Web Site Promotion (part 2)

Driving New Traffic to Your Site: The Cost & Benefits of Pay-Per-Click Advertising (The Instant Solution)

What is pay-per-click?

Pay-per-click basically works this way: You bid on certain key words or key phrases. The higher your bid (and, in some cases, the better job you've done at writing copy for your listing), the higher your position will be in the results of searches for those particular words or phrases. (The particular search engines that are involved in the program vary from service to service.) The cool thing is -- you only pay if someone actually clicks through to your site! Depending on the popularity of the keyword, each click may cost as little as 1 cent to a few dollars.

Three popular pay-per-click providers are: Yahoo Search Marketing, Google AdWords, and MIVA.

Who should use it?

If increased traffic to your site will result in more business or income, either directly or indirectly, then pay-per-click is an option you should consider.

If you can convert 1% of your site's visitors to a "sale" (whatever that means for your site), then you'll realize a profit if the potential income from that sale is more than 100 times the average cost you pay per click.

For example, let's say you've bid on 20 phrases. As you watch your results, you see that you're paying an average of 12 cents every time someone clicks through to your site as a result of your listing/ad. 100 visits would cost you $12. If your average "sale" resulted in a profit of more than $12, then your investment has paid off.

Of course, each site has to be evaluated separately because of the variations of cost. Popular search phrases (especially with popular pay-per-click services) will cost much more than less common ones. And one site's profit on a sale is different from another's.

One other benefit of Google's AdWords is that you can use it's detailed reporting to help you more effectively optimize your page's title, description and keywords.

Does it really work?

As with any form of advertising, there is no guarantee. But the principle of "spending money to make money" certainly seems to hold true in this area. Pay-per-click does work. (See my case study below.) You can generate increased qualified leads to your site because you control which search phrases will show your site's ad/listing.

What does it cost?

It depends on the popularity of the service and the popularity of the keywords on which you're bidding. Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing are the most expensive, because they are the most popular and can potentially generate the greatest amount of traffic to your site. MIVA can be considerably less expensive, but has less of an audience reach, too.

If you're keywords are very popular, then you will pay a LOT of money ($4-8 per click) for good positions in AdWords or Yahoo. You may be better off with a less expensive service charge less that $1 for the same keywords. Less common services or products can be listed effectively and less expensively, even in AdWords and Yahoo.

Case Study: T2Designs Using Pay-Per-Click

During a 4-day period, I aggressively invested in pay-per-click ads on both MIVA and Google's AdWords. I bid on hundreds of key phrases, dividing my campaigns into "very popular" and "less popular" keywords so I could bid differently on each. For the most part, I tried to get top positions in my ad listings. (Being listed in the top 1-3 positions usually means that your add also shows up in other search engines.) The results?

Google AdWord Results: I received 22 clicks-throughs to my site at a total cost of $61 ($2.77 per click). My keywords were more narrowly focused (like "small business web design" or "indiana web design") because the more general phrases (like "web designer") cost too much and would likely generate a higher percentage of unqualified leads.

MIVA Results: I received 526 click-throughs at a cost of $160 (30 cents per click). Almost all clicks were for more common search phrases (web designer, web site developer, etc.) with very, very few clicks on more specific keyword like I used with Google. The reason is that MIVA doesn't have nearly as many users on the engines that are partnered with it, so less common search phrases don't show as often as they do in Google the web's most popular search engine.

Conclusion: During that period, my requests for project estimates shot way up. At least 2 of these turned into contracted projects, which will more than pay for the advertising investment.

In time I'll likely adjust my Google campaigns so that I'm only using keywords that are less expensive but still used. (It's fun finding those 5 cent per click keywords that actually pay off!) I can adjust my bids in MIVA according to how much time I have for new business. When I don't need to be as aggressive in getting new work, I'll lower my bids down to a few cents (and my click-throughs drop to just a few per day). When I need more leads, I'll raise my bids to a maximum of 30 or 40 cents and watch the numbers pour in.

Which pay-per-click service should I use?

If you have a large advertising budget and you want to establish your web site as the place to go in your particular field, then investing aggressively in AdWords or Yahoo Search Marketing can be beneficial. If your budget is limited, use a less expensive service like MIVA.

I would encourage any online business to invest $150-200 in Google's Adwords. Even if you didn't make a single sale, you'll likely gain some valuable information from their campaign reports. See the article mentioned above for more details.