Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Marketing [3/12/2002]

As website marketers, we are continuing to search for the best online venue for realizing the lowest acquisition and lead generation cost.

They looked at 5 different online advertising media and respondents ranked pay for placement search (also know as pay-per click search engine marketing) as the #1 medium for generating the greatest ROI.

A study conducted in January 2001 by the NPD Group, a research group specializing in consumer purchasing behavior, tested the impact search listings, banner ads and tiles have across a variety of sites (both branded and unbranded) to determine which most effective. In every situation, search listings came out on top.

The king of pay-per-click advertising is currently Overture. The reason for Overture's overwhelming popularity is the tremendous reach that Overture offers. Through strategic partnerships Overture's search results reach over 75% of the Internet population. Their major strategic partners include the two largest search directories/engines, Yahoo and Msn, as well as other top engines like Lycos, Altavista, Aol and Excite.

How does it work?


First you must select the keywords that you are going to "bid" on. This is a real time auction style bidding system so you must stay on top of your bids at all times to ensure your desired exposure is achieved. The company that bids to pay the most amount of money per click will be shown at the top of the results. In some cases the bid can get as high as $11.00 per click, but in most cases it ranges from $.25 - $2.00 a click. The system itself is not very difficult, but making sure that they system meets your objectives is a different story. To help ensure you are one of the success stories, we have compiled a few tips from our years of experience.

• Select keywords that are very targeted to your services. Do not rely on general keywords like travel, computers, consulting etc. By doing so you will receive much higher conversion ratios, and therefore realize much lower acquisition cost. According to C. Davis of PHE Inc "Our conversions are between 20-40% higher on (Overture). This is because the search terms are "buy" in nature and it is clear in the description that we are a commerce site." Integrating the keyword buy for an ecommerce site is a great tactic as is adding the keyword "order" and "purchase".
  
• Monitor your campaign very closely. Overture offers real time action style bidding, so to maintain your exposure you need to stay on top of your listings.
  
• Track the results. Track conversion ratios and ROI for each of the keywords you are bidding on, especially those that are the most expensive. Here at WebMetro we track every visitors from our pay-per click programs which has allowed us to determine which keyword each new client used in the search engines to find our site. This information is critical when you are looking to maximize your investment.
  
• Try different titles and descriptions. Since you are paying on a per-click basis, try and use the title and description as a screening process. For example if you can only service California residents, make sure to include the keyword California in your title and description.
  

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