Free Google AdWords for One Lucky Small Business

This Thursday I begin my first regular teaching role at West Liberty University.  Not bad for the kid whom the woman in Vanderbilt’s registrar office told he had the 2nd lowest graduating GPA she’d ever seen.  Okay, that was my roommate.  But you’re still talking about the guy whose brother mockingly nicknamed him “Our Scholar.” Even my dear mother got into the act.  While visiting New Orleans one year, my folks noticed a panhandler wearing a Vanderbilt t-shirt.  When my father wondered aloud what his major was, my mother quipped “sociology.”

So while it’s somewhat odd to be teaching, I’m excited. I’m also honored that the College of Business approached me to teach their e-commerce course, which they wanted to be taught by someone with real-world experience.  Which leads to the title of this post and how you can get you some sweet, gooey, delicious Google AdWords.  Num, num, num.

For the third year in a row and the first that I’m eligible as a “professor”, Google will be holding its Online Marketing Challenge.  The competition exposes college students to the wonders of internet marketing.  Obviously, Google’s not doing this just out of the goodness of its do-no-evil heart* and not that it should, either.  As much as they probably hate to sport a capitalist tag, that’s what they are and there’s nothing wrong with that – it made America great.  Michael Moore can eat it, along with that big stack of Skittles-covered hotcakes in front of him right now.  But, it truly is a superb opportunity for real-world experience, something sorely lacking in many of today’s secondary education.

* Must not make a wisecrack.  Earn living from Google.  Change subject.  How ’bout them Buccos?  17 straight losing seasons you say?  Change subject again….

The nuts and bolts of the challenge – and the part that you, the small business owner or marketer care about – is that the students will market one company over three weeks and get $200 worth of AdWords Bucks to do it with.  Just who exactly that company ends up being is up to the students, although I’m making it a requirement that it’s a small business.  Larger businesses scoff at $200 when it comes to advertising.  But I know several small businesses that might use that sum pretty effectively for a few months or more.

If you’d like to be considered for this free advertising, simply leave a comment below or shoot an email to googlechallenge@54.236.248.236/dom.  And I’m not telling you what to do, but if you offer up some free beer pizza, I’m guessing that might carry some weight with upperclassmen.