How To Become A Google Advertising Professional
I am a Google Advertising Professional, meaning I am qualified to manage my own or other people’s AdWords accounts. I became one last year so I beat MsDanielle’s challenge but that was before we knew of each other so it doesn’t count. 
If you are unsure what Google AdWords is, and whether it’s worth signing up, click here to see a post I wrote about it a while back. But basically it’s paying (per click) to advertise on Google or on sites that run Google ads. You control the keywords and your daily spend, among other things.
What is a Google Advertising Professional?
A GAP is someone who has enough experience with AdWords to take a test and pass it, as well as meeting the other requirements. Once that’s done, they’re officially recognized by Google as a Qualified Individual (see below for the benefits). The procedure is:
- You pay $50 to sit the test and you must pass with 75% or higher.
- Visit their Learning Center and read/watch the tutorials about AdWords, AdSense and Analytics.
- Set up a My Client Center page in Your AdWords account where you manage your own campaigns and/or someone else’s for at least 90 days.
- Have spent the equivalent of about $1000 on the campaigns during that time (if you are an experienced AdWords user you should at least make that money back through whatever your conversion goal is - subscribers, sales etc).
Why bother?
- It’s another income source.
- More and more businesses want to advertise on Google but don’t have the pay-per-click advertising know-how. Help them!
- It’s a qualification that isn’t too hard to achieve if you’re familiar with AdWords or are willing to learn, and gives you more knowledge about how to run Analytics and AdSense as well.
- You’ve given access to an official logo, your own Status Page and marketing tools to help with future campaigns and attract more clients.
- If you enjoy stuff like affiliate marketing, PPC advertising, checking stats, selecting keywords and all that sort of geekery, you’ll have fun!
How do you use your qualification, Rich Minx?
To be honest, I haven’t really built up my Status Page or worked very hard on my own campaigns lately (which are affiliate-related) since taking off on this world trip I’m on, but my GAP has helped me market myself on my resumé and meant that a few people/companies have trusted me to manage their campaigns this year.
Interested? Sign up for the GAP exam, or sign up for AdWords.
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Thursday, July 19th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
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that’s really cool you have your cert. i remember you commented that you had it, and i thought d’oh! i gotta get on that!
i hope you will use your super skills and make lots and lots of money! i think the hardest part is just picking the right product. what do you think?
July 19th, 2007 at 1:38 pmI agree. There is definitely trial and error involved as you learn what attracts people to not only click but also follow through.
Good luck getting yours, let me know how it goes! Although with your experience I don’t think you’ll have any trouble at all
July 19th, 2007 at 1:43 pmI have been managing Adwords campaigns for about four years now and recently printed out the study materials for the GAP test. The stack of paper I printed is about an inch and a half thick.
Do you have any tips (not trying to cheat) for test takers?
Thanks,
Chris Denny
July 29th, 2007 at 2:18 pmHi Chris,
Good question. I remember there was a lot of material to plow through. I preferred watching the videos, but if you have printouts then attack with a highlighter! My main tip would probably be to browse AdWords, AdSense and Analytics as much as possible while you’re following the tutorials so the information sticks. If you have four years’ experience with AdWords then I don’t imagine you’ll have much trouble. Let me know how you do. Good luck!
July 29th, 2007 at 2:38 pm