Use every trick in the book to refine your keywords to the target market, especially including geographic factors if that's an issue, because you're not working with much.

I know several who spent in the $100-$500 range for AdWords. It evaporated quickly, and they got nothing for it.

Post-analysis indicated a leading factor was lazy precision with target market keywords, and for one there was a dilema of not having a large enough budget to measure feedback in order to refine the keywords for their rather unique offering.

For two of them, post-analysis concluded that banner advertising wasn't really the best media to push their product (for one) and service (for the other), and that they shouldn't have wasted the money trying.

But you have a credit, so use it, but think long and hard about your keywords as per the target market, and I can't stress enough the geographic factor if that's an issue.

And by the way, given your two options, from my experience you'd be better off going for the localized specific technology support angle. Photographers are much more personable and who-you-know about hiring second shooters.

Why not both? I would allocate a test budget (say 10%) and see what your ads are costing you to show up in the top five. Start at minimum - see how many impressions/clicks you are getting. Adwords aren't for the faint of heart.

I'm assuming you have two different websites that your adword ads clickthrough would be directed at. And you do have Analytics on these websites .... right?

I would test content ads (for a few hours) ... look to see where they are showing up (at a price point - then bump up your bid) ... This is essentially what Google tells you ... try things out and see what you get.

I did a short test awhile ago and most of my impressions/clicks were at placeholder websites (you can see the page it was displayed on). I nixed most of the URLs. In my opinion, you are better off linking to search terms (and use regional setting).

Caveat: I'm no SEO - just relating some experience with limited testing on low traffic keywords that I've been doing - some day I'll teach a class ... so experimenting ...

You don't have that much money, so I would stick to one idea. It seems that you might make more money from you IT idea, doing upgrades and setting up Slingboxes, but don't rush to it just now.

Go here: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and search for the keywords in your area. Try out local searches that include the word "denver", because you'll see the really qualified searches and those are long-tail searches, so the clicks should be cheaper for you.

You could do the same for your other idea, and see how many clicks you can have for your money (use another adwords tool, called traffic estimator, once you selected your keywords). Select the idea that potentially gives you the more return for your investment (conversions vs. money spent).

You don't need a website, but that will help you a lot with conversions (actual clients). Build at least a landing page for your ads and focus on the essential, showing up some of your past work, contacts and credentials.

skyvan - about 4 years ago I became a business owner. I had the resources and the ambition to do the things that truly make me happy. I see that you have the opportunity to do the same here. Of the two options you're deciding against, which would you rather do for a full time job? Would you rather be a photographer or a tech support guy? Put the credit into the one that really gets your juices flowing - even if you can make a little more money doing the other. This will help you build your list of contacts and build your list of projects for the work you are most passionate about. Best of luck!

You should use it before it expires. You should mainly use it for the AdWords which the site targets. Meaning what ever the site takes about or is about then you should target those types of people.