ronburk - 6:23 pm on Mar 1, 2006 (gmt 0)

Rule of thumb: never pay more than a nickel per click

Why? It forces you to learn to write better copy to get listed higher, instead of just upping your bid.

Do I ever pay more than a nickel a click? Sure, there's always situations where that's warranted, but all else being equal, I'll start very low and try to make my ad copy beat the competition instead of trying to beat them with my bank account.

The Google advertising system will be happy to teach you how to write good ad copy -- if you let it, instead of just reaching for your checkbook to make up for poor copy.