I gave away a Sharp Electronic Cash Register last Saturday to a friend who owns a Pizza restaurant. I originally bought the cash register for selling my invention at retail trade shows. Seeing it reminded that, back then, I knew nothing about selling product at a Retail Trade Show until a veteran of this venue (who happened to be in the booth across from me selling Magic Chamois’) showed me how.

The Magic Chamois salesman explained to me that people think of trade show booths as they do games at a carnival… The guy at the carnival game is just trying to “get your money.” Therefore you (the salesman at the booth) have to make it seem like you’re just there to have fun and money is the “last thing on your mind.” If a person sees a cash register… They know you’re there for money, so: 1) Get rid of the cash register at your booth… It scares people way.  2) Make sure your table height is at about eye level with the customer. That way you don’t lose “eye contact” when you reach for something on the table. 3) Sell everything for what the people have in their wallets… $5, $10 or $20… And tell them you’ll “take care of the tax.” That way, there’s no change and no cash register… Just you, the customer and the product.

The next day I did exactly what the Magic Chamois salesman told me and got my first sale… and many more thereafter.

I had been working Industrial Trade Shows for over 20 years and thought I knew what I was doing… This proves that you always have something to learn from a guy who “does that.”

Note from Jeff Gawronski:  Paul Tuttobene is also an inventor that took an idea (Buck Magnet) and made it a reality.  He shares all the highs and lows in a must read book titled ‘INVENT-ONOMICS’  If you have an idea for a product invention before you go any further you have to read this book.

There are so few marketing ways an up and coming entrepreneur or inventor can do to get noticed ASAP.  For those that have brought an invention to market, getting discovered, noticed or Yak’d About never happens fast enough.  The waiting period or little by little growth can be difficult to bare.  It’s not just the financial aspect that makes entrepreneurs fret that no one knows about them, but its the fact that they worked so hard and long on bringing their idea to market.  All entrepreneurs simply want everyone to know that the product (or website) that previously didn’t exist can now be found.

Enter… Google Adwords.

I am specific to Google as although Yahoo search can help they operate on a pay us more and we’ll rank you higher method.  Although Google does this to some extent they truly take into account your ad relevance.  If you are wondering about Bing, who knows they may get people to switch their habits, but they currently have less than 5% of the market share, so for now we’ll leave them out of this conversation.

Google Adwords quite simply put is the entrepreneur’s champion because it allows anyone to get their website or product seen right away.  Unlike an organic listing in Google, which takes time, content and good search engine optimization (by the way never pay for SEO), Adwords can riffle you to the front in a matter of days.  It used to be hours, but as I’ve mentioned they really check for relevance. Due to smart marketers in the past making ads that had nothing to do with their company, Google has gotten more savvy in making sure its content is legitimate.  For instance an online retail store in the past would look to see that National Healthcare is something people are typing and looking up in Google.  They would make an ad that says National Healthcare and tie it into their real product/website.  This worked as it reached a lot of people, but most people using Google search wanted to really find articles on “National Healthcare”.  As smart marketers find creative tactics, Google is just a step behind (or in front) of adjusting their system.  Now your ads have to be relevant to your site.  Google even ranks how relevant your ad is and as you’d guess the higher you rank the better positioning you’ll get.  That’s the big difference between Yahoo and Google.  To Yahoo its all about the green stuff, the more you pay the higher you can rank.  You may not be as qualified, but if you have the cash flow you can buy your listing.  With Google what your site says and does actually matters.  The good thing is that Google has the lion’s share of the market so starting with a Google focus is the smart business thing to do.

4 Tips for Google Adwords

1.) Get in the customer’s shoes. If you were a customer shopping for your product, but didn’t know it existed what would you type into Google?  When you have a long list set it aside and ask family or friends what they would use as search words or phrases.  Once you have a solid list and you enter it into Google they’ll actually provide you with more or similar search terms that you may want to consider.  You’d think they were just the sweetest for doing this, until you remember you’ll be paying per click.

2.) Don’t overpay. Ok. This is a tough one.  In the beginning to show how relevant you are and that people like clicking on your ad you might have to pay more per click than you want or should.  The key however is to know when to start to bring that cost down.  A good campaign should have keywords cost between .07 – .30 cents a click.  I have found the current normal/best range to be .15-.22 cents a click.  This will vary by industry.

3.) Adjust. Adjust. Adjust. A Google PPC campaign that sits is a campaign that will fail.  You’ll either overpay per ad, you’ll get passed in rank per keyword or worse you’ll miss words that for some reason get over-clicked by scammers or the wrong audience.  Be on it like a hawk.   I know it seems like another chore, but this chore (unlike Quickbooks) actually brings in revenue.  Just think revenue, revenue, revenue and you won’t mind the task.  If you ask me, “how often do I check?”, that depends on your campaign, but a minimum of 1-2 times per week is a must.

4.) #1 Rank is not everything. To be #1 in rank is to it increase the cost and that is a budget buster for entrepreneurs.  Google is smart because they know everyone wants to be #1 in everything they do so as you guessed it this will cost you.  My opinion is that #1 can be alright for a brief test period, but most industries it actually can hurt to be #1.  By being #1  you’ll get more clicks, but are they necessarily more interested shoppers?  If anything you’ll get the click happy people who bounce around.  If you are ranked #5-7 or the end of page 1 or even the beginning of page 2, you’ll get customers who actually took 2 seconds to think before they clicked.  If they thought before they chose your ad to click, then there is a good chance they actually want to shop with you.

Now, before the holiday season passes you by, go beef up or create your impressive Google Adwords campaign.

About Jeff Gawronski’s Ad Word (PPC) experience: Jeff has been launching and running Google Adword campaigns for the past 4 years.  His campaigns have taken an unknown online retailer and brought it to a competition level with big box stores.  Jeff’s adword knowledge has lead him to conduct teaching seminars at major advertising firms and has lead to his assistance with small companies in need of a solid PPC campaign.  Jeff’s adword services are available and he can be reached at jeff@yakaboutit.com.

Whether inventors gather at their local entrepreneurial chapters or online in social outlets, one thing is for certain, there is a need to gather as a group and share best practices and ideas.  Of course it is also important for these entrepreneurs to promote their product and find resources that can assist in the entrepreneurial journey.  At Yak About It we try to provide both a place where entrepreneurs can promote their inventions and can be inspired by other inventor stories.  This of course is only one avenue and the need to meet in person and get connected will always be a necessity.  The Colorado Inventor Showcase is just that event.  For greater product exposure you can set up a booth (reasonable fee) and meet a host of potential resources or for an even lower fee you can simply attend the show and make new contacts and meet fellow inventor friends.

Guest:  Deb Frey, Vice President of the Davinci Institute elaborates:                                                                                Inventors are a group of people that are tortured by their ideas.  Hollywood makes fun of them, the business world often takes advantage of them, and they often end up destroying their lives – losing their families, going bankrupt in pursuit of their dreams.  These are the dreamers that our society has been built upon.  These are the people that are our future heroes.  We owe the inventors a debt of gratitude.

The Colorado Inventor Showcase takes the inventor out of their comfort zone and into the limelight. The inventor ends up on an unusual collision course with people who can help them.  This event puts them in a position of respect, it puts them in a position to be discovered and makes them the center of attention at this event.  The Colorado Inventor Showcase takes place in lovely Denver, Colorado on November 3rd, 2009 at The Cable Center.

To Exhibit the investment is $297 for a 6′ tabletop and $497 for a 10′ booth.  Price just to attend this event is $40 for DaVinci members and $50 for non members. To learn more check out:

http://www.davinciinstitute.com