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The company unveiled a new tool to assist its AdWords advertisers in creating ads destined for the world of newsprint.

Google Tools Around With Print Ads

There's a new toy to play with for advertisers who want to try and attract the dead-tree reading audience.

Google's debut of the newspaper ad creation tool follows up their opening of the Print Ads service to advertisers in July. AdWords clients in the US can place ads in their choice of newspapers participating in the program.

Creating an ad to fit the available formats in newsprint should be an easier process for the local small business market that Google wants to attract. Currently the tool supports six ad sizes, with the possibility of additional size templates coming in the future.

To make the best use of Print Ads, our readers will want to define ways to track their effectiveness. Not even Google has come up with a way to tell when someone just reads a print ad, but there are ways to ensure offline advertising has some measurability.

The simplest way for a business to do this is to tie an offer in that print advertisement to a specific promotion. The reader could either bring the ad in to the business, or use a code on the ad to participate in the promotion through the firm's website.

Using a specific landing page for readers of that ad gives the site publisher an easily measured way to determine ad performance.

Google cited figures from Scarborough Research USA that showed 115 million adults in the top 50 markets read a daily or Sunday paper over the course of a week. There may be a few customers to be found in that group.