Tag Archives: Catherine Seda

About 2394 days ago E-Commerce

Making Paid Search Pay Off

In the first half of 2006, companies spent $2.5 billion to reach consumers online, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers and Interactive Advertising Bureau report. But, to paraphrase advertising legend John Wanamaker, how much of that expense really works? Online, it’s sometimes easier to know, especially when it comes to paying for clicks on search results. Google, Yahoo, and other search engines offer advertising programs that highlight your business when customers search for your related product — and you only pay when someone clicks on your company’s ad. “The biggest advantage lies in your ability to manage your costs and spend strategically through only appearing for people who are making search inquires,” says Garrett French, a search specialist at Market Smart Interactive, a Morrisville, N.C. Internet marketing firm. “Every small business should experiment with paid search if they have an existing website that generates leads or sells product.” Here are ways to make it pay off. TIP #1: Consider the short-term and long-term benefits Click-through ads should not only be looked at as a short-term sales opportunity, but as part of the company’s long-term brand awareness strategy. “Search engines act as brand builders as well as shopping tour guides,” says Catherine Seda, author of Search Engine Advertising: Buying Your Way to the Top to Increase Sales. “It’s interesting to note that search engine listings fall behind only print ads as a brand-building tool used by U.S. companies.” TIP #2: Know the different search engines Determine what your needs are and find what services match them best. Google AdWords is the most popular click-through service. Google provides a link to your website and a short text ad every time a potential customer does a relevant search. It has partnerships with America Online, Ask Jeeves, and Earthlink. Yahoo Search Marketing uses a system similar to Google. A key difference is the Content Match program: Yahoo takes traditional click-through ads and places them beside actual articles, not just related searches. Aside from Yahoo news content, Content Match includes articles from MSN, CNN, The Wall Street Journal and National Geographic.. TIP #3: Find out which search terms consumers use Text-based click-through ads are like classifieds: the more words, the more it costs. Choosing the right words to “trigger” your ad are essential. “Any companies new to paid search should spend time doing keyword research to determine appropriate terms for bidding on,” French says. He recommends using search engine software to find out what words customers usually use to find your site. Google, Yahoo, and other search engines can show how viewers reach you. Basic Web counter software can also give search information. TIP #4: It costs whether they buy or not Search engines charge based on how many people click through the ad — not how many people are actually buying product. Experts recommend evaluating the cost of Internet ads without assuming every ad participant will buy. Also, be wary of “click fraud,” a growing category of crime in which competitors or organized rings of thieves click on your ad to drive up your costs.

About 2425 days ago Search Engine Optimization

Should You Pay for Clicks?

In September, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers released a startling figure. The groups said the first six months of 2006 brought $7.9 billion in Internet advertising revenues. This number, according to the trade website Internet Ad Sales, is the highest ever recorded. It is almost 40 percent more revenue than the same period in 2005. Where is all that ad money going? Roughly one-third of the sales were related to click-through ads. Beyond the traditional flashing banner ads, click-through advertisements also include recommended products by search engines such as Google and Yahoo! Relevant ads are shown side-by-side next to searches. For instance, someone searching for “gym shoes” may get a highlighted link for a company selling the latest Nikes. The revenue seems to be increasing, but would these click-through campaigns be effective for your business? Here are some points to consider before making the jump: How much it costs Unlike traditional advertisements, click-through campaigns are paid for, after the fact, by the number of clicks, not by a flat fee. In other words, if Google AdWords charges you $.10 per click and your business ad receives 10,000 clicks per month, your company owes $1,000 at the end of the month, regardless of whether you sold something or not. The cost for clicks rises as the term becomes more popular. “By 2005, the average cost of popular keywords had risen to $1.75 a click, with some hot industries even higher,” says Joanna Krotz, co-author of the Microsoft Small Business Kit on Microsoft’s website. She says that the charges are $5.39 per click for mortgage/refinancing services and $1.85 for telecommunications/broadband. While some clicks might turn into valuable customers, when click fraud enters the picture those illegal clicks can end up hurting your bottom line. Krotz recommends checking for frequent IP addresses, reporting suspicious behavior to the search engine company and, perhaps most importantly, not putting your ad revenue all in one basket. How it impacts customers Catherine Seda, author of the book Search Engine Advertising: Buying Your Way to the Top to Increase Sales, says that the goal should be long-term brand recognition at an affordable rate. “Increasing your clicks is a good sign, but businesses need to track down how many customers actually come from paying for placement on search engines,” Seda says. “The next question, then, is how much are you spending to attract each new paying customer? Measuring return on investment is nothing new, but it’s something small to medium size businesses often forget when blinded by the light of pay-per-click advertising.” Be wary of click fraud What spam is to e-mail, click fraud is to click-through advertising, though the latter can be a much costlier nuisance. Click fraud isn’t caused by the average Web user who clicks on an ad without intending to purchase. Click fraud is a more organized and orchestrated. Some companies target competitors that use click-through advertising, particularly if the competitor has to pay money each time a Web user clicks on their ad. Either manually or by using “robot” software, the company perpetrating the fraud clicks on the competitors’ ads, running up their advertising tab. Often the pay-per-click contracts have a budget cap and, once the advertiser reaches that cap, the ad will no longer run online. The goal is often to get Internet traffic away from the company that advertises so that Web users buy at other sites. Outsell Inc., a market research firm in Burlingame, Calif., estimates that click fraud is a $1.3 billion annual problem for publishers, advertisers and some of the big search sites, like Google and Yahoo!