How to Advertise with Pay Per Click Search Engines

both pay-per-click and SEO are targeted to get your website placed as close to the top of search engine results as possible. One of the differences is that it takes minutes to set up a pay-per-click campaign versus months for a good SEO campaign.

Pay-Per-Click is a simple type of paid advertising that most search engines, including some of the largest ones, now offer. It requires a bid for a "per-click" basis, which translates to your company paying the bid amount every time the search engine directs a visitor to your site. There is the added bonus that when a per-click site sends your website traffic, your site often appears in the results of other prevalent search engines.
As with all marketing campaigns, there are advantages and disadvantages. If you understand the process and monitor your pay-per-click campaign frequently, it can be very effective. One of the greatest advantages is that you never have to tweak your web pages to change your position in search engine results, as you must do in a typical SEO campaign. What you do have to do in a pay-per-click campaign is pay a fee.

Another advantage is the simplicity of the pay-per-click process. You just bid and you're up and running. It doesn't demand any specific technical knowledge, though the more you know about search engines and keywords, the easier - and more effective - the process will be.

The downside is that pay-per-click is essentially a bidding war. A higher bid than yours will lower your position on search engine results. This means that you will have to raise your bid to regain your position - which can obviously become quite expensive, especially if you are bidding on a popular keyword.

In order to determine if pay-per-click is a cost effective form of marketing for your business, you must do some computing to figure out how much each visitor to your site is worth. You can compute this value by dividing the profit you make on your website over a given period of time by the total number of visitors for that same time period. For example, if your site made $5,000 in profits and there were 2,5000 hits, each visitor would be theoretically worth 50 cents. The basic formula is profits divided by visitors.

The figure of 50 cents per visitor is the point at which your business breaks even. The idea, of course, is to show a profit, not to merely cover your costs. Therefore, you are aiming at a figure less than 50 cents per click.

Be aware that the most popular keywords often cost considerably more than 50 cents a click. The only way around this is to bid less for these phrases or you will be paying too much for each individual hit.< The key (pun intended) to success is to learn everything you can about search engine keyword research. The good news is there isn't a limit to the amount of keywords you can add to your bid because additional keywords do not add additional cost. This translates into a lot less hassle for you because there is no need to optimize your site to index a particular set of keywords. Obviously, some keywords are much more effective than others are, but they will not cost you anything except time to set-up your account in your pay-per-click bid. Of the popular search engines that offer pay-per-click, one called Overture provides an online tool that will give you the data on how often particular keywords are entered into their search engine. They also offer suggestions for keywords after you enter a description of your site. In pay-per-click, this written description is crucial. You must understand that the object of your description is not to generally attract visitors, but to be as specific as possible so that only those visitors who are likely to buy your service or product go to your site. You must use expert marketing copy to guarantee that your description is both precise and enticing to attract the most ideal candidates to your site. This description is your most powerful tool to insure that your bid is profitable. Another essential element of pay-per-click advertising is that you constantly monitor your bid. It is very important that you bear in mind that the results of the top search engines providing pay-per-click advertising, which are Overture and Adwords Select, usually appear on other popular search engines. Because of this, the competition for top ranking is intense, and very often you will find that the bidding price balloons too high for pay-per-click to yield a profit. If this happens, it is advisable to withdraw your bid on that particular keyword and try another one. Remember: when you pay too much per click to make a profit, you are in essence losing the bidding war. Since losing is not acceptable, you must have a plan in place to closely track the effectiveness of your keyword. It is advisable to monitor your keywords on at least a monthly basis. Not only is careful monitoring important, but the analysis of visitor behavior can produce invaluable knowledge about consumer motivation, habits, and trends. Expert monitoring and consumer analysis is essential to your overall business needs, and will also insure that your pay-per-click campaign is a success.

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Top Ten Ways To Get Tons Of Traffic

Look, its obvious isn't? Without a ton of traffic to your site you aren't going to get any sales or any leads.

Over at WebmasterFX.com, the number one question I receive from my clients is "How do I get more traffic to my site?" I'm about to let you know some easy ways to get visitors flocking to your site starting today. Lets look at some obvious but often overlooked tips:

1. Get a Killer Domain Name.

People will never forgeta catchy domain name. Be sure to choose a short and easy to remember domain name that is appropriate to your business and has a nice ring to it. Remember the domain name is your online brand.

2. Upload Fresh and useful content.

These days people are banner blind. They want more than ads. Give them information they can't find anywhere else, and give it to them for free. Give them the content they want and need. If you do don't know what it is, Ask them.

3. Get yor site seen by the Search Engines.

Search engines bring more than 75% of traffic to most web sites. You can submit your site all day long but the best way to get seen is to get links on quality relevant sites. The search engines will find you within days. You can seek out both one way links from other sites and also reciprocal link exchanges with other webmasters. Just stay away from those nasty link farms!

4. Pay For Top Spots.

The quickest way to get website traffic without trying too hard is to pay for it. These advertisements would be posted on prime locations or banners of websites.

Banners are cheap and are great for branding, thogh don't expect a ton of click throughs. Popular websites like leading newspapers and search engines would provide immediate recognition and visibility to their customers. If you have the cash, spend it. Many don't or won't.

5. Form a Community.

Start a message board, email group, or even a chat forum. Actively participate in these groups by posting answers to other people's questions. Be visible and always include your signature at the end of your postings. The best thing about these types of sites is that people come back again and again. Check your hosting account to see if you have free forum software included. I bet you do.




