Pay-per-click economically drives customers to your site

Your site is beautifully designed, thoroughly optimized and exhaustively submitted to all the major search engines. So why are so few people dropping by? And why aren’t the Web hits you’re getting spurring sales?

Using a pay-per-click service will not only bring more people to your site, but it can also increase the chances that they’re exactly the type of visitors you want. Check out our rundown on pay-per-click options and turn those visitors into customers.

Drive toward traffic

The world of Internet advertising is an ever-expanding universe of revenue. A 2005 report by Borrell Associates estimates that online ad spending will hit $3.9 billion this year. That’s more than a 40 percent increase from the previous year, which is reason enough to stop you in your budget-planning tracks and think twice about how you’re spending your advertising money.

Your goal is traffic. If you can get 30 more visitors to your Web site a week by using online advertising, that’s 30 more chances you have to sell your product or promote your service. It’s a numbers game that, if you play it right, can work wonders for your bottom line.

Harness the power of pay-per-click

Contributing to the eye-opening numbers of Internet revenue, pay-per-click is an online advertising payment system in which you agree to pay a certain price in return for traffic to your Web site. At first, this might sound like a con — “You mean it’s not enough to have a great Web site … I need to actually PAY to have people visit?” Yes, you will have to spend money to attract people to your site, whether optimizing your site through site-integrated features such as keywords, site description and site submission (sometimes referred to as “organic” optimization) or through online advertising (or most effectively, both). Google, the Web’s biggest search engine, has more than 8 billion pages indexed, so your Web site (no matter how big) is still just a needle in the Internet haystack.

Not to worry, though. Gaining attention is easier than it sounds, and pay-per-click is one of the surest ways to get return on your investment. The beauty of this technique is that you pay only when someone actually goes to your site. And by someone, we mean a legitimate prospect. In non-Internet advertising terms, this would be like paying for a billboard based on how many people saw it and gave you a call or dropped by your offices for more information — not just how many people passed by it.

See how it’s done

Pay-per-click companies run things differently but in general, the theory of pay-per-click runs something like this:

You sell widgets, so you set up an account with a pay-per-click company we’ll call “ClickMe.com.” You tell them that you’re willing to pay 5 cents for the word “widgets.” ClickMe.com, in turn, puts a link and a summary of your Web site in a special section on a search engine’s results page anytime someone searches using the word “widgets.” Anytime someone clicks your Web site’s link, you pay 5 cents.

The trick is what keyword you pay for. If you’re too general, the chances increase that someone clicks on your site only to find out that it’s not what’s he’s after. For example, if you chose the word “dishes” for your tableware manufacturing company, you might have visitors who are actually looking for satellite dishes. If you pick keywords that are unique and specific to what type of business you do, the chances of “accidental” visitors decrease.

No matter what your budget is, there is a pay-per-click plan for you. Some companies, like the popular Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture), allow you to put a certain amount of money every month in your pay-per-click account. Once that money runs out, your link is removed until the next month when your account is replenished.

Check out the major players

Although there are a bevy of pay-per-click providers, you really need to remember just two: Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing.

In the 5th Annual Search Engine Watch Awards this year, Google AdWords won first place hands-down as the Best Search Ads provider, followed by Yahoo!/Overture. Both of these programs have far-reaching networks of search engines. These programs are effective all by themselves, but form a potent one-two punch when used in tandem as they have separate coverage areas. What Google AdWords doesn’t cover, odds are Overture does.

Track your visitors and your programs

Once you’ve found the right pay-per-click company and keywords, you’ll see a noticeable rise in traffic with a minimal amount of money. But if you really want to leverage your pay-per-click budget, you’ll need another handy tool called a tracking program. Through tracking, you can tell what search engines refer the most visitors to your site and what keywords are most commonly used. You can then use that information to choose what pay-per-click vendor you use and how much to spend with them.

It’s also important to continually monitor the success of tracking programs. Some programs help you keep tabs, but it’s a good idea to keep your own spreadsheet that charts money spent, keywords, pay-per-click company and, of course, your sales for the same period of time. After observing the trends, you’ll not only find that certain combinations are more effective than others, but, more importantly, you’ll also learn a great deal about your online prospects and how best to reach them.

Need better results? Increasing Web visitors is just one business communications solution we’ve provided over the past 25 years. To explore some innovative ways to reach your audience, e-mail Matt Harlow or call 800-800-9547.

Ideas are our product. We work to analyze your markets, isolate your key brand benefits and send clear, focused messages right to your target audience. Messages that build your brand image and achieve what you’re really looking for … measurable results. We call it Communication with insight.^sm