eMarketing Association.com

Advanced Search Engine Optimization-Step4

Introduction

If you only do one form of paid promotion for your web site, pay per click (PPC) search engines would probably be your best bet. You can spend as little as $25.00 or less per month and drive targeted traffic to your site almost immediately.

You can adjust your traffic to fit your schedule and you can test and deploy new strategies almost instantly. However, pay per click (PPC) needs to be approached in a somewhat different manner than spidered engines. In spidered engines and standard directories your goal is to get the highest rankings in the most popular terms. In PFC you need to be much more conservative.

___________________________________________________

PAID SEARCH LISTINGS DELIVER THE BEST RETURN ON INVESTMENT

According to the Wall Street Journal's "Ads Click" article (Oct. 29, 2001), pay for placement advertising produced the highest return on investment and won the most points for overall satisfaction. These findings were from the Jupiter Media Metrix "Online Advertising Effectiveness Study", which analyzed the performance of CPC banners, CPM banners, Opt-In Emails, Paid Inclusion Products and Pay for Performance Search. Another Jupiter study, "Paid Search Engine Placement," highlighted why the pay-for-placement model works.

Here are key findings from both reports:

Respondents who track performance say that they received the highest return on investment (ROI) from pay for placement search when compared to CPC banners, CPM banners, paid inclusion and opt-in e-mail mail (29%).2
Online advertisers have a significantly higher level of satisfaction with search listings than with any other online advertising method they have used or are currently using (41% of respondents rated search listings as the top choice).2 When consumers are looking for a product to buy online, 42% use a search engine.1 Paid search placement succeeds because consumers find relevant advertiser listings, while advertisers only pay for qualified traffic coming to their site.1

As you can see, paid search placement has proven to be one of the more successful online advertising models because it aligns consumer need with advertiser interest.

1. Jupiter Media Metrix, Paid Search Engine Placement, July 2001
2. Jupiter Media Metrix: Online Advertising Effectiveness Study, August 2001

___________________________________________________

The goal here should be return on investment (ROI). You will discover that your budget will be quickly depleted if you use very popular general search terms and your conversion rate will generally not be as high as you would like.

More and more search engines are adopting a PPC model as advertising revenue on the Internet stagnates and new channels of revenue is needed for these companies. Although optimizing your site is unnecessary with PPC, it is a way of optimizing your position with search engines and directories.

This step will deal in some detail with the strategy and techniques of properly utilizing PPC services.

Glossary

Courtesy of Overture


Click-Through:
The action when a user clicks on your search listing and arrives at your Web site.

Cookie:
A piece of information your Web site places on a user's computer that identifies the user's computer during the current and subsequent visits to your Web site.

Conversion:
A visitor to your site who completes the desired action (usually making a purchase).

Conversion Rate:
How many visits to your site converted to a sale or action.

Cost per Acquisition (CPA):
The amount you pay to acquire a customer.

Cost per Click (CPC):
The amount you pay for a click on one of your listings. You set the CPC for search terms by setting your bid amounts.

Cost per Thousand (CPM):
The amount you pay for each 1,000 impressions of a banner or button on a site.

IP Address:
An identifying number for a computer, often used to calculate how many visitors came to a site.

Premium Listings:
The top three positions in Overture listings for any search term. When you bid high enough to be one of the top three listings, you can reach up to 85% of all active Internet users on top sites like Yahoo!, MSN, Infospace, Netscape, AltaVista, Lycos/HotBot, and many others.

Profit:
The amount of money you earn from your sales. For example, if you sell 50 teacups at $10 each, and they each cost $7 to make, your profit would be $3 per teacup or $150 total.

Proxy Server:
Computers, such as those belonging to Internet service providers, that act as agents for multiple users, resulting in many users only having one IP address.

Referring URL:
The URL a user came from to reach your site, such as www.lycos.com or www.aol.com. Whether this information appears in your logs depends upon the settings of the user's browser.

Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS):
How much revenue is generated per amount spent on an advertising method.

Return on Investment (ROI):
How much profit is generated per money spent on an advertising method.

Revenue:
Total income for your sales. For example, if you sell 50 teacups at $10 each, your revenue would be $500.

Search Term Suggestion Tool:
A tool lets you type in a word and see a list of related terms that were searched on last month that you may wish to add to your account.

Server Logs:
A record of the activities of your Web server kept by the computer hosting your Web site.

Third Party Tracking Software:
Software that records visits to your Web site, but which is located somewhere other than at your site. These systems are not as reliable as your own server logs.

Tracking URL:
Your Web address (http://www.mycompany.com) with a special code attached to it (http://www.mycompany.com
?source=overture). This lets you identify clicks from the Overture network, even when the clicks are from one of Overture's partners.

Unique User:
A unique visitor your Web site. You can determine unique users by assigning a different cookie to each visitor, then checking the cookie during each visit to your site.

User Session:
A visit to your site by a user, which you can define by setting a cookie.

URL (Universal or Uniform Resource Locator):
The electronic address for an information source on the Internet, such as a Web page. For example, the URL for Overture is http://www.overture.com.

Bidding

PPC can provide your site with one of the most cost effective methods of improving your business if used properly. The first step in initiation your PPC campaign is to develop keywords.

Keep in mind that general search terms will cost considerably more (and achieve more clicks) than more specific ones. Additionally, the same terms on different PPC engines with have substantially different bids.

Lets look at this example:

Search Term Bids
Search term CPC Bid for Number 1 position

From Yahoo! Search

__________________________________________

From GoClick

_____________________________________________


There is a substantial difference between these bids. The Yahoo! Search bid for "internet marketing" is 789% higher than the same term at GoClick. The key reasons for this is that Yahoo! Search reaches a larger group of search engines, and it is one of the most popular PPC engine on the Internet. Nevertheless, a click is a click, and that is why if you have a limited budget you should look some of the smaller PPC sites to establish your accounts.


As you can see from the above example that the more specific your search term is the lower bids are. There are exceptions though, look at marketing vs. Internet marketing. If you want to get customers for your marketing seminar or event you could choose (at ahoo! Search) the term "marketing" for $1.03 or "marketing event" for $0.07. Although you will receive considerably more clicktrhoughs from the term "marketing" you will also pay over a dollar for each visitor. Marketing events, on the other hand will give you less clikcthroughs but a much better conversion rate and a more targeted visitor.

According to Jupiter Media Metrix & NPD, the majority of users looking for specific products or services, will type in the product name when using a search engine keyword search. This means that if you have a strong or even not so strong brand name you should include it in your keywords. If it is an unusual name the bid will be low and you will benefit from extremely qualified visitors.

Unlike your selection of keywords for site optimization, there is no limit to the number of keywords you can use in your PPC program.

CompareYourClicks.com "levels" the playing field by letting advertisers instantly compare keyword prices at multiple pay-per-click search engines!

Go To: http://www.compareyourclicks.com/

Titles and Descriptions

Pay per click search engines enable web site advertisers to enter and bid for listing position on relevant keywords and/or "key phrases" — also known as "search terms". For each URL (or search term in some instances), a title and a description or promotional message is specified. Typically, a title may be up to 40 to 50 characters in length, and a description or promotional message may be up to 150 to 200 characters in length. In some cases, a logo may also be specified.

Most all PPC services will allow you to specify a title, description and URL for each keyword. Obviously, designing your PPC program can get somewhat involved. First you have your keywords and bidding management, then the titles you use along with the descriptions and the URL's you submit. You can have hundreds even thousands of combinations.

Titles:

Consumers enter the exact term that's important to them into a search box, so it follows that their eye will be drawn to listing titles that include that term. Our analysis proves this to be true. Increase your click-through rate by using the keyword in the title of each listing. The combination of these elements can make a huge difference in your marketing program.

