Weighing the Pros and Cons

Pay Per Click (PPC) is an online marketing method wherein advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked by users – such ads are commonly found on search engines, advertising networks, and content sites like blogs. There are two main ways to determine the cost per click: 1.) Flat rate – the method where the advertiser and the publisher agree on a fixed amount for each click, and 2.) Bid-based – the method where the advertiser competes against other advertisers in a private auction and the highest bidder is awarded the spot (often keywords). Websites that make use of the PPC advertising strategy display an advertisement when the keyword/s a user enters on search engines matches the advertiser’s keywords list. In the case of content sites like blogs, such advertisements show up when they are relevant to the content published on the blog. These advertisements are called sponsored links or sponsored ads.

Looking at the surface, PPC advertising seems to be one of the best ways to get more traffic to your site in a short amount of time - especially if you have a good PPC advertising strategy. However, if you have not done sufficient study, it could mean more losses than gains. In order to make the best out of your PPC advertising strategy, you must accept that it is risky and that you have to plan carefully. Some criticisms to PPC advertising are:

· It can be too expensive, which is especially true in the case of bid-based PPC. There are advertisers who end up bidding too high on a particular keyword and not getting the potential return. There are also some PPC engines that automatically increase your bid amount to maintain your rank, which would make it easier for you to get carried away in your PPC campaign.

· It is more difficult to keep track of the results of PPC campaigns. There are tracking tools available online but they are not 100% accurate.

· Junk traffic. Keep in mind that PPC ads do not only show up on credible search engines like Google and Yahoo. It is highly possible that your listings would be included and generate clicks on the less credible search engines. You might get more clicks that way but it is unlikely that you will get more returns. Because of this, junk traffic is also another reason why it is hard to analyze the results of PPC campaigns.

· PPC advertising does not have a fair proportion. The more traffic you get, the higher your cost. This might not sound like a major downside but it is. Your cost per click remains constant but your overall cost increases. Considering the fact that not every click means a return, this is not really the ideal proportion.

Of course, when executed well, PPC advertising could be very beneficial for advertisers:

· PPC advertising is fast. You could gain more traffic the moment you place your ad and if you set aside a budget for PPC advertising, you could also get top placement on search engines. PPC advertising is so fast that it is highly possible for you to reach your target traffic within a few minutes of activating your ad.

· PPC advertising is the most controllable form of search engine placement. It would not require much effort to adjust your PPC campaign to fit the current marketing conditions. Compared to other forms of advertising which could take weeks or even months, PPC campaigns take only hours or days to adjust.

· Sponsored ads are a good way to attract viewers. Many viewers do prefer to click these and skip the other results because they gather the impression that advertisers who set aside ample budget for such ads have relevant and updated content.

· PPC advertising is agreeable to all parties involved. You could get top placement on the results page without damaging your relationship with search engines.

· PPC advertising could be a bargain. With the help of careful planning, you could avoid getting carried away in bidding for popular keywords and find lesser known and therefore cheaper ones instead.

With the good and bad points of PPC campaigns established, it is now a matter of finding the balance to determine when it is best to make use of this kind of advertising:

· Short-term campaigns. Unfortunately, SEO is not good enough at emphasizing the 4 crucial Ps that marketers consider important – product, price, place, and promotion. Since PPC advertising is a quick and easy way to get traffic, you could use it to inform your audience about your new products and services. One to two days of PPC campaigning should be enough to spread the word. Examples of short-term campaigns are those of seasonal products and special events.

· Online purchasing. There are several businesses that make it possible for customers to buy their products online. In such cases where every website viewer is a potential customer, it is practical to set aside a budget for PPC campaigns.

· Specific keywords. If you are thinking of a more long-term PPC campaign strategy, you could start by taking a closer look at your keywords list. If you do not have any specific ones, add and use them for your PPC campaign. Not only would it save you money and possibly lessen junk traffic, it would also get you more clicks.

Like any other means of advertising, PPC campaigning is flawed. It might sound great on the surface but if you do not analyze how it works, it could do you more harm than good. That is why it is important that while you are organizing your PPC campaigns, concentrate on how to convert customers instead of how to increase the number of clicks.

Somni Creative, Inc., rich media marketing professionals from Los Angeles, California, specialize in providing online customer acquisition services, such as Pay Per Click Advertising. Call us at (310) 6973199 or visit www.somnicreative.com.

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References:

Pay Per Click - Wikipedia

Why Should You Outsource Your Pay-Per-Click Campaign to an Agency?

Pay Per Click Management

Pay-Per-Click Strategies for Search Engine Marketers

4 Pay-Per-Click Strategies that Win

How to Get the Right Set of Keywords

The key to successful Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is KEYWORD. One of the most essential elements of the SEO process is keywords selection and implementation. If you find yourself undermining the role of keywords in your online marketing strategy, think again.

