Buying Position

Published: December 16, 2008

You’re on the verge of the holiday season. You’ve had best intentions to audit your Web site, employ some best practices around search engine optimization (SEO) or accessibility — but the reality is, that didn’t happen, or it didn’t happen soon enough. Or maybe you did all that, but are still challenged to achieve search results positions that deliver the needed traffic. All hope is not lost.

Paid search marketing can be especially useful when you simply can’t achieve the natural listings you want, are trying to drive traffic and results within a very short window (30-60 days or less), or with regards to content ads, are trying to reach a specific target through a relevant website. Online marketing may serve as a complement to your natural search efforts even when you perform well naturally.

Paid Search Models

Rather than trying to detail the specifics of all online advertising opportunities, let’s focus on just the paid search programs. And rather than delving into the specifics there, such as the difference between Google’s AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing, let’s focus on the overall concepts.

I liken Paid search to outdoor advertising, or even broader, “location advertising.” This might include bus shelters, buses, and even restroom ads — any kind of advertising that is based on a location.

What’s unique about this kind of location advertising is that there may be some demographic element that can be tapped into. A particular restaurant may cater to a specific demographic — hopefully that demographic also frequents the restroom. Or it may simply be based on traffic flow — a lot of drivers frequent this roadway and hopefully a lot of that traffic is at least somewhat interested in what you have to offer.

Paid search is similar and may provide even greater demographic connections. PPC ads within the search results are hopefully somewhat relevant to what the searcher was searching for — this is already one step better than a purely “high traffic” model. Content advertising is when you open up your ads to be displayed on other websites who may have elected to show ads on their websites, and similar to the restaurant, may carry a higher correlation of interest based on the target audience.

Maximizing Your Spend

Like gambling, you have to approach paid search marketing smartly. If you don’t, you can quickly burn through your budget, and lose your shirt if you are really careless. But you can also win big if you know what you are doing and the cards are right.

Don’t let the low cost fool you. Spending less than a buck per click might seem like low risk, but if you aren’t careful, you can burn through a lot of clicks on traffic that doesn’t convert. Even worse, due to quality scoring, your landing page may be perceived as a poor or misleading user experience, result in high bounce rates, and that under a buck click rate might suddenly turn to a $5/click or more cost.

Rather than sending all your clicks to your site’s home page, develop highly relevant landing pages for your paid search campaigns (be sure to block these pages from the search engine crawlers though). Focus your ads and landing pages tightly, rather than broadly trying to capture everyone — remember that one-size fits all generally leaves everyone feeling dissatisfied.

Until you get a handle on what you are doing, stick with a small number of keywords to target, focus on exact match or phrase match to avoid serving up ads on searches that aren’t relevant. Monitor daily and quickly determine what works between target keywords, ad copy, landing pages, etc.

Understand, this was a very high level overview to get you started, which might mean seeking out professional online marketing services. But whether you go it alone or hire, don’t be afraid to complement your online advertising with paid search, especially if you aren’t driving traffic naturally. SEO is a must for every Web site owner, but if you are in or heading into your peak selling period with 90 days, relying on SEO alone could leave you more than a day late and a dollar short.

Paid Tips ... For Free

Starting out, stick to the major paid search programs — Google, Yahoo, and/or MSN.
Tighten up your keyword targets through phrase match or even exact match, rather than broad match.
Monitor daily and closely, discarding what doesn’t work quickly.
Be focused, not only with your ad and the product/service you are offering, but with the audience you are targeting. Multiple targets and products should have multiple ads and dedicated landing pages.
Fine tune your campaign delivery around your target demographics — not just keywords but geo-location and time of day.

As appeared in the Presence Pointers column of the November 2008 issue of Business Watch.

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Instillery Topics

What is the Instillery?

Here are a couple of meanings of the word instill:

instill: to infuse slowly or gradually into the mind or feelings.; to put in drop by drop.

Instill captures what this section is about. You will find various, bite-sized bits of information for you to take in, drop by drop, to consider.

The more involved with the web you become, the more you realize that it is less about knowing and more about considering. You find that everything must be taken into context and considered based on situation and circumstances, rather than a definitive "this is the way it is."

One of the most important goals of Identity Developments has been to help educate clients and others regarding their web presence. Consideration for what is and way may be is perhaps, the most important lesson.

Educated and informed clients are great. They understand why things are done the way they are and the importance of doing things a certain way. They also gain a greater appreciation of the value of doing things the way we do them, rather than being swayed simply by the "cheapest" provider or deal on the table.

So the "instillery" is a place where you can come and take in, drop by drop, gradually, useful information and ideas from Identity Developments to help you grow, improve, and promote your web presence.