Costco Connection - February 2012

Catchingcustomersnew MEDIA BAKERY

Seven things your business
should know about
pay-per-click advertising

By Rosalind Gray

IF YOU WANT more bang out of your marketing buck but, like most small-business owners, you’re short on spare cash, time and patience, then pay-per-click (PPC) might be right for you.

Pay-per-click is a form of online
advertising. When you type specific search
phrases or words into search engines, such
as Google, Bing or
Here are seven things
you should know about
PPC advertising.

1. How does it
work?

PPC is all about keywords. Once you’ve set up a PPC account with one of the search engines, you choose keywords or phrases that are related to your products and services. You then create a simple ad with a title, subheading and short description. When someone uses that search engine to look for your products or services using the keywords you’ve specified, your ad will be displayed. The position of your ad depends on how much you bid for the keywords.

You fix your bid price before your ad goes
live. The higher your bid, the higher your spot
in the results listings you will be. For example,
“landscape architecture in north Boston” may
be one of the terms you want to target. When
someone searches for “landscape architect in
north Boston,” if you bid high enough, your
ad will appear first in the listings, giving you
higher visibility and potentially more
clicks. Each time a customer then clicks on
that ad to get to your site, you will pay your
pre-set bid price.
t

2. How much does it cost?
While some search engines may
charge a set-up or
account fee, after that
you only pay your
pre-set bid price each
time someone clicks
on your ad. When
you set up your ad
you will probably
be bidding against
other advertisers
for the keywords
you want to use.
You can specify
your maximum
spend on any
given day, so
it’s fairly easy
to budget.
ti
.

3. What can I do on a tight budget?

PPC gives small businesses with modest budgets an opportunity to beat the big spenders. Usually the more specific your keywords, the cheaper they’ll be and the more targeted the traffic you’ll get. For example, if you have a sportswear shop you might think “gym clothing” is enough, but in fact it’s way too general; something more specific to your stock, such as “women’s Nike DriFIT athletic shorts,” will give you much more relevant click-throughs. Try adding qualifiers; instead of “car dealer,” go for “Toyota car dealer in Palm Beach.”

Small-business owners are wired to respond
to market conditions much more quickly than
bigger, more established competitors. Tweaking
your keywords to reflect recent developments
can help you capture a new audience or
respond to a newly discovered demand.
Larger organizations would have several lev-
els of sign-off and approval to go through
before enacting such a measure.

4. Why advertise online?

Businesses with a mainly regional service area, such as a restaurant, garage or hairdresser, may have dismissed online advertising in favor of traditional local marketing. But most PPC services now offer geo-targeting, which allows you to show your ads only to browsers located in the area you’ve specified. Geo-targeted pay-per-click is perfect for businesses that expect customers from a particular region only. You could tap into a whole new segment of customers who aren’t seeing your posters in the window.

5. Can PPC work with other ads?

Yes. PPC is the most controllable form of online advertising. You can turn it on and off in a flash. This makes it a flexible tool that can help you fill in any quiet periods. You can turn your ads off any time you like, allowing you to match your stream of leads or orders to your ability to fulfill them.

6. How do I know it’s working?

When you’ve set up your pay-per-click account and kicked off with a keyword or two, you can immediately see which ads are bringing results. You’ll know how many people clicked on your ads. If you track visitors on your own website, you can see if they went on to place an order or make a booking.

7. How do I get started?

Most major search engines accept paid listings, but Google AdWords, Microsoft adCenter and Yahoo! Search Marketing are the ones you’re likely to have heard of. Try each with a small budget and find which setup suits you best. C