This is part 4 of our week-long series on starting an AdWords account from scratch. The series will walk you though each step of the process, from creating your initial keyword list to activating your campaigns. Give us 5 days and we’ll teach you how to start you very own AdWords account!
You are almost at the end of the Yellow Brick Road and will soon be able to see the Great Oz of Google… You’ve gathered your keywords list from the Scarecrow (Bethany is the brains of this operation for sure!), your account structure is set up from the Tin Man (I really do have a heart!) and you have all your ads written with the help of the Cowardly Lion (Jessica is actually very courageous!). Last steps are to activate your account and track your leads! 
Sign Me Up!
Google takes you through four steps to set up your account. Since you have your research done and all of your settings are ready, this will be fairly simple.
Step One: Target your Customers (check!) Step Two: Create your Ads (check!) Step Three: Set your Pricing (check!) Step Four: Sign up (and here we are…)Once you have completed the first 3 steps and reviewed your entries, you will be able to enter your Google account email address and password. There are two options here – you can sign up with an existing Google account or you can create a new one. It just depends on your preference. Our suggestion is to set up another email account specifically for AdWords. This way, if there are additional people working in the account, they won’t have access to your personal email! Probably not a great idea to give the Wicked Witch of the West access to your vacation plans to the Emerald City…
If you are creating a new account, a screen like this will be revealed:
You will be asked to go through a couple of checks and balances, like verifying your email address. After that, there are only a couple more steps and we promise you will be set!
Pay the Piper
There are two ways that you can set up billing with Google for your shiny new AdWords account.
- Postpay payment method – with this option, payments are made only after you accrue advertising costs. You are billed 30 days after your last payment or when you account reaches its billing threshold. A credit or debit card can be entered for payment and your ads will typically be shown immediately after authorization. You can also opt to have your billing drafted from your bank account. A draft may take a bit longer to approve and thus hold up your account from starting immediately.
- Prepay method – you pay for your advertising in advance of receiving any impressions or clicks. Google will notify you when your funds are running low and will allow you to replenish the money at any time. Again, you can use a credit or debit card as well as draft the funds from your bank. Same time frames apply for your ads showing as the postpay method.
For more information about how to enter your billing information and how to change it, check out this Google AdWords Help article.
Tracking Your Journey
You are at the gates to the Emerald City. Wouldn’t it be great to know who else has been there too? And how they got there? Well, you can! The final step to making your AdWords dreams come true is to place your conversion tracking codes. Conversion tracking is when a cookie is placed on the user’s computer and a correct match is made, then Google credits your account with a successful conversion. A conversion is designated as a purchase, sign-up, page view or lead. To view your successful conversions in AdWords, click your Campaigns tab or click on the Reporting and Tools tab and select “Conversions.”
Here are the steps to generating and placing your conversion code snippet:
- click on the Reporting and Tools tab > Conversions
- the code is provided at the bottom of the screen. There are no system requirements for this code to be placed on your site. In order for Google to track these conversions properly, the searchers must be able to download images as well as have cookies enabled on their computers.
- Now you can copy and paste the conversion code into the associated conversion pages of your web site. The code snippet should be placed between the <body> tags and NOT in the header or the footer of your code.
For more information on placing your codes or different types of tracking, check out this Google AdWords Help article.
You are in! The Great Oz of Google will now grant your advertising wishes! Now, the journey does not end here… there is so much more you can do with your account. It’s time for optimizations, experiments, mobile campaigns, display network campaigns – the list goes on and PPC Hero (aka Glenda the Good Witch) is here for you. We will help you through all of it. So, just click your heels and gather that data. Remember, there’s no place like Google…
