwords for significant profits.

In fact, for the inexperienced Adwords campaigner, Adwords is a great way to quickly deplete your bank account for no or very little gain – Google seems to punish uneducated affiliate marketers and rewards smart ones.

So what are the secrets to the effective use of Adwords?

1. Ad Copy

Poor ad copy and your campaign won't get off the ground or worse still will cost you money in wasted (badly targeted) clicks.

The structure that works for most advertisers is to ask a question on line 1 (heading) which will ignite the prospect's interest, mention a captivating feature of the product on line 2, provide a real benefit on line 3 and finally place the url to link to on line 4.

2. Ensure Maximum Return form each Adword Click (ROI)

Each time someone clicks your Adword Ad it is costing you money.
It is therefore obvious that you want this person to click through and make a purchase.

This is the best outcome you can hope for from your ad.

3. Ensure your Traffic is Targeted

Always bid on exact match keywords which will contribute to only targeted traffic clicking on your ads facilitate a good click thru rate (CTR) and sales.

When creating a new AdWords campaign, uncheck the 'Content Network' box in the campaign settings and limit your ads to being displayed only on Google's 'Search Network' to ensure only highly qualified and targeted prospects click on your ads.

4. Bid to be in Position 2 or 3

Bidding to get into position #1 is not such an advantage as clicks can be more costly without any significant benefit.

However, having your ad in one of these top spots will result in a higher CTR which will Google will reward you for by charging you less per click.

5. Do Not Use Competitive Keyword Phrases

Because of the high competition for popular keywords they result in a low CTR and also a high cost per click (CPC).

Therefore use more specific keyword phrases, for example: “cheap airfares” will be more competitive than “cheap airfares every Saturday evening from Gatwick”

6. Split Testing

Split testing your ads will enable you to determine the CTR for each ad and you can then modify the lower performing ones.

7. Analyze

Always analyze each ads performance to see how many clicks each ad is getting and how many sales result from each one.

In conclusion in any pay per click (PPC) campaign the focus must always be on your return on investment (ROI) as it is easy to have an Adwords campaign eat up your budget in no time at all without much to show for it.

Therefore acquaint yourself with Google's Adwords thoroughly or better still invest in a reputable guide to Adwords prior to embarking on your campaign which will either work for you or cost you.