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How to Market Your Small Business Online
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Article 4: Buy Pay-Per-Click Ads
When consumers go to search engines and type in keywords to find goods or services, the page doesn’t just bring up search results. There are also text-based ads near the results, which you can use to reach eyeballs with minimal costs. These ads are called “Sponsored Links” on Google, for instance.
Many search engines offer a pay-per-click option, which means you pay only when people click on your ad and are directed to your Web site.
Programs like Google AdWords don’t have minimum spending requirements. You could set a daily budget of just $5, for example, and could choose to pay just 1 cent per click. A bidding system helps determine the positioning you’ll receive. Keep in mind keyword phrases that are more specific cost less. You’ll likely pay more for “dog groomer” than you would for “Dallas dog groomer.”
Local businesses can use the geotargeting tools offered by the major search engines to show an ad only to visitors within a designated area.
“It will keep your budget expenditures down and make sure you’re only drawing the most focused audience,” says Matt Van Wagner, owner of Find Me Faster, a paid-search advertising agency in Nashua, N.H.
Van Wagner recently created a campaign for a local bakery. He set restrictions for the text-based ads to run only within 30 miles of Nashua and bought 150 specific keywords and phrases. The effort, which cost $60 the first month, began driving more traffic to the bakery’s Web site. Even though he didn’t yet know how many people visited the store after seeing the ads, Van Wagner says, “Sixty dollars per month to attract 120 to 150 local searchers on very specific terms, like ‘wedding cakes in Nashua’ is money well spent.”
Search engines typically offer tracking tools, too.
“That’s what makes it such a great ad buy,” says Holly Berkley, a San Diego-based new-media consultant and author of “Low-Budget Online Marketing for Small Business” (Self-Counsel Press, 2005). “You can track which keywords lead to a sales lead as well as which ad leads to a sales lead,” she says.
More than 90 percent of U.S. paid-search advertising spending will go to Google and Yahoo! in 2007, reports market research firm eMarketer.
You might find better success elsewhere, however. Berkley recommends dividing up your budget among the major search engines to see what works best for you.
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