Pay-per-click search engines auction
position for specific keywords and keyword phrases.
But who are pay-per-click search engines? You've
probably heard of Overture, but you may not have
heard of some of the other leading pay-per-click
engines, such as FindWhat, Kanoodle and Enhance
Interactive (ah-ha). And who searches on Overture?
Well, some people do actually go to Overture and
search, but for the most part, pay-per-click engines
have relationships with other search providers to
deliver results. About, AltaVista, AOL, Ask Jeeves,
Google, LookSmart, Lycos, MSN, and Yahoo all include
paid listings in their search results.
To be included in those listings, you must
bid for position of the keywords that you think will
drive the right kind of traffic to your site. Not
only does this allow you to guarantee that your site
will show up on the coveted first page of search
listings, but you can bid for hundreds or even
thousands of keywords and phrases that suit your
business. Traditional search engine marketing only
allows you to optimize for a few terms. Usually, the
fewer terms you optimize for, the better your
listings. And the most important thing to keep in
mind with pay-per-click advertising is that you are
not paying to be listed, you are paying for the
actual clicks you get on your listing! This is an
important distinction, and the primary reason that
pay-per-click marketing is on the rise, while banner
and traditional offline marketing are on the
decline. Imagine if you could run an ad on prime
time television, but only pay for the viewers that
actually ended up visiting your business. That's how
pay-per-click advertising works.
The challenge is that pay-per-click
listings can be very competitive. It is not uncommon
to see bids of $1-$5 for first position for popular
terms, and pay-per-click advertisers often update
bids many times a day. You could easily find
yourself in fourth position with a bid of $1.23,
while 3, 2 and 1 are $1.24, $1.25 and $1.26
respectively. For 4 cents more, you could be in
first position. You could also decide that you are
happy in fourth position, but you only need to bid
$0.75 to stay ahead of the fifth listing. If you
don't stay on top of your listings, you will
inevitably pay more than you need to for the same
results. By precisely monitoring bids, you can also
dramatically improve your overall results over time
and reach the true potential of your precisely
targeted marketing. To do that, you need
information, and a tool that keeps an eye on your
competitors and updates your bids.
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