You have many options for marketing your small business using Google .... search engine marketing is just one. That is .... optimizing your website to show up high in searches on specific key words in your website content that target your niche market. You want to get on to the first page when people search for your product/service using Google.
Keep in mind that if you optimize your website for searches on Google .... it will also likely do well in searches on other web directories like Bing and Yahoo.
You can also use Google Adsense or Adwords and choose between an image advert or text. The Image advert is more effective especially if in a prominent position on a web page; it is however more expensive. Your advertisement will be displayed on pages with keywords associated with your product or service. So say you sell wine. Then if the word wine is on the page, your advertisement will be displayed there.
The choices are quite complicated but Google has lots of information and videos on the use of Adsense and Adwords. Choose your words carefully. Keeping with the wine theme ....some advertisers will be advertising wine making equipment and supplies. They will go on pages that mention wine making. . Wine is obviously a key word that matches your product and also other words that wine drinkers are familiar with obviously.
Here are a few more suggestions ....
Only start using AdWords if:
1. You know exactly who you are trying to target. What do they like? What can't they stand to live without? What is compelling to them?
2. You have a very compelling proposition for those people. If you do, then you might be able to have success using AdWords.
--Make sure before you start the campaign, you know exactly what your goal is. (E.g: make a sale, get people to opt in to your newsletter, get somebody to call you, etc.)
--Research the words that match up exactly with the product/service you are trying to sell/promote. (Google keyword tool and traffic estimator can help you with your research. Sign up for an AdWords account so you can access them both.)
For instance you wouldn't want to use 'wine' as your keyword. That's way too general and you'd pay for irrelevant clicks. And it's all about relevance at Google. Perhaps 'chardonnay' is a good search term? That part you'll have to figure out with your knowledge and the Google tools.
--Make sure you use your keyword in the ad's title, in the first line of copy, and also that your landing page contains that keyword. Having these three (search term, ad, and landing page) match up is very important and affects your pricing and placement.
Use the AdWords Learning Center as much as possible. They have extremely good tools to help you become successful. Here's the link .....
Google Learning Center