Today I’m known all over the world as “The Google AdWords Guy” but I was hanging out in Planet Dan before Google even existed. Let me tell you something I learned from Dan early on, that helped me when Google ads suddenly came on the scene.

Dan started doing infomercials when they were brand-spanking new. A law had changed which suddenly allowed TV stations to sell big chunks of airtime to advertisers. Prior to that, TV stations just went dark at night.

Suddenly for a few hundred bucks, a TV stations was willing to leave the lights on and stick a videotape in the tape machine.

I remember this one time – I’m guessing it was 1984 or something – I was watching TV late one night and they were showing a tape of a guy at a Holiday Inn giving a “get rich in real estate” pitch. He was talking with his overhead projector in the front of the room and a video camera in the back of the room. TOTALLY amateur.

Dan was cutting his teeth on infomercials then. When airtime was CHEAP.

That airtime didn’t stay cheap.

Turns out, people with insomnia buy a lot of stuff, especially if they’re presented with persuasive sales pitches. So the race was on. Infomercials grew more sophisticated, and the airtime more and more expensive with each passing year. Which started squeezing the little guys out.

When Dan was teaching me this, it cost upwards of $75,000 just to TEST a single show. Just to see if it even had a chance of surviving.

All the little players had drowned and the only infomercial companies left were big ones like Guthy-Renker. And they all used state-of-the-art methods and direct marketing principles. They tested stuff, they had upsells and back-end products to sell.

Dan used this to make a point about ALL advertising media. Which is:

When a new ad medium comes along, it’s cheap. If it works, it gets expensive.

Which means the weaklings get squeezed out.

As the prices go up you learn to get good at “using every part of the cow.” You don’t let anything go to waste.

So when Google AdWords was introduced in 2002, I immediately saw that it was just like late night TV: It might be cheap now, but sooner or later it’s gonna get more expensive. While you’re riding that curve, you’d better hone your chops.

Dan was right, and in turn, I was right. I saw all this coming long before most people even knew what Google AdWords was. Now that it’s established and competitive, my students are still doing quite well.

Here’s what this means for you:

Dan and Bill teach all kinds of stuff about turning casual prospects into loyal customers and raving fans. Because that’s the kind of business foundation that’s unshakeable.

That will only help you with Google AdWords.

There’s one other thing I want to leave you with:

You want your saw blade to be SHARP. You want the latest, state-of-the-art techniques in your marketing.

Which is why, if you’re serious about advertising on Google, you want to avail yourself of all the experience I share in the Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords. It’ll speed you past the learning curve so you can jump into this game and not miss a beat:

http://www.perrymarshall.com/adwords

To your success,

Perry Marshall

About the Author

Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.

He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.