We’ve all heard it…times are tough and they’re only going to get tougher. Jobs are being lost left and right. What are we going to do? I imagine there are differing opinions on whether or not things are as dire as the media make them out to be. But one this is certain. They sure as hell aren’t as good as they used to be. People are losing jobs and they are spending less. So, what does this mean to the small business owner?

Anyone who knows anything at all about business knows that you have to keep marketing during a recession. If you aren’t there when your prospects come calling, someone else will be. And what’s worse, they may end up with your competition for good. So if not marketing isn’t an option, then what? Small businesses can’t just throw money away for ads and hope people beat a path to their door.

What if I told you that you could advertise your business, but only pay for your advertising when a targeted prospect was sent to your website. Would you be interested? Of course you would. And that exact scenario is entirely possible with a Google AdWords Campaign.

In fact, I think Google AdWords could save many small businesses during the recession. I’m sure you’ve seen them before. They are the small ads down the right hand side of a Google search page when you search for a specific search term. Also known as pay-per-click, you create ads for keywords that you select and those ads show up when someone searches for those terms. And the best part is, you only pay if someone clicks on your ad and is sent to your website. How amazing is that?

How much you pay per click is dependent on a few different factors such as competition and how relevant your ads are to your website. That’s right, Google will actually reward you for being relevant by making you pay less. Skill counts for something when creating AdWords ads.

You’re able to set a daily budget for your ads that won’t be exceeded, and you can target geographically so that your ads only show where you want them to. There are other features, but these are the main points. The real benefit to Google AdWords is how targeted the traffic is that visits your website. Far from just throwing ads out there and hoping to interest someone, people are actually looking for you!

Let’s make a quick comparison. Say you put an ad in the local paper that costs you $500. Realistically, how many people would you expect to visit your website from that ad? How many future customers would you find? I guess it depends on the type of business, but let’s be generous and say 500. One prospective customer for every dollar spent. Now, let’s say you spent $500 on Google AdWords at a modest 25 cents per click. That’s 2000 targeted visitors to your website for the same amount of money. Why wouldn’t any small business owner want to give this a try?

I have to be honest, though…Google AdWords can be a rough road for a novice. There are lots of little known techniques and nuances that can make the whole thing go a lot smoother. Google is very big on relevance for their users, and if your ads or website aren’t relevant to the terms they searched for you will be penalized. Just be sure to either take the time to get to know the system and the process, or find someone who already knows to do it for you.

Now is definitely the time to try something like this for your small business. With a little creativity, there’s no reason your business can’t have its best year ever.