Google AdWords is an effective means of pulling in targeted traffic to your website. It allows you to get your site listed on the first page of the search results on Google and its advertising network for virtually any keyword phrase you can imagine. I'm convieced that Google is the best advertising channel that can generate consistent and quality traffic day in and day out.

Before tapping into a new market segment, you should test it with Google first, and then move on to experiment with other advertising methods using the data and statistics of traffic patterns you get through Google AdWords. However, you'd better do it right because advertising on Google is not something you can afford to screw up. If you don't know the proper way to implement Google's system, you'll end up spending 50% more than you should be buying their clicks.

After working with Google AdWords for the several years, I have pretty much experienced every mistake one could make when using Google AdWords. Below is a list of the top 6 mistakes that you should avoid.

1. Bidding too high for the top position:

When it comes to bidding on keywords, it seems like you should bid for the top placement. However, the biggest problem with the top spot is that there are many Internet surfers who click on ads without reading them first. Top ads are most likely to receive unqualified clicks. Also, you may overbid relative to profit potential. Unless you have predetermined data indicating a high bid will return a positive ROI, you need to keep your bids low. You may not be able to attract lots of traffic, but you can collect CPC and conversion data before going deeper into the niche you are exploring.

2. Implying that the promoted product or service is free:

Inexperienced advertisers tend to lure in visitors by implying that the product they are promoting is free. Bad idea! Traffic alone doesn't mean anything. Only sales pay your bills. Doing so will only attract tire kickers who are not interested in buying anything from you, and you'll be paying for each one of them. A good Google ad is all about striking a balance and attracting the right type of traffic.

3. Bidding on generalized keywords:

Common keyword phrases can suck up a lot of ad spending without producing any conversions. Those people who search very broad terms like "make money" don't know what they want. They are still in the research phase of the buying lifecycle. Your advertising should be tailored to your market's buying habits.

4. Setting a low daily budget:

The daily budget for your campaign is the ceiling on your daily spending. You can set this number at whatever you want. Some people say it is a good idea to start out with a low daily budget while you refine your AdWords effectiveness. However, my experience tells me if you set your daily budget too low, your ad won't get served with every search query that is made with your keywords. Google's system takes your daily budget, as well as other factors, into consideration and serves your ad accordingly. Set your daily budget about 5 times the amount that Google suggests, and monitor your campaign regularly.

5. Leaving the content network on:

Probably the most common mistake people make is using the content network. Unless you have great experience, you should turn off the content network. You can incur a large amount of advertising dollars on the content network very quickly while getting very low quality traffic from it.

6. Linking directly to merchant's website:

Direct linking is easy to be set up, but it doesn't allow for the opportunity of pre-selling your visitors. You could be wasting your money if your merchant's website doesn't convert. If you're promoting a specific product or service, you may want to create a landing page where you can pre-sell and promote more than one similar products at the same time to produce higher conversions.

These are just some of the mistakes that are easily made by advertisers while working with Google AdWords. PPC advertising is pretty competitive, and it's impossible to achieve success with mistake ridden AdWords campaigns. Making as less mistakes as you can is the first step of avoiding being taken out of the Internet marketing game.