_________________________________________________

Case Study: the eMarketing Association

The account summaries below were taken directly from the eMA's monthly Overture statements:

Summary of Account for October, 2001

Total clickthrough charges (USD) - 407.77

Total# of clicks - 1,209

Average Cost Per Click (USD) - 0.34

_________________________________________________

Summary of Account for March, 2002

Total clickthrough charges (USD) - 123.06

Total# of clicks - 1,098

Average Cost Per Click (USD) - 0.11

_________________________________________________

As you can see the eMA was able to reduce it's monthly budget for Overture by over 300%, and reduce it's cost per click from .34 to .11 and still maintain over 90% of clickthroughs.

This was accomplished by:

1. Selecting more relevant keywords. We increased the number of keywords we were bidding on from 50 to 200.

2. Using direct URLs for each keyword. Instead of just linking to our home page we linked to the product or service described in the keyword.

3. Changing the titles. We made sure that the keyword was in each title.

4. Changing the description. We revised and re-wrote the descriptions for most of our keywords.

5. Bid management. We regularly visit Overture to adjust our bids, and add new terms.


PPC requires a different mindset. This is an area where you really don't want to just get "clicks." Since that can get very expensive. What you want is qualified visitors. In order to achieve that every element of your program is important.

1. Make sure your title has the keyword you are bidding on in it. People want to see that you are offering what they are looking for.

2. Use an appropriate description for each keyword. It is easy to use the same description of your site for all keywords, but that is a big mistake. Remember that you don't want visitors that are not likely to buy. This is the place you should include things like prices, or other qualifying elements to discourage casual surfers from clicking. For example, the following is an early description for the search term "certifications" from the eMA:

Marketing resource, certifications, educational programs, statistics,
newsletters, reports and emarketing related articles and programs.

Here is the same description optimized for the term "marketing certifications":

eMarketing Certification, Certified eMarketer and Certified eMarketing Associate
programs available. Certification fee ranges from $110 to $192. Certification
provides you with a valuable credential recognized worldwide. Examinations
given online, resources available.


By including the fee and eliminating all that general information like "marketing resources" visitors that click through already know the cost factor and some limited information regarding our certification programs. This helps eliminate those looking for free certifications or just surfing around for "resources", and delivers strong prospects for our programs. It also very specifically targets those looking for marketing certification. The url used brought the visitor directly to our certification page.

Remember to keep your descriptions relevant to your keywords and phrases, this is critical. If your description is too general, you will get more clicks but less revenue. If your description is very specific to the term you will get visitors that are much more likely to purchase your products and/or services. Writing descriptions for dozens or even hundreds of keywords can be a time consuming task. Nevertheless it can make a very big difference in your results from PPC search engines.

Experiment

No course can tell you exactly what to write or how to describe your product or service. You already know that using benefits is a good strategy. Features are important too. You will have to balance features with benefits to produce the best possible descriptions. Fortunately you change your keyword phrases and descriptions any time. We recommend setting up a test grid for your program. Try different descriptions over several one week periods and compare the clickthroughs and revenue.

You can find some helpful tools at: http://www.overture.com/d/USm/adcenter/tools/index.jhtml

Choosing PPC Services

So Many Engines So Little Time (and money)

There are a lot of PPC engines out there here is a list of 80 of the smaller services: http://www.payperclickanalyst.com/others.htm

Here is another guide to PPC engines: http://www.ppc-directory.com


WARNING: Be careful of PPC engines that give you financial incentives for signing up - expecilally large ones. There are engines that will offer you $500 in free clicks for every $50 you deposit. Nevertheless, there are some PPC's that offer incentives on a more reasonable scale and are worth checking out here is a list:

http://www.ppc-directory.com/free-pay-per-click-search-engines.htm

Please note, we have not reviewed the engines in the above list. Use caution when doing business with the smaller firms.

