Buy Pay-per-Click Search Engine Listings

ayamxSearch Engines are the number one way that people find web sites. A shocking 41% of Internet users find sites this way. They are used much more often than simply guessing the URL (28%), word of mouth (13%), online advertising (10%), or print advertising (10%).

A key aspect that makes search engines a "killer app" for marketers is the fact that people only use them when they are looking for something. When someone searched for "Chicago museums,” it is pretty clear what they are trying to find. There is no better way to reach people who have a direct and current interest in what you have to offer.

But simply being listed on an engine isn’t enough. As searchers seldom scan down past the first page of listings, it pays to pay to be a top-ranked site.

Pay-per-click engines allow us to do just that. Simply put, pay-per-click let's us choose exactly how high we want to be in the search engines results listings.

The price we pay for the rank we want is determined by auction, and depends on how much competition there is for the keywords and phrases that are most relevant to our businesses. Whatever you do, make sure that you bid enough to be the first- second, or third-ranked site in Overture’s pay-per-click search engine listing. If you are, your site will be carried over to a number of other search engines as well, dramatically increasing your exposure.

To get started with a pay-per-click campaign, take a look at Overture[1] (overture.com). They are the leading PPC engine, and an excellent place to get started. You will find clear instructions there about what to do first.

Here are a couple of web resources that every search engine marketer from the neophyte to the aficionado should know about: Danny Sullivan’s Search Engine Watch (searchenginewatch.com), and Bruce Clay’s site (bruceclay.com). They both provide plenty of information about all types of search engine strategies.

[1] Now a Yahoo! company.