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If you run a web site or are simply just getting started, you by no doubt know that the key to success is driving traffic to that web site.

And not just any traffic, highly targeted traffic.

With web site competition getting fiercer each day, targeted traffic is even more important than ever. The problem is that most business owners aren’t sure where to start getting this traffic that is so desperately needed. Especially if you’re running a brand new business online.

This is where the Google AdWords program comes in.

You have no doubt noticed the ads running at the top or along the right hand side of a Google search results page. These are companies who have decided to use the Google AdWords program in order to drive targeted traffic to their web site in the hopes of selling a product.

I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying “it takes money to make money” and that holds true regarding the AdWords program as well. But, as with all good advertising programs, you need to spend less than you take in.

The best thing about Google’s AdWords program is that if you use the right kinds of words, otherwise known as keywords, you can drive highly targeted traffic to your web site without spending a fortune.

To put it plainly, you tell Google which keywords you’d like your ads to show up for and set your daily budget. Google will then show your ads if one of the words you have chosen is searched on, and if someone clicks on your ad, you then get charged a certain amount of money which is what you pre-determined before starting your advertising campaign.

Unlike some other advertising sources, Google only charges you when someone clicks on your ad.

Not only can the Google AdWords program drive targeted traffic to your web site but it can also help your web site gain notoriety. If you have just created an online business or are struggling currently, then the AdWords program will help you get that sale.

Quite possibly the most complete guide ever written on AdWords is Perry Marshall’s Definitive Guide to Google AdWords - I highly suggest you check it out.

I had to share a story with you today because I know this is happening to a lot of unwary webmasters all of the time.This is something that happened to one of my clients last week and after consulting with him, I realized that this information really needs to be shared more often than it is.
Now, working in the SEO world, I know that there are quite a few unscrupulous companies out there who try to earn your business by implementing what I call a “confusion” technique.Let me elaborate with my client’s story…

They had registered a domain name a couple of years ago and had created their website on their own. They came to me for some SEO help because they were still not seeing the listing results that they liked.

As I consulted with my client, he had told me that he received a phone call from a company that will remain nameless, promising (in otherwords guaranteeing) that they could get his website in one of the top 10 positions in Google.

He asked them how they did that and they responded that by using Google AdWords you could get in the top positions of Google’s organic results.

My client was a little confused about the terminology - and thankfully he came to me before falling for this typical and widespread ploy on unwary site owners.

I explained to him that first and foremost, Google AdWords were those ads placed on the top and right-hand side of Google’s search engine results page.

If you go ahead and type in anything at all on the Google search page, you’ll see these ads readily populate along the side of the page and oftentimes on the top of the page as well.

These are ads that you pay for. Advertisers, small businesses, large businesses, they all have to pay Google a price to be listed in those positions.

The rest of the results on the page are what are called the “Organic” listings. These are the listings that legitimate SEO firms will do their darndest to get you into. Ideally on the first page and even more ideally within the top 3 positions.

These are the “free” listings. Now, obviously if you pay an SEO firm to optimize your website you don’t consider it a ‘free’ listing - but you don’t pay a price everytime someone clicks on your link like you do with Google AdWords.
In a nutshell, this particular (will remain nameless) firm was hoping that my client didn’t know the difference between being on the first page of Google in an ad or in the natural results - which he didn’t.

Thankfully he asked me first.

Never, ever, ever believe it when someone tells you that they can guarantee you a top spot on a search engine. In a little while I’ll be posting a video on this by Matt Cutts a Google software engineer that touches on this subject.

Please beware of these kinds of scam artists and remember, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.