Feedback Form
Home Features Mastermind Forums About Advertise Blog Network Contact Be An Author

Guide to Pay Per Click search for SME's

Guide to Pay Per Click search for SME's

A quick guide to pay per click (PPC) search advertising, by David White and Chris Camacho, Weboptimiser (www.weboptimiser.com)

In recent years, the number of consumers using online search has grown rapidly and many companies are moving towards Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising.

PPC advertising can be very rewarding, but similarly it can also be extremely expensive; thus making it essential for you to conduct extensive research and do the basic math to justify it.

What is PPC?
PPC advertising is primarily concerned in identifying the keywords or phrases that relate most to your product or service and entering into a bidding auction for them. Amongst other factors, the amount you are willing to pay per click will determine where your advert is positioned in the sponsored link section of the search engine.

Why does Search Marketing make sense for SME’s?
Search engine marketing allows SME’s to widen their reach and explore new avenues. Traditionally, SME's have relied on offline advertising such as direct mail and newspaper classifieds. However, many SME's are beginning to realise the importance of online advertising and in particular, search engine marketing.

Furthermore, the big players in online search such as Google and Yahoo have been working on ways to bring SME’s, particularly local businesses, into the ranks of their advertisers. Google offer advertisers the opportunity to target ads by region. Yahoo! Search Marketing offers local search that involves targeting by radius.

Through PPC you can target potential customers at the exact time they are searching for your product or service. Increasingly, companies are moving their budgets from conventional media to search advertising in an attempt to capitalise on the online market because there are few other avenues that are as profitable or accountable.

Who should you advertise with?
There are hundreds of PPC search engines in operation, but very few will actually deliver your site useful traffic. Google, Yahoo! and MSN are the main players in the market and I would recommend that companies focus on targeting these engines.

Google are market leaders with approximately 78% market share and continue to set the standard for search and PPC advertising. Yahoo! has an approximate market share of 8% who are closely followed by MSN who current hold approximately 6%.

How to measure a PPC campaign, and why optimisation is important
Measuring the effect and the success of a PPC campaign will be dependent on your objectives. There are basic free tracking solutions available that can help you identify exactly how your PPC campaign is performing. For instance if you are tracking a shopping basket on your site, you can identify where the traffic source came from, what items they have placed in the basket and how much they have spent. There is also the facility to identify where users are dropping off your site to help you improve the design and retention rate. The most commonly used free tracking software systems is Google Analytics. Yahoo! also offer a similar tracking system at a small cost called Search Optimiser.

A word of warning though; running a successful PPC campaign can be very time consuming, especially for the small business where man power is often stretched. Each PPC search engine campaign must be optimised regularly, in other words, you need to check its running in the most cost-effective and efficient way so you’re getting the most relevant traffic for your money. Our SME clients often come to us because they simply don’t have the time or expertise to optimise their campaigns frequently enough.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) agencies like Weboptimser have specialist staff devoted to working on PPC accounts who optimise the account based on market changes, competitor bid strategies and other key defining factors that affect your account on an hourly basis. SEM Agencies have the added benefit of Bid Management tools that can optimise accounts based on preset strategies and objectives.

Choosing a specialist agency to assist you in running a comprehensive and effective campaign could save you a lot of money; we have clients on our books who were SME’s when they started working with us and now are much bigger and they put that down to the impact search made on their business. Good luck!

For more top tips and case studies, please see our websites http://www.weboptimiser.com and http://www.searchtoptips.com





Guide to Pay Per Click search for SMEs - To learn more about this author, visit Lucy Green's Website.

Like this article? Share it with your friends

Article Feedback
 Article Feedback No article feedback found.
  Leave Your Feedback
article feedback

Article Feedback
John Alexander
John has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center.
I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website

Staging Diva
Debra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website

Cheryl Matthynssens

Cheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur.  Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well.  A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles.  She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide-  to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being.  Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com

- Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website

Stephanie Robey
Stephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals.

She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com   Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences.  Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.

Read Steph's Blog
Meet Steph and Dave
Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich
- Visit Stephanie Robey's Website


To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us.

About The Author


Lucy Green
(Visit Lucy's Website)

Lucy Green is a Silver author on EvanCarmichael.com
About The Author

View Author Blog
View Author Blog

View Author Video
View Author Video

Free Downloads


Lucy Green's

Complete
List Of
SEO
Articles

Name
Email
If you enjoyed this article, get Lucy Green's Complete List of SEO Articles For FREE!

More Lucy Green
Guide to Pay Per Click search for SMEs
Moving On Up Ten Top Tips to move you up those search rankings
Free Downloads


 
 
 


Evan Elite Authors
Casey Gollan  
Dianne Crampton  
David Barr  
Evan Elite Authors

Become An Author
Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details.
Become An Author

Evan's Latest Video
Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media
Evan's Latest Video

Business Opportunities
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"

How to Start An Online Business

Click Here To Learn More
Business Opportunities



Evan's Newsletter
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Evan`s Newsletter

Free Downloads
Profitable Blog Guide Icon Profitable Blog Guide
Instant Flyers Icon Instant Flyers
Law of Attraction Icon Law of Attraction
Special Report Icon Special Report
The Entrepreneurial Sweet Spot Icon The Entrepreneurial Sweet Spot
Free Downloads - Complete List

Entrepreneur Tools and Guides
Top 50 Blogs For Startups To Watch In 2008
Top 50 Blogs For Startups
Top Blogs To Watch In 2008
 
Choose A PR Topic
Choose A PR Topic
Press Release Builder
 
Entrepreneur Tools and Guides

SEO For Africa
SEO For Africa
Agnes Annan Cape Coast, Ghana,
Agnes Annan
Cape Coast, Ghana
SEO For Africa

If I Were A Startup...
Travis Hartley, 426% Growth in 2 Years
Travis Hartley
426% Growth in 2 Years
Adam and Matthew Toren , $200k to $3.4 Mil in 3 Years
Adam and Matthew Toren
$200k to $3.4 Mil in 3 Years
If I Were A Startup... - Complete List

Famous Entrepreneurs
Vince McMahon, WWE
Gordon Moore Robert Noyce, Intel
Famous Entrepreneurs - Complete List

Entrepreneur Advice
Timothy Ferriss, 4 Hour Work Week
Timothy Ferriss
4 Hour Work Week
Jeffrey Gitomer, The Sales Bible
Jeffrey Gitomer
The Sales Bible
Entrepreneur Advice - Complete List

Popular Articles
(Premium Authors)

     The emerging marketing choice: fame or respect
By Mark Di Somma
     Brand talking: Wrapping your brand around Word of Mouth
By Mark Di Somma
     The new marketing question. Will they follow?
By Mark Di Somma

Have A Suggestion?
Toronto Salsa Classes / Toronto Salsa Lessons Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
Have A Suggestion?

More Evan Carmichael
More Information