Guess Who’s a Google AdWords Qualified Professional?
That’s right, I recently passed the Google AdWords Qualified Professional exam! My motivation for taking the exam was two fold. First I wanted to prove to myself that I had truly mastered the AdWords platform and could launch, maintain, and optimize successful PPC campaigns. Secondly, I launched a new performance marketing company to generate leads and sales for local businesses in my area and the Google qualification is a nice tool to tout your skills.
What does it take to become qualified?
According to Google, to become an AdWords Qualified Individual or Company, you must accomplish the following:
- Sign up for the program successfully and be in good standing.
- Manage at least one AdWords account in My Client Center for 90 days.
- Build and maintain at least US$1,000 total spend for your or your team’s My Client Center account during the 90-day period.
- Pass the Google Advertising Professional Exam.
So I’m qualified, now what?
Other than getting a warm and fuzzy feeling the qualification has several marketing advantages. I can display the logo on my company website, business cards, and other print materials as a badge of recognition. Also, I can confidently let my clients know that I have the skills to run successful PPC campaigns. My new company, Cogent Search Engine Marketing, is strictly in the business of creating lead generation campaigns for clients and the recognition from Google goes a long way. Many small business who have dabbled with AdWords are under the belief that simply starting a campaign and buying traffic is all they have to do to start profiting from the web. Eventually they all find out that there’s a lot more to it and that’s where I come in.
My affiliate marketing experience over the last two years is the main reason I was able to gain the required experience and pass the exam. I’m not discontinuing my affiliate efforts but applying them directly to private deals that I negotiate with businesses in my area. If you are thinking about becoming an AdWords Qualified Professional, take the time to go through all the content in the AdWords learning center as it is a tremendous help. Also, launch campaigns and learn how it works as this is the most valuable training you’re going to get — hands on. As always, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask someone or post a comment here and I’ll do my best to help you out.
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Hi Jason,
I was apart of BIP with you. Congrats!
I am considering doing the exam also.
How long did you take to learn adwords before you took the exam?
What do they mean by maintain $1000 in your account? Is it spend and topup what you have spent to maintain the $1000?
Thanks for taking the time to answer!
Thanks Dez, it’s nice to hear from a former BIP student. I’ve been using AdWords for two years now and I can safely say I knew 85%-90% of what AdWords could do before preparing for the exam. However, you can easily take a week or two and study the content in the learning section to prepare for the exam. The $1000 limit is a floating number that must be spent over the course of 90 days. You have to maintain that amount until you pass the test. In addition, you have to retake the exam each year to maintain your status as well as meet all the requirements at the time of retaking the exam. I hope that makes sense. Good luck on your exam!