Need To Know The Basics Of PPC
(Pay-Per-Click) Advertising?

Here is an analogy I particularly like....  
Suppose your friendly Yellow Pages salesperson said to you, “I’m willing to put the biggest ad you want on as many pages as you want, and the only time you have to pay me is when someone calls you”.

Would you be interested in a deal like that? Well, that is what Pay-Per-Click advertising is like. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad and is delivered to your web site. And remember what the Yellow Pages salesperson said about “on as many pages as you like”? Well, today if you advertise in the Yellow Pages, you are probably under one or maybe two categories or headings. With Search Engine Marketing, you can be under as many “categories” as you feel are appropriate for your business. These are called “keywords” or “keyword phrases”.

For a more in-depth understanding of Search Engine Marketing, request my FREE Special Report: The Small Business Guide to Search Engine Marketing.

Perhaps a Question & Answer forum will help...

But I already pay someone do Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to make sure I am highly ranked for my keywords.

If they are doing SEO, then here are some things to consider:

• If your serve a national market, then using SEO in conjunction with PPC is a viable strategy. However, if you are a small business serving a local market then SEO alone is very limited in what it will do for you and will likely have a relatively poor ROI. For example, you can't geographically target the audience; you are "optimizing" for the entire country and competing against everyone else who optimizes for those keywords.
• Your SEO campaign is probably limited to a relatively small number of keywords that are applicable to your business. PPC offers an unlimited number of keywords.
• What is displayed in the search results is likely a chopped up collection of words from a page on your site. It isn't a compelling marketing message with a call to action that SELLS!
• It typically takes 1-3 months for the search engines to identify any changes to your site and then “re-index” your site for the new keywords. Changing or adding keywords with PPC takes a matter of minutes.
• If your employee or contractor is using techniques the search engines forbid, your site could get permanently banned! For many businesses, their brand, company name or web site URL, is very valuable to them and loosing the ability to be found using a search engine would have a traumatic effect on their on-line presence.

• Why can’t my IT person do this?

OK, let’s assume that he/she:

• Has some knowledge of search engine marketing
• Has some experience with Pay-Per-Click SEM
• Has extensive experience with the major search engine paid search programs and is up-to-date
• Has the software tools necessary to perform the keyword research and on-going maintenance
• Has done the research to know what keywords will perform well in your industry, in your industry segment and in your local area
• Has the time to devote to this effort on a priority basis
• Then assuming they have other duties and their time has value, you will probably be paying them more than I would charge. And if they are not at least as effective as I am, you won't be getting a good return on your investment!

Where will my ad appear and what will it look like?

While we work with several different “search providers”, by far the most effective is Google AdWords. If you go to www.Google.com and search for a product or service, you will be able to see on the right-hand side of the screen a list of "Sponsored Links". This is where your ad would appear. Try it, and see what it looks like. Google is the most popular search engine and your ad could appear for as many keywords as you would like.

Still Think You Might Want To Try It Yourself? Jump to our page
Secrets of Pay-Per-Click!