The news lately does not too look good for print media. I see articles (online) on an almost daily basis about how major newspapers and magazines are in serious financial jeopardy. The bad state of the economy notwithstanding, people are abandoning these traditional media outlets in droves. The internet has dramatically changed the way in which people inform themselves on current events and general news items. To make matters worse, a big part of the print media decline is greatly diminished advertising revenue.

Not only has the internet opened up a whole new world of news delivery for people the world over, it has also completely shaken up the traditional advertising model for small and large businesses alike.

The premise of traditional advertising is to get your ad in front of as many people as possible; the more eyeballs looking at your advertisement the better. Your chances of quality prospects responding to your ad will increase as the number of people who see it increases. The big problem is; the more people who will potentially see your ad, the more expensive the advertising becomes. ($3 million for a 30 second Super Bowl ad??? Holy smokes!)

This is what is commonly referred to as the shotgun approach. Blast a round of advertising at a group of people and hopefully you’ll hit a few decent prospects.

Actually, if you really think about it, this is an extremely inefficient means of advertising for the home based business owner – believe me, I know how monetarily wasteful traditional advertising can be. Like the old joke goes; half of all your advertising goes to waste – wouldn’t it be nice to know which half?

Maybe the shotgun approach makes sense for the large corporation with a massive advertising budget. But, for the small entrepreneur, there is a much better advertising alternative; it’s called Google Adwords.

Google is the undisputed king of internet search engines. So synonymous with web searching is Google that their name alone is now used as a verb. You need to look up information online? Just go and Google it! I don’t know about you but I don’t use any other search engine but Google.com.

Google has harnessed the power of their web presence and search reliability to develop the greatest advertising program of the modern age; it’s called Adwords. Once you really grasp the concept of Adwords, you will see that, for the small entrepreneur, it is the most efficient and cost effective means of advertising to be found anywhere.

The mechanics of how to implement an Adwords campaign and get the most out of it is way beyond the scope of this article. Matter of fact, entire, multi-chapter books have been written on this one topic alone. What I am encouraging you to do is explore the potential of using Adwords to grow your own business. There are tons of great articles and resources to be found that will help you to get a better understanding of this powerful medium. And, if need be, there are even Adwords consultants out there with plenty of experience who can help you get started.

Remember earlier how I referred to traditional forms of advertising as taking a shotgun approach? Well, using Google Adwords is like advertising with the precision of a highly skilled marksman. For now, suffice it to say that an advertisement can be placed on the world’s most popular search engine with such accuracy that only your best, most highly qualified prospects will ever see it. And, you’ll only be charged for showing your ad IF your prospect actually takes action and clicks on it.

Now I’m not here necessarily shilling for Google – they don’t need little, old me to sing their praises. What I am doing is looking out for my fellow home based business entrepreneur. I’ve had many different types of businesses over the years and have spent untold thousands upon thousands of dollars on print advertising – much of it a complete waste. I want to try and help you avoid traveling that same, wasteful path.

At this point I encourage you to learn more about the Google Adwords campaign. It will only cost you an investment of time as there are numerous resources and articles to be found online that provide some great information on the topic.

The bottom line is this – the internet is changing everything, including the ways in which business is conducted. You have to keep up or you will be left in your competition’s dust.