Alternatives to SEO
There are two main approaches to driving targeted traffic to a website: SEO and CPC advertising. Each has notable strengths and weaknesses, but experience shows that a combination of the two proves most effective. The two advertising methods can be used in such a manner that they complement one another rather than compete for attention of the user.
Main Benefits of CPC Advertising:
o The initial view of the user can be controlled with a landing page chosen by the advertiser.
o The position of the website can be controlled
o There is an opportunity to find inexpensive relevant keywords that compliment organic traffic.
o Results can be achieved quickly
o On certain search engines, CPC is the only worthwhile option for marketing
In order to start using CPC advertising, most websites do not need to have any changes made to their layout or content. Once a campaign is launched, the traffic can be instantly directed to the website and the advertisement is only paid for when traffic has been received by the website. The landing page and content first seen by the search engine user can be easily controlled by CPC. When using CPC, keywords can be controlled based on results and adjustments can be made if certain chosen terms aren’t working.
It is important to be able to track what is working and what is not working in any marketing campaign. Online campaign tracking can be easily done by watching the marketing metrics.
Below are the main components:
• Impressions: The number of times the advertisement was served
• Clicks: The number of times the advertisement was clicked on
• Click Through Rate: The number of clicks divided by the number of impressions
• Cost per Click: The cost of the ad campaign divided by the number of clicks
• Conversions: The number of times the goal was completed
• Conversion Rate: Conversions divided by the number of clicks
• Cost per Conversion: The cost of the marketing campaign divided by the number of conversions
When tracking a campaign, if unsatisfied with the results, adjustments can easily be made to the keywords by the advertiser.
A cost per click campaign tracks how the paid advertisement converts for the company.
There are three main search engines that are most commonly used for CPC advertising, separately or in combination.
Google Adwords
Google is currently the most widely used search engine. Because of its popularity, it is also the hardest search engine to gain a high ranking and maintain that ranking. Being ranked number one in a Google search can be extremely beneficial to a company. Achieving a high ranking, using traditional SEO, on Google can be difficult and can cost a lot of time and money for website development. This is why some online marketers prefer to use Google’s pay per click advertisements.
Adwords offers pay per click advertising and website target advertising to online marketers for text, banner and rich-media advertisements. Advertisers select their target search keywords that will trigger their ads and also tell Google the maximum amount they are willing to pay per click.
When a user searches on Google, advertisements relevant to the keyword searched will be shown as links on the right hand side of the screen. Advertisers also have the option of blocking certain IP addresses that they do not want their ads to show up on. There is a maximum amount of 20 IP addresses that be excluded. Frequency capping is a feature that allows the advertiser to limit the number of times an advertisement will appear to any given user.
Overture
Yahoo purchased Overture in 2005 along with several other search engines in an attempt to have their own search product. Overture is currently being used to provide paid advertisements to search engines and internet portals. The ads are distributed near the content of popular websites. Overture has a minimum cost of $50 in addition to a $20 minimum spend. Overture defaults to exact ad matches, meaning the ad closest to the exact searched keyword will show first. This is a nice feature for advertisers strong in organic traffic as well. Most of their advertisements are reviewed before showing them to users.
There are two types of Overture accounts, a self-serve and a fast track. The self-serve promotion account is intended for people who are already familiar with marketing on the internet. The fast track account provides additional features for a one-time $199 fee. The features include assistance with search term selection, website title and description, budget management, account optimization, URL tracking, and editorial approval.
Bing
Bing advertisements are cheaper than Google ads, however fewer people are using Bing and fewer impressions will be made. The age and gender of a user can be targeted by the advertiser using Bing, while Google does not offer this option. Bing shows more pay per click ads, so the chances of a ad being seen are greater.
Using a combination of Google, Yahoo and Bing pay per click advertisements is expected to provide a website with a 96% web reach. Cost per action campaigns are advertisements placed on 3rd party websites that charge a commission when a lead is generated or converted. The most common form of a cost per action campaign uses affiliate marketing. A CPA campaign will depend on three main things: the visitor’s level or interest, the attractiveness of the offer, and the ease of the process.
