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Paid Search Marketing for Online Reputation
10 August 2012 · Igniyte
Paid Search Marketing, also known as Pay-Per-Click, is a way of paying for your site to rank highly in major search engines.
These search engines such as Google, sponsor certain websites and then each time the site is clicked, Google get paid a small fee. The only other cost is a minimal activation fee. This service is called Google Adwords and is the most popular Pay-Per-Click platform. Through this service businesses are able to gain widespread exposure for as long or as little as required.
Despite the fact the more you pay Google, the higher your advert will be, aspects such as the quality of the landing page are taken into account, therefore Adwords in essence levels the playing field between smaller and larger businesses. Research has shown that businesses combining both a Pay-Per-Click advert and a page 1 ranking have on average six times more traffic than if they only had one or the other
With regards to Pay-Per-Click advertising it is always advisable to outsource a professional to help you, unless you have the right knowledge money can be wasted very quickly on paid search marketing. Once you have familiarised yourself with the service or employed a professional you should allow approximately 3-4 months to see real effects of the marketing. After this time you will be able to analyse the data and decide whether you wish to maintain the marketing, furthermore throughout this period you can get weekly reports to see the impact further.
Another essential part of Pay-Per-Click advertising is your landing page. It is vital that you have a good quality landing page. In relation to specific campaign-led marketing you must ensure that you don’t make your homepage your landing page. Attention needs to be taken with call to actions (CTA’s).
What do you want the site visitor to achieve whilst on this page?
- A sale?
- A greater understanding of the product?
- Their email address and opt-in to your contact database?
A thought out landing page will lead to better conversion rates. Testing out different designs can help you achieve the highest conversion rates possible.
Pay-Per-Click advertising hasn’t come without criticism, some feel that organic Search Engine Optimisation is more beneficial. Some research has proved inconclusive as to which is a better option. So why not just combine both in order to try maximising sales potential? Some feel it’s a question of whether the benefits of Pay-Per-Click advertising warrant the monies required. Regardless of industry opinion on Pay-Per-Click advertising, a test campaign is a safe way of trying out results prior to committing to a larger PPC budget spend. Igniyte provide both paid campaigns and also organic Search Engine Optimisation.
References
http://www.businessmarketingblog.org/essential-online-marketing-strategies/
