Pay Per Click Your Site To The No. 1 Spot

Your company's new website is perfect.

The pages are working. The pictures are cropped. The page links, downloads, newsletter subscription forms and shopping carts have been tried and tested.

You're ready for a million unique visitors to flock to your site in a clicking frenzy.

Sounds nice, huh?

However, there's only one problem - one BIG problem: web surfers have to find you.

Perhaps, you have six-to-eight weeks of patience in waiting for Google to crawl your website and reward your efforts with a Top 10 ranking in its search results.

Perhaps, you'll submit your site to MSN and you'll immediately climb to the top; beating out your competition.

Perhaps, you'll plunk down $299 to be included in the Yahoo Directory and your server will crash because it can't handle the load of traffic coming to your site.

Oh, if it were only that easy!

Although it is not entirely possible, most businesses will never be able to obtain a Top 10 ranking for their website in Google, MSN or Yahoo. They figure there is too much keyword competition on the Internet for their industry, or they don't have the time or resources needed to make it to the first page of search results.

However, while you're waiting for your natural rankings to rise, you can utilize a pay-per-click campaign and see some immediate results.

A pay-per-click campaign is the fastest and easiest way to get to the top of search engines. PPC is not to be confused with the organic search engine results. Within Google, paid advertisements appear under the heading "sponsored links" and are located along the top of the organic search results and on the right side of the search results screen.

Adwords is Google's pay per click program, while Yahoo users utilize the Search Marketing program. MSN is currently in the process of creating a similar program, while other search engines offer similar PPC opportunities.

When creating a pay per click advertising campaign, you will write your own headlines, descriptions, and destination URLs for each PPC ad you want to create. Then, you will list your ad with various keywords and bid on the placement of your ads

When someone searches for a keyword you selected, your ad will appear along side the organic search engine results. The position of your ad depends on how much you bid for the particular keyword.

If someone finds your ad and clicks it, the person will be directed to your website and you will pay the bid price for the click. As a general rule, the higher you bid for a keyword, then the higher your ad appears.

A word of caution: A pay per click campaign can be very expensive, especially if you do not set a PPC budget and monitor your click-thru results. There are also some concerns about click fraud which may find competitors clicking your ad in order to burn thru your budget. Both Google and Yahoo have tools in place to catch possible click fraud.

However, many businesses have had good success with PPC advertising. If done well, it will get you customers and increase your profits.

Here's how to get started:

* Go to Google Adwords (https://adwords.google.com/select/) or Yahoo Search Marketing (http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srch/) and create a free account. Both programs offer simple step-by-step instructions.

* You will write your own advertisement including a headline, a two-line description, your website's URL and destination URL.

* Select keywords for your ad. You can choose just one keyword, if you wish, but most select six to 10 specific keywords. The more popular the keyword, the more you will have to bid for it. You may pay as little as five cents per click or as much as $2 - or much more - for a click on your advertisement

* To make the keyword even more audience specific, consider adding a city name or more detail to the keyword. This will not only lower your bid price, but it will help narrow the focus of the search. For example, instead of bidding on the keyword "web design" consider "Cincinnati web design".

* Create a budget and stick to it. This is where you can get into trouble if you go overboard on bidding for keyword prices. Bid carefully. If you bid too high, then your monthly budget will be spent rather quickly. If you bid too low, then no one will see your ad. Don't get into a bidding war for the top ad position for a particular keyword. You may receive just as many quality clicks at a lower spot for less money

* Monitor the results. Both Google and Yahoo help you track click-thru results to help you determine your PPC return on investment (ROI). At any time, you can drop keywords which aren't working and add new keywords. Don't expect immediate clicks on every keyword you are using.

* Test and make adjustments. Change keywords, titles and ad descriptions. Create new ads. Run multiple ads simultaneously

* Know when to quit or continue. If you do all of the above steps correctly, you'll know if you want to continue or halt your PPC advertising campaign. It's an easy decision whether you are gaining new customers or spending a sizeable amount of your ad budget with little or no results.
Above all, consider the money and time you've spent on your firm's website. Don't let it go to waste. Whether you utilize organic search engine optimization or a pay per click campaign (or both), your website is a valuable tool connecting anyone on the Internet to your goods and services.