How To Advertise Your Business Online
Posted by April Ward - aprilward.net on: 2005-08-03 13:55:11
Using pay-per-click advertising to generate targeted leads for your business.
What Is Pay-Per-Click?
Pay-per-click is a method search engines use that allows you to list your site at the top of their search engine results. You don't pay for your site to be listed in the search engine; you pay for the number of times someone actually clicks on your ad. This is often considered to be one of the cheapest yet most cost-effective ways to advertise your business online.
How Pay-Per-Click Works
You select keywords that allow the search engine to find your ad when someone performs a search using the same words. For each pay-per-click campaign you create, you determine how much you are willing to pay to appear in the results. The higher you bid, the higher your ad will be listed in the search engine. There are three highly recommended search engines to choose from. Google, Findwhat and Overture rank the highest among customer satisfaction.
Google.com
Google is one of the best brand names in the search engine business. They partner with AOL, Ask Jeeves, Lycos, Earthlink, Lycos Canada, Netscape, Compuserve, AT&T Worldnet and NYTimes.com. They also have targeted sponsor links to Disney.com online, FamilyFun.com, Go.com and Movies.com.
Google provides a keyword suggestion tool and they only bill advertisers after someone has clicked on their ads. Advertisers have the ability to target their ads to over 225 countries in several different languages. There is a $5.00 set up fee and the minimum bid is only 5 cents.
Is This For You?
Some people swear by pay-per-click, stating how it has allowed them to market their business on a small budget. Others feel that pay-per-click is a black hole. Visitors click on the links; however, it doesn't always lead to new customers or sales. My suggestion: try it yourself. There are several factors to consider when using pay-per-click, so take it for a test drive, try several different keywords and descriptions, and see if it's right for you.
Tips:
- Give yourself time to learn the process for each search engine.
- Start small. Bid low so you won't lose too much if it doesn't work for you right away.
- Test. See if different keywords or descriptions will change your results.
About the Author
April Ward is a professional graphic designer and web designer. Her skills and expertise have made a huge impact on her customers ability to succeed online and offline.
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