Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Discover Search Engine PPC - 4 Quick Gains From Instant Ads

By Jasmine Chan

Are you frustrated by the lack of traffic your website gets? Do you get dismayed when you try to search for your business on Google, and instead come up with every other competitor? SEO services and traditional online advertising can be expensive. Fortunately, there is an easy, affordable solution called search engine PPC, or Pay Per Click. This is a widespread advertising technique that shows up on websites, advertising networks, and above all, search engines.

To use search engine PPC, you need to create a text ad that features a sponsored link to your website. This add will usually be placed near search results, and you will pay a fixed amount of money for each person that clicks on the link and views your website. This fixed amount of money comes from a bid that you make on keywords or keyword phrases related to your product or service - the more you bid, the more you will be noticed in search results. The goal is to get amongst the top positions on search results and listings.

There are many advantages to search engine PPC advertising:

1. You widen your reach. Showing up high enough on a natural search to get noticed by anyone is rather tricky, but search engine PPC advertising can get you there more easily. This is the biggest advantage of search engine PPC advertising. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) services charge very high fees (in the thousands), and still will not guarantee high search result positions. Yet for a small amount of money, search engine PPC advertising can get you on the page and get you that traffic.

2. You get launched immediately. With search engine PPC programs, your ads get out there very fast. They can be up and running within an hour after securing your keywords and paying for them.

3. You get specific, pre-qualified, quality traffic. By applying search engine PPC advertising, you narrow down your visitors into qualified people who are actually looking for specific products and/or services that you offer. Those are more likely to become a lead or complete a transaction.

4. You can track your investment. Search engine PPC advertising makes use of a tracking system that will determine exactly who comes to the website and what they do once they arrive, such as the length of their stay on the site and the number of pages that they view. These are valuable tools in determining statistics such as return on investment (ROI), acquisition cost-per-visitor, and sales conversion rates.

I know I make search engine PPC advertising sound like the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it is important to remember that it is not all magic. It still takes some effort on your part to write an attractive ad, and that means understanding your customers and your product. It is also wise to use some promotional techniques in your ad, such as testimonials, free trials, money-back guarantees and discount offers. - 16651

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