We reviewed our top reccommendations in step three at the URL below: http://www.emarketingassociation.com/seo/step3/4.htm

Check out the reccommendations from the PPC Directory:
http://www.ppc-directory.com/top-ten-pay-per-click-search-engines.htm

How to Choose PPC Providors:

COST

One of the first considerations in what engine to choose is to determine the cost of various keywords on various PPC engines. A click is a click. It doesn't matter if it comes from overture.com or ah-ha.com. To this end, don't put too much weight on which engine delivers "better" traffic . Except for those engines that offer users rewards for clicking on links, there is little difference between the engines. They are a commodity. And what differentiates commodities is price. You must carefully examine search engines to see which offers the cheapest price per click. Luckly there is a free web based service that will let you know the current bid on any serch term on a variety of PPC search engines. Take the top 5 search terms you use and compare them at:

Cost Per Click http://www.compareyourclicks.com/

Maximum Bid ROI

Use the Bid Cap Calculator to help determine what your maximum bid amount should be, based on the variables you enter into the calculator that relate to your own web site and business realities.

Deposits vary from $10.00 to $100.00 as initial fees, this deposit can usually be made by credit card or check.

SECURITY

Click trhough inflation is a considerable problem with pay for position engines. Overture has methods to detct illegal clicks and does not charge advertisers for them. For example if you are bidding on a search term the costs $1.00 per click, what is to stop someone from clicking, lets say 100 times?

As has been recognized in the click-through payment industry, click-through payment programs are susceptible to hit inflation, where a referrer artificially inflates the click-through count for which it should be paid. Consequently, most ad networks include clauses in their service agreement that explicitly prohibit hit inflation by the referrer and mention that they have "effective software to detect such misuse".

Most of the PPC search engines will include some kind of FAQ dealing with this issue. You chould check out how they handle click reporting and charges.

EASE OF USE

There are considerable differences in the adminsistrative console for the PPC engines. Most have summary reports, bidding reports, keyword reports and so on. Make sure the engines you are signing up with have a reasonable reporting capabliity. This is another good reason to stick with the top 5 ot 10 engines.

REVIEW OF LISTINGS

Some PPC engines take from 1 to 3 days to approve your search terms others are instant. For example Overture will take about 3 days to approve the search terms you submit and does not allow certain terms. GoClick will activate your terms instantly without a review.

PARTNERS

Many PPC engines supply search results to other engines, this can improve your exposure dramatically. Overture has the best distribution, but many of the smaller engines cover areas not covered by Overture.

Budgeting, Analysis and Metrics

PPC engines generally require a deposit upon which per click charges are posted every month. Some search engines have maximum spending limits you can set or per month limits you can establish. Using the cost per click tool on the preceding page can be of great value in helping to establish a budget for PPC.

Even if you start with as little as $25.00, if you select the right keywords and create relevant titles and descriptions you should see your business improve.

We have found that PPC engines deliver the best value of any online source of advertising. Just be careful to test your terms, and move them up in position slowly. You will see very quickly how your budget will be depleted if you bid for many number 1 positions all at once.

Analyses and Metrics


Fortunately, most PPC engines have robust reporting capabilities. You can extract a wealth of metrics to measure your results. Additionally, you can use services like WebTrends to analyze where your site traffic is coming from. Make a habit of printing out your reports so you can refer to them in the future and make comparisons.

Summary

1. Pay Per Click (PPC) search engines deliver one of the best online advertising value available.

2. Your success with PPC programs will depend on what engines you select, your keywords, titles, descriptions and the amounts you bid.

3. More and more PPC engines are coming online, look for a lot of variety, some good and some bad.

4. Track your results and experiment with different engines, keywords, titles and descriptions


In short, PPC can drive targeted traffic almost instantly to your site. It is a major tool in the marketers arsenal. Many of the resources listed in this step have excellent additional information. This is a relatively new arena and there are bound to be new practices, as well as changes in existing services. It is one worth keeping up with.

 

Copyright© eMarketingAssociation 2008 -All Rights Reserved