Google AdWords is an incredible marketing product for businesses. I think it's such an important tool for any business or individual with a product or service they are trying to sell.

One of our clients built his entire business from Google AdWords and pay-per-click advertising. He did not spend money in any other marketing channels. Only pay-per-click. His business grew like crazy, and was very profitable.

Ultimately, AdWords is so powerful because you are targeting your customers specifically. Your ads are being served according to their search terms. This is not "shotgun" advertising. This is pin-point, right-on-the-money advertising, that every serious business should be using. 
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Here's a great article by Seth Godin The secret of the web (hint: it's a virtue). From the article: 
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A friend of mine owns a couple of rental properties here in Reno. A few weeks ago I ran into him at The Home Depot. He was buying drywall supplies... evidently one of his tenants had destroyed a five foot area of drywall. So there he was buying his supplies, getting ready to fix the damaged wall.

I talked to him a little while later and asked about the drywall. He said it took him 5 days and about $450 to fix the wall. When I asked him how it looked, he replied, "It'll work".

That conversation got me thinking about business owners, their websites and online maketing. There are a ton of "do-it-yourselfers" in business. People who ask the question, "Why should I pay someone to build website? I can do it myself."

Of course you can build your own website. There are tons of free services out there that will allow you to do just that. But, the end result usually works out like my buddy who repaired his own drywall: learn how to do it, spend a lot of money and time, and end-up with something less-than desirable. Something that "will do".

As business owners, we justified learning how to do things ourselves in order to save the cost of paying someone else to do it. I think this philosophy works for some specific business issues. But it won't work for your website, your pay-per-click campaigns or your search engine optimization.

These online initiatives are simply too complex to handle yourself (that is, if you want to see results). In today's world, your website is more important than your storefront. Spend the money and get professional help. 
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