Correct keyword selection fosters free and qualified traffic from search engines. The multitude of the words in your web copy will be indexed, and the search engines will rank your site based on calculated algorithms (sometimes called organic or natural search) drawn from your site’s keywords which can be found in your text, Meta tags, image tags, and URL. To do correct and proper keyword selection, always put your target audience in front of you. Identify your audience and know how to reach them. Wrong search phrases could get you with good search engine rankings but for keywords that have no search requests. In the same way, low search engine results will get you little or no visits.

Selecting and integrating keywords into your website might seem so simple but in truth, it would require a lot of strategic thought.

Brainstorm. Ask for the feedback of your co-workers and/or business partners and determine the search phrases that target users are most likely to use. To be more organized, you could create a chart using the excel program including three columns: a.) keyword, b.) keyword effectiveness index – how popular is that keyword for users and how many competitors use that keyword, and c.) info – the kind of top websites found by that search engine. As much as possible, do not limit yourself to a single keyword all the time. You should have multiple-word keywords in your list too because people often use them to get more targeted results.

It would also help to consider the following questions during the brainstorming process:

· Would your target audience enter industry specific technical terms or simple layman’s phrases?

· What are the common misspellings for your keyword/s? What are the alternative terms for them in certain environments?

· Which of your items are available? Avoid listing products that are out of stock as keywords because doing that would mislead viewers.

· What is the profit margin for each of your products? Which one has the highest/lowest profit margin? Such information could prove to be useful because there are instances that less searched products actually have higher profit margins and would make it easy for you obtain a high search engine ranking for the said product.

· Who are your leading competitors? Which products are they most known for? Which search phrases do they have high rankings for? By sizing up your competition, you have bigger chances of getting ahead of them.

Analyze your pay-per-click data. This step is applicable to companies who have budget for the more costly PPC campaigns. While it is practical to launch an SEO campaign to reduce the cost of your PPC campaign, there is nothing wrong with milking your PPC efforts for what they are worth. Your PPC data would tell you which keywords brought on the highest traffic levels, best clicks through rates, and other useful information.

Make use of keyword research tools. Not everything in your list of proposed keywords would garner good results. Fortunately, there are keyword devices that would make it easy for you to evaluate possible results. Examples of keyword research tools are Word Tracker, Google’s Keyword Tool, Google Suggest, Google Trends, Google Analytics, SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool, Digital Point Keyword Research Tool, Good Keywords, etc. As much as possible, pick the keywords with the best profitability (i.e. high KEI) and consider eliminating the ones with the lowest profitability. To be counted among the top results, you should have at least 40 to 70 different highly profitable keywords.

Integrate your keywords into your website body text properly. Use your keywords in such a way that it would not cause an inconsistency in the natural flow of your contents.

· Be specific - If you sell books, make sure that there are a lot of references to books in your website – paperbacks, hard bounds, textbooks, etc.

· Categorize – Sort your products. Again, using books as an example, assign different pages to different categories – bestsellers, young adult fiction, science fiction, suspense, biographies, etc. Categorizing would make it easier for you to target niche keywords and meet relevancy guidelines for search queries.

· Proofread - It will not do to just slap all the keywords on your page because that would just lead to awkward phrasing which is definitely not going to impress your audience. Recognize the patterns within your website and group relevant keywords around those pages. Do what you could to make the content flow as organized and consistent as possible. Search engines are not the only ones who should be happy. Your viewers should be satisfied with your content too.

· Be thorough – Even your website title, meta tags, image tags, and URLs factor a great deal. Take a closer look at the details included on the SERP – website title, brief description, and the URL. That should tell you a lot about how significant their functions are.

· Keep improving – Assume that your competitors would continue revising their websites for the better. To stay on top of the corporate game, your web pages should always be optimized to their full potential. There are always improvements to be made because there is a new development in technology each day. You do not have to worry about how hard it would be to make continuous improvements. There are tools everywhere that would make it easier for you.

There is no point of dedicating so much time and effort to creating and maintaining a website when the chances of it being visited are little to none. The best way to make it worth your time is to tune your keywords and make them work for you.

Somni Creative, Inc., rich media marketing professionals from Los Angeles, California, specialize in providing search engine optimization. We value our customers, both old and new. We welcome the challenge of getting you ahead in the corporate race. Call us at (310) 6973199 or visit www.somnicreative.com.

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References:

Implementing Keywords Into a Website

Using Google Trends to Select Website Keywords

Steps on How to Maintain Website Visibility

How to Integrate Search Engine Keywords into Website Copy

Choosing Keywords for Your Website

Keywords - A Key to Online Success

Using Keyword Segmentation Strategies for Online Success

Keywords and Search Terms

Search Engine Optimization Basics Part 1 - Keywords