For a company that loves to talk about upsells and cross sells and direct response and ROI, Google has a tendency to make finding their additional services similar to a treasure hunt.
In the name of One-Eyed Willie and all things spectacular, here they are, so far as I know them, written below:
The Big One is AdWords
AdWords is the one that does the ads in Google searches as well as other search engines and websites. It also has a list of targeted products within that allow for advertisers to advertise on mobile devices, client websites, videos. This also includes a specific platform that allows ecommerce store owners to advertise all their products in a shopping portal.
Google Display Network
This is the part of AdWords that lets you put image and text ads on websites that participate on the program. That number? Really, really, big including several high-end websites. There are also several targeting controls to keep you off the ones you don’t like and the asshole ones like parked domains and aggregator websites.
Google AdWords Shopping Campaigns
Ever went to shop for a product and found spec listings for it in the top of Google Searches? Those who get in there used Google Shopping. The products are monitored through a Google Merchant; the advertising is controlled in Google AdWords.
“Why is the Merchant account separate from Google AdWords shopping?”
Your question > my answer for it.
If I had to guess, I’d say keeping them separate keeps developers on one side and advertisers & agencies on the other. The division of labor could be a security safeguard.
Google Video Advertising
This one has an overlap with YouTube Advertising. The downside is that you don’t have nearly as much creative control or possibilities as you do if you utilized YouTube’s platform. The upside is that you can centralize management within one AdWords interface.
Why would I consider YouTube Advertising?
YouTube is owned by Google. It’s the 3rd most visited site in the world next to Facebook and Google – at the time of this writing.
Folks love video. Abnormally so, it would appear, but that’s the hand we’re dealt.
And, no, you don’t need a video to advertise on video sites. :-).
Google AdWords Mobile Advertising
This one is pretty cool because you can:
- Run “click-to-call” ads on mobile devices: Skip landing pages and have customers call you directly.
- Send traffic to mobile-specific pages : If you’re one of those whose mobile web pages are different than your desktop pages, you can send traffic accordingly
- Send traffic to Mobile Apps: You want app downloads instead of website visitors? Google Does that. They even do it for iPhone apps.
Google Express
If I were a lawyer and you were my law client, I would be legally obligated to present you this opportunity. But I’m not, and you’re not, and it is typically in your best interest to avoid the product whose name is struck out in the subheading above, unless you don’t care about results, optimization, or ROI.
It’s designed to be a teaser product to let first timers get their feet wet without having to learn how to use the intricacies of the AdWords interface. But, you’d rub your forehead raw from the facepalms you’d give yourself if you saw the before & after’s of folks who go from the product-whose-name-is-struck-in-the-subheading-above vs actual AdWords users.
YouTube Advertising
Tell you what, YouTube Advertising offers a lot of great details, including creating videos from stock, additional targeting, and enhanced metrics to really narrow down to the nitty gritty.
You can start with Google AdWords video, but when you start seeing positive results and you want to enhance it, you should consider the switch.
Google Consumer Surveys
Ever go to an online newspaper article and before you read it you have to answer a couple stupid survey questions (an especially aggravating feature to endure during breaking news)? Yeah. Blame Google. Well, don’t quite blame them. It saves you from having to go through a paywall to read the news.
And, in situations when it isn’t breaking news, Google Consumer Surveys have been shown to get to customer data. So, so long as it isn’t a news emergency, and you want some client data, this is worth taking a peak at.
Manage Many, Many Platforms via DoubleClick
Double Click is digital marketing management software that allows you to track and manage multiple campaigns from Google and others – including competitors – within one interface.
It is also itself an ad network with an incredible selection that you can either advertise on or be an advertiser for.
Measuring and Tracking with Google Analytics
Ah-yes, get that data. Google Analytics was one of the first to make, “Analytics,” a word. It does a pretty good job – especially if you do what the overwhelming majority of uses do and uses the free software. But, if you can afford $10k a month to have an agency help you with stats, then take a look at Google Analytics Premium.
A pretty sweet suite to start online advertising
If you’re new to Advertising, or want to take it back to the beginning, then Google is the best place to start. You can start small, one product at a time, and grow into the space. You don’t need them all to begin. Test. Find ROI. Grow. Test, again…
Addendum – for Bloggers and Affiliate Marketers
Yes, Google had their own Affiliate Network. They retired it in 2013. They still offer AdSense and DoubleClick. I guess I could tell you it’s like pointing out that Olympic gold medals are only gold-plated yet silver medals are made of pure silver, making them more valuable for resale, but in the end, everyone still wants the gold.