What is Paid Search Marketing?

Paid search engine marketing or Pay Per Click is a unique method of advertising your products or services. If you use the internet for home or business purposes the chances are you’ve used one of the major search engines such as Google or Yahoo.

When you enter a search term into these engines you may have noticed the results are returned in 2 sections. In general the web sites served up to the left of the screen are termed “organic results” (see search engine optimisation for more information) while those on the right are advertising slots similar to advertising space in a paper or magazine.

In effect, you can pay the search engines to display your advertisement in the right hand section of the screen when a person enters a search term that is relevant to your business products / services.  This ensures your service or goods are found near the top of the search results.

Why Search Marketing Delivers a Better ROI...

Statistics show that paid search engine marketing returns up to 35% ¹ better ROI than traditional marketing methods. But why is this? The simple answer is that your advertisement is displayed only to people who are actively looking for the products and services you offer as a result of typing in a relevant search term.

¹ Source from MarketingSherpa, 2006

This makes search engine marketing unique compared to advertising in newspapers, TV, radio and any other traditional methods of promoting your business. These rely on wide market exposure in order to attract the very small percentage of people who are actually interested in the products or services you offer.

The ability to measure the success of your campaign, almost in real time, and the comparative ease with which it can be launched compound this advantage and makes search engine marketing a powerful method of helping to achieve your business goals.

How Much Does it Cost?

Unfortunately there isn’t a straight forward answer to this question. Unlike advertising in a magazine or newspaper you don’t pay for advertising space or even when your ad is displayed. The search engines only charge when your advert is clicked on by a person who has typed in a search phrase that matches a term defined within your search engine marketing campaign.

As you can imagine some phrases are entered into search engines more often than others, for example the term “bargain holidays” is typically entered into Yahoo! over 270,000 times per month whilst the term “knitted tank top” is entered less than 100 times. In general the more popular a search phrase the more you will need to bid to have your advertisement prominently displayed in search results.

If you would like an estimate of the likely monthly cost for your business please contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss your requirements.

Why Choose WSI to Manage Your Campaign...

Because it’s relatively straight forward to set up a search engine marketing campaign it’s easy to assume that you can create your own advertisement, put it online and then wait for customers to flock to your website.

Unfortunately a commercially successful campaign requires careful research, planning and implementation to ensure you achieve the expected returns. Every detail, including the structure and wording of your advert, the landing page and the keyword phrases all impact the outcome.

It is also necessary to monitor your advertisement at regular intervals and make adjustments to ensure that your advertising budget is being used wisely on words that convert searchers into customers.

WSI has many years experience managing campaigns that deliver a return on investement for our clients. We achieve this because we’ve developed a thorough understanding of the media and so even in the most competitive markets are able to drive down advertising costs while increasing targeted traffic.

WSI will also share with you detailed statistical information showing the performance of your campaign to ensure your objectives are being achieved.