How to Master the Google Content Network

In Google Adwords, there are two routes that you can follow to advertise: the Content Network and the Search Network.

Now, what is the Search Network? When you type a keyword in the Google Search Engine, a list of results is displayed. The sponsored links that you will see on the top and to the right of the page are the results of advertised links in the Search Network. You want to get your ad showing up high in the Search results and you can make a lot of money out of this.

But there is far more money to be made by not choosing this route and actually going through the Content Network.

What is the Content Network? This is where ads are displayed on other websites. When you are reading someone's website, and you may see a block of ads being displayed somewhere in that website. That is the Content Network.

Imagine again you are reading someone's website. Usually you land in a particular website because you are looking for something, or interested in the subject. And your eye catches this ad heading that really calls out to you. You will click on it, especially if it says something really relevant to what you are looking for. This is how ads on the content network attract traffic.

Not many people know how to make money out of the Content Network. Usually ads on Content Network looks really boring and does not attract much attention. Now you can make a lot of money if you know how to write ads that show up on this display blocks on the relevant websites.

To start, go to your Google Adwords account. Don't click on "Create Your First Campaign", that is the way Google wants you to go. Instead, click on Campaign Summary on the top, this is like the backdoor. Over on the right, you see a really tiny link that says New Online Campaign, and click on Start with placements. That brings you to Placement targeting which simply means you are going to advertise on other people's website.

First choose the target language and target location. That depends on the product you are promoting, and what customers that is most relevant to. You can choose as many countries as you like to target. When you are done, hit Continue.

Next write a headline as if you are speaking to the person reading the website. That will really grab their attention. For example, "Mom Goes From Broke To Rich In Just 2 Hours A Day Doing What She Loves The Most!" That sounds like a story headline, and people love stories. So this will trigger their curiosity. Then enter the url that is similar to your headline. For example, "broke-to-rich-mom-story.com".

You can carry on to create a few more ads in this campaign. When you are happy with your ads, hit continue.

You come to target placement. This is where it gets really confusing and people back out of this. Click on Describe topics and type a keyword that describes the customers you are targeting. For example, our ad above is related to moms. So say, type in "stay at home mom" and hit Get Available Placements. Google will find for you all the websites you can advertise on based on this topic. Then scroll down through the list of website and simply click "Add" to add each one of the websites. There is no limit to the number of websites you can advertise on. Hit Continue when you are done.

Next, choose a pricing method. A lot of gurus out there teach you to do CPM (click per thousand impressions). Don't do that. You might lose a lot of money if you don't know what you are doing. Instead, choose CPC (click per click), so you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. Hit Continue.

You are then shown the number of impressions that you may have out of your selected placement websites. You get an idea how many people is going to see your ad everyday. Scroll down, enter your maximum daily budget. And the bid price that you are willing to pay for each click. Rememebr you are going to compete with all other advertisers out there to show up on the ad blocks of the websites you have selected. The higher the bid price the more likely you ad will show up.

That's how you can master the Google Content Network. You just need to be really smart about how you write your ads and where you place them. Enjoy!