Search Engine Advertising (PPC) If you’ve optimized your site for search engines and have some links from reputable sites, you’ve done all you can to help your site get found in search engines. For many site owners, this isn’t enough to get a top listing because their search words are just too competitive. Sponsored links offer a quick way to get to the top. You can see the sponsored links on the right in the screenshot below. These are the paid listings, called “pay-per-click” or "PPC," in search engines lingo.
Distadvantages of Pay-Per-ClickThere are several disadvantages to this type of advertising. The advertising costs can be prohibitive. The cost is determined by a bidding system. If you wanted your site for be found for the phrase “cat toys," for example, you would need to pay more than your competitors to get top listing for that phrase. This can create a daily bidding war between advertisers. And it is a complicated and time consuming task to track sales generated by sponsored links and set an advertising budget. It can be hard to determine if your advertising campaign justifies the expense. Advantages of Pay-Per-ClickThe advantages of this type of search engine advertising is obvious: your site will show on page one for the words you specify. For many businesses this is a necessary cost of doing business which easily justifies the time and resources it requires. Starting a pay-per-click account on Google or Yahoo is relatively easy. You can cancel at any time and modify your bids as often as you like. For small campaigns, the time and costs are minimal. Pay-Per-Click links Google: adwords.google.com |
