How to use Google Ad Planner

If you're an online marketer or media planner, you know the challenges associated with creating a web campaign and making sure your advertisements are displayed on relevant websites. Google's Ad Planner tool allows you to research and identify websites that closely match the target audience for your ad. This results in a better response rate for your campaign and less marketing dollars wasted.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Internet Connection
• Google Ad Planner Account
• General Info About Your Target Audience

1. Figure out who your target audience is. This is done by looking at your website analytics software, conducting web surveys and doing research on your competitors. Knowing the key demographics like age, gender, education, household income and geographic location will be key to achieving your marketing goals.
2. Sign up for Google Ad Planner Create a Google Ad Planner account at google.com/adplanner. Ad Planner is currently in a beta release so you'll have to apply and be accepted before you can use it. If you're not accepted right away, check back often for it's public release.
3. Add Sites To Your Plan Login in to your Ad Planner account and start doing some research. You know the type of person you want to target from Step 1. Identify the websites that are the closest fit to your demographic and then add them to your plan by clicking the "Add To Plan" button.
4. Now that you've chosen all the sites you are interested in, you can export your selections to your media planning and buying tool or you can contact the publishers directly for advertising information. You are well on your way to making smart, informed buying decisions for your ad campaigns.

Tips & Warnings

• Entering your target demographics will help eliminate many websites
• To learn more about your site visitors, try installing Google Analytics
• You can't buy advertising with Ad Planner, it is only used for research and planning
• The statistics provided are estimates