Reach 1,500 Customers on YouTube for Free with Google Adwords for Video

If you've spent any time promoting your business online, you've probably heard of or even used Google AdWords, which has been a nearly indispensable tool for online advertising. Google recently unrolled AdWords for video, which means that pay-per-click (PPC) advertising (i.e. you pay only when someone clicks your ad) is now available for your YouTube videos.Since its inception, PPC advertising has really leveled the playing field in online marketing. With it, smaller businesses without giant advertising budgets have been able to successfully compete against more well-known brands. AdWords for video is no less useful to startups, to whom one creative video can mean a world of new customers.To encourage business owners to sign up for AdWords for video, YouTube is giving away a total of $50 million in free advertising credits. Businesses who sign up early for AdWords for video can get a $75 credit, which YouTube estimates will help you reach "1,500 of your most valuable customers on YouTube for one month." You can sign up for your free $75 credit here.According to YouTube, here's what AdWords for video does:

• Find the right audience: AdWords for video provides a range of options to reach the right audience. For example, you can promote your video by keyword to appear in YouTube search results, or you can choose to show your ad against content your customers are most interested in - such as sports or music. Connect with your audience on YouTube and the Google Display Network, which includes millions of websites. AdWords for video links to your YouTube account so you can easily start a video campaign with your existing videos.
• Measure the effectiveness of your spend: On average, we’ve found that YouTube video ads drive a 20 percent increase in traffic to your website and a 5 percent increase in searches for your business (Google Campaign Insights, 2011). With AdWords for video you can find out how viewers are engaging with your brand during and after they watch your ad. You can see how many viewers watched your entire video, visited your website, stayed on your channel to watch another video, or subscribed to your channel, after viewing your ad.
• Only pay for engaged views: With TrueView video ads, you only pay when viewers choose to watch your ad, so you aren’t charged when viewers skip your ad if they aren’t interested or have already seen your video. This means your ad budget is focused on viewers interested in your video. By displaying a call-to-action overlay on your video you can talk about a sale or specific offer to your viewers, share more information about your business, or drive traffic to your website.

If you want to learn more about Google Adwords for video (or, like me, you're a fan of super-fit shirtless guys), check out Google's very own YouTube vid below. (The super-fit shirtless guy is at 1:55.)