You may have heard a lot about AdWords, and what it's done for other businesses. But what is it, and why does it matter?

Adwords is just one of the few available programmes that Google offer to the average bloggers or webmasters to place ads on their site, which also sign up for the sister programme, Google AdSense. With AdWords, you can easily create "campaigns," which determine how your ad appears.

A campaign is comprised of the following:

* The ad itself, which includes a brief description of the product and service, and a link to your website.
* Keywords that you think people will use when searching for the sort of product or service that you offer.
* A budget limit that you place. You can have restrictions on your budget in keywords, which will determine the maximum amount that you're willing to pay per click, and you can also limit how much you spend per day on the campaign.

The fact that Google makes it so easy to control your budget makes the AdWords programme sensible for everyone, whether their budget is a few pounds a day, or virtually unlimited. If you think that you've attained your financial limit for the day, week, or month, you can simply put your campaign on a halt temporarily.

Depending on the country your billing address is in, you have several payment options. If you're based here in the United Kingdom, you can choose pre-pay or post-pay, using a major credit or debit card. If you choose pre-pay, you fund your account ahead of time, and your daily fees will be deducted. When your balance reaches zero, your ads stop running.

If you choose post-pay, you're billed at certain thresholds, depending upon your activity, or at the end of the month, whichever comes first. Which method you choose depends on your budget, and how comfortable you are with sticking with it. If you're cautious, and want to ensure you don't run up a large bill, then you may wish to choose the pre-pay option. If you're campaigning for a business and have an advertising budget of any sort, then you may opt the post-pay option.

Whichever option you choose, your ads will run on Google itself, when people type keywords that you choose. The amount you're willing to spend on these keywords will determine the placement of the ad; to the right of the search results, or above them. Your ads will also appear on sites that have signed up with AdSense, either at random, or most likely in relation to certain words within the page being presented on that website. For example, if an AdSense client posts an article about cars, and you run an auto repair shop, your ad is more likely to be served there than it is on a site that discusses ponies.

The AdWords service can be quite powerful once you get the hang of keywords, and determine which ones work best for your business or site. The Adwords service can really pay more when done correctly and can also bring potential sales. In any event, it more often than not puts the power of advertising in the hands of those who couldn't otherwise afford expensive television, radio, or print campaigns, and that is a powerful tool indeed.