Before you start a PPC campaign first decide if you have a good business model intact to achieve a Return On Investment (ROI). It's absolutely pointless to spend money on traffic if you don't have a strategy to make a profit.
Providing you have a strategy all you do is go to adwords.google.com and sign up. Their wizard will guide you through the steps. Your objective is to drive RELEVANT traffic to your web site. Follow these tips:
- Search for keywords that closely relate to the product or service you are offering. In a perfect scenario those keywords would be somewhere on your landing page and in your Adwords Ad.
- Choose longtail keywords that have traffic but less competition. Your bid will be less than popular keywords.
- Create specific ad groups that allow you to have very specific ads geared towards specific keywords.
- Create a Negative Keyword list. If your website is about Car Loans and your keyword is "bad credit car loan" you will want to block the following keywords for example: calculator, mortgage, review, ..., etc.
- When writing your ad use a title that is closely related to the keywords being typed in. In the description of your ad always be brief yet specific. Your descriptions should pull the customer in letting them know that YOU have what they want.
- Always use a landing page. NEVER point an adwords campaign at your index page unless 1) your landing page IS your index page or 2) you simply want more traffic to your main page. If your goal is to produce leads it's absolutely a requirement to have a landing page with a form of some sort and little to no other options for the user to click.
- Always keep in mind. More traffic DOESN'T always equal more profit. Your goal is to drive RELEVANT traffic to your site. THAT will make you money. 20 visitors seeking a product that you are offering is much more valuable to your company than having 1,000 visitors looking for sex visit a web site about dish detergent.
- Figure out your budget before you open your adwords account. Know what you want to spend and what you can spend. Never act on impulse. Adwords at first can be gambling with worse odds than a Casino. Also, even if you see an immediate return always remember it's not a short term investment... it's a long term. Your ROI will be determine in MONTHS of adwords usage. Not a single day.