SEO Expert Guide - Paid Site Promotion (Marketing) (part 7/10)

In parts 1 - 6 you learnt how to develop your proposition, identify your key words and optimize and promote (for free) your site and pages. You were also introduced to our mythical Doug (who sells antique doors, door handles, knockers, door bells or pulls and fitting services) in Windsor in the UK.

Now we turn our attention to paid site promotion, which will be relevant to those of you trying to enter an already crowded marketplace, where your key words are saturated!

(a) Pay-per-click (PPC) Advertising

Run a search on Yahoo or Google for a popular consumer product like "MP3 players". In the results, you'll see a set labeled as 'Sponsored Links' or 'Sponsor Results'. Some results will appear in colored text boxes along the site of the page, whilst others may appear in the same format as the main search results. All these results are paid advertisements from the sites listed within the ads.

The ranking order is a product of the bid amount (CPC) and the popularity of the ad (CTR%) and are purchased through pay-per-click (PPC) advertising suppliers. The largest two are Google's Adwords (displayed on Google, AOL, Ask Jeeves) and Yahoo's Sponsored Links - run by acquired company Overture (appearing on Yahoo!, MSN, AltaVista, and others). MSN are planning to release their own PPC scheme soon.

If you have tried and failed with free promotion tactics, the chances are that you are operating in a highly competitive area (where a PPC campaign may well be justified). After all, if you can make more money from a converted click-through than it cost you to buy the click-through, why wouldn't you look at PPC?

Look at your A-list of keywords. Refer back to your research on Overture. How many searches are conducted per month on your keywords? How much are you - and your competitors - willing to pay for those keywords?

For your first campaign, use a large number of relevant search phrases, so that you can test and learn what works best. Build unique ads for each search phrase, as this will help to optimize your click-through rate or CTR% (defined as clicks - or unique visitors - divided by page impressions on the ad pages - expressed as a percentage). This in turn means more targeted traffic, in some cases paying less per click (due to the methods by which advertising is priced).

Make sure you use a suitable (and perhaps even a dedicated) landing page for each campaign. Simply sending people to your homepage (from where they have to navigate your site) will not help your conversion rates (defined as sales divided by unique visitors, expressed as a percentage)! Help them to buy, as they are likely to be in a hurry!

The PPC providers give you useful interfaces with which to track the effectiveness of your campaign and overall return on your investment. Pay close attention to which keywords are delivering for you and make notes for future campaign planning.

Whilst there is no hard and fast rule, a CTR% of 1.8% - 3.5% is in an acceptable range (and anything over that represents a very good performance). On Google, if your ad achieves less than 0.5% CTR, your ad may well be de-listed. The lower your CTR%, the more you will have to pay in cost-per-click (CPC) to get into the top 3-4 results in your chosen keywords (vital if you want to appear on partner sites like AOL).

(b) Paid Directory Submission

I mentioned earlier that Yahoo! Express Submission is the best way to get a listing on Yahoo! Directory. With a node-level PR of 10, Yahoo! Directory carries much weight with Google and the $299 fee (whikst steep and not absolutely guaranteeing a listing) is probably worth the cost.

Do not submit to Yahoo! until you have really tested which site description works best on the free search engines.

(c) Express Search Engine Submission

In the past, it was only worth doing a paid submission with Ask Jeeves, as this engine continued to enjoy a small but loyal following but did not grow it's index as aggressively as the big boys. This meant paid submission was the only way to guarantee a good placement.

However, Ask Jeeves withdrew this service in 2004 (in favour of a strategy that mirrors the larger players). As such, I would not recommend paid listings with any search engines now.

Next we turn to tools you can use to monitor your ongoing optimization effectiveness...

Navigate the guide

Previous : SEO Expert Guide - Free Site Promotion (PR) (part 6/10)

Next: SEO Expert Guide - Black Hat SEO - Activities to avoid (part 8/10)

About the author:

David Viney (david@viney.com) is the author of the Intranet Portal Guide; 31 pages of advice, tools and downloads covering the period before, during and after an Intranet Portal implementation.

Read the guide at http://www.viney.com/DFV/intranet_portal_guide or the Intranet Watch Blog at http://www.viney.com/intranet_watch.

---

Search Engine Optimization for Dummies

Lets face it. Search Engines rule the World Wide Web... Read More

Should You Be Linking for Traffic or Rankings?

Just for a change, rather than a technical article, I... Read More

Drive More Traffic to Your Website With Your Web Page Title!

One of the most overlooked, but important components, on your... Read More

Submitting Your Site to Search Engines and Directories

Regardless of which type of business you currently have, you... Read More

Its All in the Title

Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world. You may... Read More

Site Maps: A Force To Be Reckoned With

Another important component of search engine optimization is the use... Read More

Search Wars! - MSNs Opening Salvo

With all the recent publicity given to Google as the... Read More

When Google PR Tool Bar is Down!

Where is the need to worry? Who needs a PR... Read More

THREE Secrets to High Search Engine Rankings the Easy Way!

Let me guess, you've read article after article on how... Read More

Shopping Carts and SEO

Shopping and the Web. They go together like Mr. and... Read More

A Three Day Marketing Plan for Better Google Rankings

If you're reading this article, you've probably discovered that simply... Read More

An Introduction to Google Sitemaps

... and why I 'm dying to get finally in... Read More

Google Website and Web Page Indexing for Dummies

You may have heard how important it is to have... Read More

Basic Search Engine Promotion

I can't tell you how many times people have asked... Read More

Would You Let A Dog Or A Butler Market Your Website?

The latest news to hit the Internet's 'water cooler' is... Read More

Got Spiders?

Many internet marketers blow mountains of start-up cash on their... Read More

DIY SEO

Part 1. Wordtracker for keywords.A problem for all new webmasters... Read More

Does Javascript Affect Ranking?

Almost all SEO's agree that using too much javascript can... Read More

Top Search Engine Ranks- The Only Secret You Need- Explained: Part 1

The top three search pages- the only place you'll be... Read More

The Google Sandbox Explained

Introduction The Google Sandbox is a metaphorical term... Read More

Top Search Engine Ranks, Part 2- Mastering the Secret- Explained

In the first part of this series on ranking at... Read More

Good Content: The Key To Search Engine Ranking

Good Content: The Key To Search Engine RankingWhat drives visitors... Read More

SEO Facts

The internet is the largest market place on earth. It... Read More

King + Queen = Royal Success

Ever wonder how or why your competitor gets better search... Read More

Google Wireless - Search Away From Home

For so many web surfers, it's almost automatic to type... Read More

Google Rankings ? Achieving a Top 10 Position in Google ? Part 2

Achieving a top ranking position in Google is every webmasters... Read More

Mindset from Yahoo!- Changing the SEO Game

Yahoo! has a developed a new concept in search engine... Read More

Feed me - Satisfy the Search Engines and Your Sites Visitors With Keyword-Rich Content

Search engines love content. Graphics may make your site look... Read More

Answers Count - Matching Keyword and Phrase Density

What's more important to your business success - the question... Read More

5 Things to Keep an Eye on in the SEO World in 2005...

After the latest PR update at Google and MSN's beta... Read More

Do Not Drop Your Web Site Off the Search Engine Cliff

If you've been feeling like Tom Cruise climbing up the... Read More

How To Write Effective And Unique Articles That Are Optimized for the Search Engines

It is a well known fact that writing, distributing and... Read More

Why Does The Link Page Have A PR Zero?

For beginners, link exchange campaigns can be a minefield of... Read More