6. Start Your Own Mailing List.

It is the best way to keep in touch with your prospects and your customers. Build a relationship with your list. Your email list can make your site a success again and again. The best customer is an existing customer.

7. Start an E-Zine for Your Website.

An E-zine is an extension of your site, but this will highlight new information and features of your site. People will be reminded of your website as they read each issue.

If they find they issue interesting or worth sharing, they can easily and instantly pass this on to the people within their network. Give them a freebie for signing up.

8. Submit Articles.

Write your own article just like this one and submit it to e-zines, websites and magazines that accept article submissions. Be sure to include your business and contact information and website address in the resource box.

9. Exchange Ads with other Website.

Create ads that will promote your business and website. Submit this to e-zines or other websites in exchange for free ad space in your own electronic publication. Your presence on other sites is very important in getting the increased traffic that you want. This is usually facilitated with either simple links or flashy banners.

10. Always Update Your Website.

Your website should always be up and running and full of fresh content. It is to your advantage if you maintain your website with new articles and updated features. If your visitors always find what they want and need, they will definitely be coming back again. Additionally, search engine spiders love a site with changing content!

Now go back to the top and read through this list again. You may think you know this information already, but I wonder how many of you have actually taken action on it. Also don't be discouraged if you don't see amazing result straight away. I guarantee working on these strategies a little bit each day will bring some serious traffic in the weeks and months ahead.

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What should you look for when selecting an SEO partner?

Every company offering SEO related services promises results but few deliver on that promise. To be the exception when it comes to delivering on that promise a SEO partner must take an approach that ensures quality results that meet YOUR business objectives.

There are lots of 'unethical' approaches to SEO that can actually get you banned from search engines. Unfortunately, some SEO companies still use these as a 'quick-fix.' Unfortunately, you get left holding the bag. Make sure the SEO company can explain their approach in terms you can explain and if they can't you should keep searching.

Here's what to look for:

First, they should demonstrate that they understand your business need.

Just giving you a questionnaire is not enough. At the beginning of any engagement, they should take the time to understand your business objectives. Your business is unique and a 'one-size-fits-all' approach rarely actually fits every business. By taking the time to understand your business they should be able to tailor their services to best meet your business objectives as well as your budget.

Second, they should use a proven model of optimization that offers 'realistic' expectations.

Ignore marketing hype like "Rank #1 in Google in 24 hours" Search engines do not make public the process or rules they use to crawl, rank pages or index website pages. Further the processes and rules change often as the search engines attempt to increase the value of search results. Of course if your keyword phrase is "one of a kind white unicorns hand made by a grandmother in Peoria" then you actually have a good shot of # 1 ranking if anyone actually ever searched for that. Otherwise, it takes time and lots of work to get high rankings.

To compensate for this lack of public information, an SEO partner should rely on a proven model to 'uncover' the rules.

1. Analyze – Determine where your pages rank today. From this you can learn what may be 'right' about these higher ranking that can be applied to other pages.

2. Target – Every web site is unique. Rather than a set of 'canned' optimization recommendations they should determine the right optimization options for your website. To accomplish this they should use a range of methods:

• Expert Review. While many SEO partners have great in-house experience they should also turn to other experts who study search engines to determine the most likely 'rules' used to determine how pages are indexed and ranked. 
• Best Practices. They should look at the top ranking competitors in your space to determine how they optimized their pages, particularly those aspects that could influence page rankings. 
• Learn as they Optimize. They should consider implementing changes to larger sites in stages. Start by optimizing your highest value pages first, then, based on the results modify the optimization approach if needed before continuing.
• It's More than Google. While organic search results are a key portion of any optimization effort, they should know that it takes much more to get quality traffic to your website. They should be able to help you go beyond the search engines to find your new traffic. 

3. Optimize – They should be able to provide the detailed information you need to understand what needs to be done to your website. They should also be willing to let you make the changes rather than forcing you to allow them to make the changes at substantial per hour fees.

4. Analyze - SEO is not a one-time effort. Your business changes, your competitors change, your prospects and customers change and the search engines refine rules. This means you will need to periodically review your ranking and re-optimize your site. You should expect your SEO partner to provide 'follow-ups' to ensure that you got results.

Third, their approach should be comprehensive and include all the aspects that bring traffic to your website, not just search engines. Make sure they will provide

• Detailed Site Analysis - You need to understand from where your site is starting.
• Keyword Analysis - All keywords are not created equal. They should help you understand which ones to use, and as importantly, which ones not to use.
• Page Structure Recommendations - Content, headers, keyword placement, it all matters.
• Engine Submissions - Each engine is unique. 'Submit a link' programs are not effective.
• Paid Search - The internet is like any business, sometimes 'free' isn't worth even that.
• Reciprocal Links - As with keywords, all links are not created equally.

Finally, the right SEO partner should work hand in hand with you to make sure the changes recommended for your website are the best fit for you. They should share their approach to making the changes to your website and should be flexible to make changes in a way that best supports your business needs.

Selecting a SEO partner can be intimidating. With all the marketing hype, it is easy to get fooled. In the end SEO is like any other business service you use. You should be able to understand the benefits, and limitations, it offers and make an informed decision about how to invest your money.

By the way, if you find the hand-made unicorns please pass me the URL. I'm in the market :>)

Aubrey Jones is President and founder of Riverbank Consulting, Inc. Through Webs 4 Small Business he is able to bring SEO and other internet services to Small Business owners. He has been in the technology and internet industry for over 10 years building and managing large commercial internet services.

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