Google AdWords may be today’s most flexible and cost-efficient means to market your product or service on the Web or any media. Now that you’ve started considering Google AdWords for your campaign, let’s first start with the basics—signing up. This would only take a few steps, especially if you already have a Google account (such as Gmail), which lets you consolidate all your Google service accounts into one email address.

To sign up, you should first point your browser to the AdWords home page at www.google.com/adwords and then press the “Click to Begin” button under the “Sign Up Now!” prompt. You will then be led to choose between the starter edition and standard mode—a new feature offering just recently implemented.

Here’s what you get with each:

Starter Edition. This is the “basic,” scaled-down mode of AdWords. You can only sign up for one single text ad, with limited options. You will also only see the basic reporting of your spending and performance.

Standard Edition. This is the “full” version of AdWords. You can set up multiple campaigns, multiple ads per campaign, and a variety of options, such as multiple country/city-targeting, advanced reports, cost control and planning tools.

You can always upgrade from starter edition into standard. It’s good to start simple, especially when you’re still learning the ropes.