Thinking About Paid Search?

Posted by Michelle Harrington on Sep 16th, 2010

Let’s face it, times are tough and small businesses are finding it harder than ever to keep the flow of cash coming in.  The visitor industry on Kauai has taken a serious hit in the last few years with the numbers of visitors to the islands dropping and the spending levels of those visitors receding as well.   The visitor-related markets are fiercely competitive with everyone doing their best to get “their fair share”.  Many small business owners are pulling back and not spending anything on their business marketing and some others are turning to paid advertising programs on the internet in the hopes that the extra exposure online will give them the competitive edge they need to survive the downturn. 

Immediate, Targeted Paid Search Engine Traffic
While I always encourage my clients to have their websites built, using solid search engine optimization strategies from the beginning, for the long-term “free” traffic it can bring, sometimes, especially in very competitive industries and times, paid search campaigns are essential for success.

Wait, What is “Paid Search” Again?
If you’re not quite sure what  “Paid Search” is, let me catch you up.  You may have heard the term Pay-Per-Click, that’s the same as Paid Search.  Paid search is a bid-for-placement model available on the search engines, where you essentially pay to get your website noticed.  With Paid Search you set up a daily budget of what you want to spend and the search engines will serve up your ad when your selected keywords are used.  In most search engines the paid ads are located at the very top of the search results page and/or to the right of the “organic” search engine results and typically are labeled as “sponsored results”.  You can create a variety of ads and keywords to test which ones are most effective and you can link to any page on your website from the ads.

When Is Paid Search a Good Idea?
Paid search campaigns are a very good idea when you are launching a new website or product, because they can drive immediate targeted traffic to your website while your site is being indexed by the search engines (which can take a few weeks to months in some cases).  Another way to use Paid Search is to augment your Search Engine Optimization efforts.  If your industry is very competitive, its possible that even though you have gone to great lengths to optimize your website for the most used and relevant keywords, sometimes you just can’t get a first page placement for a certain keyword term.  Paid Search is a great solution because you can simply target these keywords while you continue to work on your optimization efforts.   In time with solid optimization strategies your site will find its way to the first page of the search results for that term and then you can cut back on your paid advertising for that keyword.

Hire a Professional Who Understands Your Market to Ensure a Good ROI
While paid search is a great solution if you need immediate and targeted traffic to your website, it also is full of potential “land mines” that can cost you a ton if the campaigns are not set up and managed by someone who knows and understands the paid search system.   Its important to understand the value of a professionally managed paid search campaign.  It also helps to choose a paid search professional who understands your market or industry.   While anyone can set up a paid Google AdWords account, there is ALOT to know to run an EFFECTIVE and PROFITABLE paid search campaign.  You can “hack” your way through it and “see how it goes”, BUT that can get expensive and so if you really want your paid search campaigns to be successful right from the get go, it’s important to hire someone who has experience and skill in running paid search campaigns.  The money you spend for a professionals’  expertise will end up saving you money in the long run, by providing you with optimized and well performing campaigns that accomplish your business objectives and have a strong return on your investment.

Paid Search Experience in Hawaii’s Visitor & Real Estate Markets
I have been managing paid search campaigns for my clients in Hawaii’s visitor and real estate markets for over 5 years.  I also periodically attend seminars on paid search and regularly read the latest developments in the industry.  If your current paid search campaigns aren’t performing as you hoped, or if you are interested in investing in paid search to further market your business, I would be happy to work with you to ensure that you are getting a good return on your paid search investment.  I currently offer Google AdWords Account Set Up, Audits, Campaign Tune Ups, Monthly Management contracts and in depth keyword research.  While I’ve managed campaigns on all of the major search engines (Google, Yahoo! & Bing) at this time my preference is to work with Google AdWords as my experience has been that campaigns on their network are more profitable than the others.  This is of course subject to change over time, there’s just been a merger of Yahoo! paid search with Microsoft AdCenter (Bing paid search) recently, so who knows how that will shake down over time.

Incentives from Google & Emagine – Save $175!
If you are interested in testing the waters with a paid search campaign, Google is offering $100 in free advertising, so you can give it a try and see how it works for a few weeks before committing to an ongoing budget of paid search advertising.  Emagine’s paid search consulting rates are $75/hour.  For a limited time I am extending a free hour of consulting to all clients who sign up for a monthly paid search management contract.

The following is what I can provide for the set up and creation of your paid search campaigns on Google’s AdWords program.

Google AdWords Account Set Up & Creation Includes:

- Creation of ad groups based on your business objectives

- Copywriting of ads for each ad group

- Targeting the appropriate landing pages for each ad group

- Conversion Tracking

- Integration with Google Analtyics for tracking and measurement.

If you are interested in Emagine’s Paid Search Services, please contact me.

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Related Posts:

• Getting the Most Out of Pay Per Click Advertising
• Google AdWords Workshop

Author | Michelle Harrington of Emagine Web Marketing
Michelle is a web development and internet marketing professional dedicated to helping small businesses in Hawaii achieve success online. Michelle provides free advice, tips and how to's on the Small Business Internet Marketing Blog.

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