Adwords, Google’s search advertising program, has two somewhat new, seldom used features which are particularly helpful if you are promoting a local business:
- Local Business Ads – Available since March, 2006, this little-known feature allows your ad to have some special features when displayed on local.google.com or Google Maps, including a custom map icon, a 125×125 logo and the ability to display information such as your phone number and address only on local searches. The first click on a local business ad pops up a window with your information – there is no charge for this initial click, you pay only if someone clicks through to your web site. Pricing is the same as for the rest of the Adwords program. In order to take advantage of local business ads, your business must be listed in Google local.
- Ad Scheduling – Want your ad campaign to run only when someone’s in your office to take a call? Now you can easily schedule your ads to coincide with your business hours . Using ad scheduling you can, for example, automatically pause your ads at 5:30 PM and restart them at 7:30 AM. Set separate schedules for any or every day of the week. Like the rest of Adwords, the interface is intuitive and very simple to use.
[tags]google, advertising, marketing, small-business, adwords[/tags]