Getting Started in eMarketing: Pay-Per-Click Advertising  

Pay per click (PPC) is an advertising model used on the internet where advertisers only pay when a user actually clicks on an ad to visit the advertiser's website. Advertisers bid on keywords they predict their target market will use as search terms when they are looking for a product or service. When a user types a keyword query matching the advertiser's keyword list, or views a page with relevant content, the advertiser's ad may be shown. These ads are called a "Sponsored link" or "sponsored ads" and appear next to or above the "natural" or organic results on search engine results pages, or anywhere a webmaster/blogger chooses on a content page. Google by far has the most effective PPC program at this time.You Only Pay for Results - Guaranteed Web Site Traffic.

• Very Targeted Marketing – consumers searching for products are actively looking to buy
• Shorter Sales Cycles – consumers who research products online have done their homework
• Larger Dollar Volume per Sale – consumers buy for their needs AND wants  

Why should you consider advertising on Search Engines?

You should advertise on the Internet because your customers are using search engines to research products and shopping destinations, and because pay-per-click search engine advertising is a highly efficient and reasonably priced marketing tool. Over 41 percent of U.S. customers used search engines to research a purchase last year, according to a study by DoubleClick.

How does my website effect my results?

Your pay-per-click campaign will generate more traffic to your website, there’s no doubt about that. But what happens to those visitors once they reach your site is largely up to you. Just as you would tidy up your home when you’re expecting guests, it’s important that you make sure your online gallery is ready to greet its visitors.

Start by evaluating your content. Content throughout your site (not just the homepage) that is loaded with relevant keywords and rich information will result in better pay-per-click results. In our industry, we have the tendency to want to “show off” our products through elaborate photo galleries. Resist the temptation to rely on photos alone to tell your story – use descriptive text full of keywords to explain your product offerings.

To ensure visitors have a positive experience at your site, make sure you include a clear description of your services. And remember, nothing will damage a searcher’s confidence in you more than coming to your site to see promotions that are expired or out-of-date. Be sure to keep your site fresh and update it with special offers frequently. That way, when that perfect customer does find you, he or she will be enticed to give you a call or fill out your contact form.

How will I know if pay-per-click is working for me?

The most important thing you can do to evaluate the program is to track all calls and walk-ins. Conduct training sessions and role-plays to ensure your staff members know how to track leads, and do a little mystery shopping yourself to make sure the training sticks.

Online marketing and traditional marketing go hand in hand, though Internet leads tend to operate at a different pace. People using the Internet are often in a different buying cycle that starts with online research and eventually leads to a purchase. Sometimes it can take people who have visited your website more than three months to contact you. Or, they may have seen your site, put off their search for window treatments until later, and then see a direct mail piece from you and be reminded that they’ve seen your site online.

Your eMarketing campaign will not only be a resource for those doing research, but also a branding effort that can close the loop of other more traditional campaigns. Businesses who are having the most success are those who have stuck with eMarketing for at least a year. They are diligent about tracking all calls and walk-ins and continue to track leads throughout the quoting and buying cycle. 

I Searched For My Ad, Why Didn’t I See It?

If you’re like many other business owners, you’ll probably want to search for your ads yourself. Don’t be disappointed if you don’t see them every time you search. This can happen for a few different reasons, such as: 

• It's possible that at the time you searched for your ads your daily ad budget (this is your monthly budget divided by 30) had already been exhausted. Once you meet your daily budget, Google pulls your ads from rotation.

• At the time you searched, Google may have temporarily stopped displaying your ads for a short time period so that you would have budget left for your ads to be displayed later in the day. This Google feature exposes your ads to a more diverse group of internet searchers who are searching at different times of the day, but it makes it tough to test the ads.

If you are having trouble seeing your ads, be patient and persistent. Be sure you are searching in Google at www.google.com. Try different times of the day, using different keywords. 

Who will see my ads?

People seeing your ads are within your service area. Google determines searchers' locations based on the IP addresses of their computers, which isn't a perfect technology but has proven to be quite effective.  Depending on your location and competition in your area, a combination of strategies are used:

• Inputting specific city names that you provide to limit your ads to only people searching from IP addresses within those cities.
• Setting up a national campaign that may be displayed to anyone in the US, but requires searchers to include your city name as well as the keyword they're searching on.

How am I protected against fraudulent clicks on my ads?

We often hear from dealers who are worried that a competitor may continually click on their ads just to drive up their costs. Google has technology in place to ease these concerns and control costs. Its proprietary technology will recognize repeated clicks from the same user and filter out clicks from automated search robots. 
 
What is Bounce Rate?

“Bounce rate” is a term that you’ll see on location and keyword reports. Google defines bounce rate as “the percentage of single-page visits” to your site. Many factors influence bounce rate, including the traffic source, audience, landing page design and content, and page load time. Bounce rates by keyword and location is a way to help optimize and further customize campaigns. Expanding Your ReachThese local business listing programs are ideal for retail businesses with a 'store-front' location – the search engines allow you to place your store’s name and address in a list of similar businesses based on your location and the location of the searcher.

These local programs are a great way to increase your presence online and traffic to your site. 

• MSN and Yahoo Pay-Per-Click
• CitySearch Pay-Per-Click
• Yahoo Local Business Listing
• Google Local Business Listing
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)