Search Engine Marketing Unveiled

What is Search Engine Marketing (SEM), how it is different from SEO, what are the costs, and what can I expect?

Where will my ad show up?

When you sign up with a pay per click service your ad will show up in the Sponsored Search section in the search engine you are advertising with. In the major search engines, this is the first 2-4 listings on the top of the page, as well as the listings down the side of the page. You will notice the words “sponsored listings” where these ad’s appear. Within the search engines’ network, your ad will be displayed in designated areas marked with “sponsored search” above or below the ad.

Google network - AOL, Netscape NetCenter, EarthLink, CompuServe, Shopping.com, AT&T, and Ask.com are all apart of the Google Search Network. About.com, Lycos, NYTimes.com, InfoSpace, Reed Business, HowStuffWorks.com, business.com, food.com, and HGTV.com are some of the extensive content network partners. Your ad’s are likely to show up within these sites if they relate to your topic. There is also a whole slew of web pages that have signed up with Google to display targeted ad’s where you may also be displayed.

Yahoo network - If you are apart of the Yahoo Search Marketing network, your ad’s will display in the Yahoo search engine along with partner sites such as InfoSpace, AltaVista, CNN.com, Disney.com and others.

MSN network - Your ad will be displayed withn the MSN Search Engine as well as Windows Live Search.

How much will this cost me?

Pay per click is what it states. No matter which search engine you decide to go with, you pay once your ‘ad’ is clicked upon. If you choose to do so, you can set up a monthly budget that you pay ahead to safe guard your advertising dollars stay within budget. If you are not concerned about monthly budget, you can leave your ad’s open to display at all times.

When push comes to shove, the more money you have to spend in advertising, the more times your website will be clicked on. This is because the more money in your budget, and the higher bid you place per keyword, the more times your ad is displayed, thus resulting in more clicks.

A click can cost anywhere from 5 cents to 50 dollars. It really depends on your competition.

The best way to find out how much you should be spending on an account, is by conducting market research. Set up a pay per click account, and closely watch the clicks, traffic, and ad positioning to find out if you are spending your money on the right keywords and placement.

What can I expect?

Since you have total control of your ad’s, you can expect a lot from pay per click services. Not all online business will benefit from pay per click services. Those selling particular items and want to spend the time and money to advertise them individually, will find an array of uses for pay per click. Your account will only be as good as the time and effort spent into making it. If you set up a quick account and let it run without proper analysis, you will never fully utilize the benefits of pay per click.

Pros of SEM

Demographic Ad Targeting: If you have a company that is based in Phoenix, you can target your ad’s to only show up in the Phoenix area. If your products or services are offered in the whole state of Arizona, you can demographically target your ad’s to only run in these areas. Same goes with the United States, or you can have it ran world wide. The benefit of Demographically Targeting your ad’s, is that you will not receive ‘clicks’ from internet users who cannot utilize your services. Hence, marketing world wide will only be wasting your money and the users time.

Destination URL: It’s true! You do not have to have your ad direct to your homepage. If you have for instance a plumbing website that sells individual plumbing supplies, you want to create an ad specifically for that item. When a user clicks on an ad, they expect to find exactly what the advertisement promised them. So give it to them!

Automatic Top Placement: If you have the money, they have the space. Search engines will place you right at the top for top dollar. Top placement brings us to our next bulletin.

Automatic Website Traffic: You will see an increase in traffic with your pay per click efforts. The amount of traffic depends on your spending, target marketing, and advertisement writing skills.



Cons of SEM

$$$: This really says it all. Money is the number one con of search engine marketing.

Does not help your organic placement: Unlike advertising with link placement and press releases, Pay per click will not improve your organic placement. Remember that organic placement takes time to receive (6-9 months depending on keyword selection) and pay per click during this time can help. However, other efforts teamed up with pay per click will be more beneficial than pay per click alone.

Only about 40% of users click on paid ads. This means the majority click on the organic listings.

Lesson 5: Using SEO and SEM for your business.

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