Installing and Uninstalling BidForce


What platforms does BidForce run on?

Any platform that has Java Standard Edition 5.0 or higher support such as Windows, Mac and Unix platforms. BidForce will install Java 5.0 on your system before running if required.

 

What are the system requirements for BidForce?

1+ GHz CPU recommended
0.5 Gigabyte free disk space
1 Gigabyte RAM
High Speed Internet Connection
JRE 5.0+

BidForce will run with a lower spec depending on how many keywords and how much history you require. For an account with thousands of keywords and three years of conversion history we recommend at least 1 Gigabyte of RAM.

 

Why am I getting an 'Out Of Memory' message?

BidForce may need hundreds of Megabytes to store up to three years of daily click conversion history data. You decide how much memory to give BidForce when running it from the home page by using the box above the start BidForce button, see image below.

If you get an out memory message when loading a history report in BidForce, try increasing this number. As a rule of thumb, you need approx. 100Mb per 1000 keywords.

If you specify more memory than available on your system, BidForce will fail to start with a virtual machine error. Reduce the amount of memory that BidForce should use.

 

Who should run BidForce?

BidForce will work for any Google AdWords advertiser with any size account. The application is particularly useful for advertisers with large accounts containing multiple campaigns and thousands of keywords.

 

Do I need an AdWords MCC account to use BidForce?

No. But using an MCC account to log in to Bid Force will get you 10,000 free BidForce Token Credits, a $19.95 value free! You can upgrade a Google AdWords account to a Google MCC account free by enrolling in the Google Advertising Professionals program. Start using BidForce right away for free and get a $19.95 token starter package - no credit card required.

 

Do I need to enable Google conversion tracking to use BidForce?

Yes. You must enable conversion tracking so that BidForce will have conversion statistics to calculate per click bids. To set up Google AdWords conversion tracking on your site, you will need to place a snippet of JavaScript code on your conversion confirmation pages (the 'Thank you for your purchase/subscription/visit' page). To obtain this code and begin tracking conversion data, go to Google AdWords, log in to your account and click Conversion Tracking at the top of your account's Campaign Management tab. Then just click Start Tracking Conversions and follow the steps of the set-up process.

 

How secure is my Google account information?

Very secure. BidForce does not store or keep a record of your Google password or account information such as keywords names or campaigns names on any remote servers or in any database.  When you log in, you do so with a secured connection to Google, hence you can rely on Google security. Using BidForce requires token credits to be purchased via Google Checkout. See Buying Credits.

 

How do I uninstall BidForce?

BidForce is hosted online and uses Java Web Start to launch. It can be uninstalled by running javaws.exe in the java bin folder. BidForce uses a local folder to store the keyword database and caches. See next item for how to locate this folder.

 

How Do I backup my BidForce data?

Backing up your BidForce data directory is highly recommended. If you loose this data, you will loose all your BidForce click history information and settings which are not be recoverable. To see which directory your data resides in, select 'About' from the 'Help' menu on the AdWords Explorer.