Etips is a publication of:
Your Guide to Professional Web
Site Design and Development
Hello,
Welcome to this week's edition of Etips.
Pay-Per-Click Search Engines are one of the most effective ways to generate
highly targeted traffic to your website.
The concept is simple. You bid on targeted keywords that best describe what
you're offering. Each time your link is clicked, you will be charged the
price you bid. Sites are ranked in the Search Engine results according to
the bids. The highest bid will receive the top position followed by the next
highest bid and so on.
In this week's edition of Etips, I will be featuring part one of an
excellent two part article written by Robin Nobles entitled,
Pay-Per-Clicks...One way to boost traffic to your web site.
I hope you'll enjoy this week's edition of Etips.
To Your Success!
 Pay-Per-Clicks...One way to boost traffic to your
Web site (Part 1)
By
Robin
Nobles
One of the ways to boost traffic
to your Web site is by purchasing keywords from one of the pay-per-click
search engines or directories.
But with literally hundreds of choices, how do you pick the pay-per-click
engine with the best visibility that has the potential of giving you a higher
return on your investment?
And, just as important, what are some strategies for working with the
pay-per-click engines, and how do they operate?
How do Pay-Per-Click Engines Operate?
With pay-per-click engines, you bid on keywords that describe your business,
your products, or your target audience. Then, you're charged your bid price
every time someone clicks on your ad, which is displayed when a searcher
types in the keyword you've chosen into the search box at an engine. Whoever
is willing to pay the most for the keyword or keyword phrase will be at the
top of the rankings.
There are many benefits to working with pay engines, which we'll cover in
this article.
Important Pay-Per-Click Engines and Directories
Overture
Overture is certainly the pay-per-click engine that most people recognize.
It's also one of the most expensive and competitive.
However, the visibility of Overture is impressive, to say the least. It provides
the top two or three results to "big boy" search engines and directories
like Yahoo!, Lycos, HotBot, and MSN Search. In fact, Overture claims to reach
80% of all Internet users.
Overture listings are generally found at the top of the regular search results
in an area called "Sponsored" results or sites.
Overture's pay-per-clicks operate under one premise: whoever has the deepest
pockets and is willing to pay the most gets on top.
The minimum bid is $.10, and there's a minimum charge of $20 per month. A
$50 initial deposit is non-refundable and will be applied to click throughs
or to the minimum monthly spend. When your account is depleted, they'll contact
you to see if you want to add additional funds to your budget.
Google
AdWords
Google AdWords have fast become extremely important in the pay- per-click
arena, with results being shown at search engines like Google, AOL Search,
Ask Jeeves, and Teoma.
Google AdWords operates differently than Overture in a number of ways. Your
click-through rate and cost per click together determine where your ads are
shown, so better ads rise to the top. That means no one can lock you out
of the top position.
Google AdWords are shown on the right-hand side of regular search results
in a shaded area called "Sponsored Links."
Because your click through rate has an influence on the placement of your
AdWords ad, your ad's title and description must be captivating and designed
to pull in traffic.
With Google AdWords, there's a $5 activation fee, and the minimum bid amount
is $.05. You decide on the maximum cost per click that you're willing to
pay and set your daily budget. You don't have to spend a certain amount per
month, and you only pay for clicks you actually receive.
FindWhat
Another popular pay-per-click engine that is generally much less expensive
than Overture is FindWhat.
With FindWhat, whoever bids the most gets on top. The minimum bid is $.05,
and they require a $25 minimum amount to open an account.
FindWhat provides results to 200 different partners, including many of the
big meta engines like Dogpile.
Lycos InSite AdBuyer
A fairly new pay-per-click program that's displayed on both Lycos and HotBot
is Lycos InSite AdBuyer.
Again, it operates similarly to the way that Overture and FindWhat operate,
with the top results being those who bid the most for their target
keywords.
The minimum bid is $.05 with a $50 minimum to open an account.
LookSmart
LookSmart is a pay-per-click directory where you pay a flat $.l5 per click
through. It claims to reach 77% of the Internet users through the partners
that display LookSmart results.
Some of those partners include MSN Search, About.com, Netscape, and
AltaVista.
With LookSmart, you don't bid for listings. Everyone pays a flat $.15 per
click through, and your ranking is determined by how relevant your site is
to the search term, according to LookSmart's ranking criteria. To get started
with a LookSmart listing, the initial investment is $29.
Other
Pay-Per-Click Engines
This comprehensive site lists over 500 different pay-per-click search engines
and offers individual reviews on many of them.
In Part 2 of this article, we'll continue by discussing the advantages to
working with pay engines.
Copyright 2003 Robin Nobles. All rights reserved.
About the Author:
| Robin Nobles,
Co-Director of Training,
Search
Engine Workshops, teaches 2-, 3-, and 5-day hands-on, search engine marketing
workshops in locations across the globe. She also teaches online search engine
marketing
courses and has two books available through Amazon and other
bookstores. |
|
| Tip of
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If you would like to display
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Today's tip is an excerpt from the highly acclaimed
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