What's the difference between paid search engine marketing and    search engine optimization?
Paid Search Engine Marketing is often referred to as "Pay Per Click" marketing or "PPC". PPC utilizes relevant keywords, target demographics, ad-writing skills, and landing page optimization to attract potential customers to your website. You pay the search engine only when the customer you are seeking to attract searches one of the keyword phrases you've bid on and then clicks on your ad. PPC campaigns can measure ROI all the way through to the conversion of leads that are generated. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, relates to the submission of your website to the search engines and the various techniques that can be used to achieve the highest possible organic ranking. SEO is an inherently passive, longer term process that relies on understanding the way the various search engines rank websites. The objective of SEO is to get your website ranked as highly as possible in the free, organic search results.
Why should I build a PPC advertising campaign?
Studies have consistently shown that PPC advertising is more targeted and powerful than any other advertising method available. Only interested people see your advertisement and you only pay when they want to learn more. Consequently, PPC advertising is extremely profitable when executed with precision and efficiency.
How does a PPC advertising campaign work?
You write an advertisement, select the search keywords that you want to trigger your ad, pick the area where you want your ad shown, and set a budget. You then pay each time a user clicks on your ad and visits your website. The amount you pay for each visit cannot exceed the maximum bid you have set. Take this process, apply it to a large number of keywords and ads specifically designed for those keywords and you have a basic PPC campaign. Conceptually, it's pretty simple. However, it's difficult to do well.
Will you just set up my PPC campaign if I want to manage it?
Yes, if you prefer, we'll be happy to handle the initial development and setup of your campaign and then turn it over to you.
If I already have a PPC campaign, will you need to start over?
If your PPC campaign has been working well and does not require a complete overhaul, we may be able to take advantage of the work already done. At a minimum, data from your existing campaign will provide useful information to help guide us at the outset.
Where will my PPC advertisements typically appear?
Your ads will show up on the search result pages of the search engines we create campaigns for. Google, Yahoo! and MSN have the most popular search engines. On the search result pages for these search engines, PPC ads will typically appear on the top and down the right hand side of the page.
How quickly will my PPC advertisements appear?
Your ads will appear for the keyword phrases you have chosen to bid on as soon as your PPC campaign is active.
How much will each click cost?
You will determine the maximum amount you're willing to pay when someone searches a particular keyword phrase you have bid on and then clicks on your ad. This maximum bid and a number of other variables, including the relevance of your ad to the search and the historical performance of the keyword phrase that has been searched, will determine what you actually pay for that click and where your ad will appear. Generally, the more you bid, the higher you will rank in the search results. We'll be able to give you a good idea of the bid necessary in order to produce the result you're looking for.
How much will my PPC campaign cost?
You have complete control over your budget for the campaign and can change it at any time. Generally, the more you spend, the better the results will be. Many PPC campaigns begin with a modest budget that reflects what research has shown is minimally necessary to start producing the desired results and then are expanded as those results justify further investment.
What PPC search engines do you work with?
We'll develop and manage PPC campaigns in Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and MSN AdCenter. These search engines also power PPC advertising in AOL, Ask, AltaVista, Excite and a number of other smaller search engines. Initially, it probably won't make sense to develop campaigns for all of these search engines. Google is by far the biggest player and almost always the best place to start.
Do you offer pricing packages?
Yes, we have two basic pricing models.For businesses that are not engaged in e-commerce, our monthly campaign management fee is typically 10% of your actual ad spend or $150, whichever is greater. For businesses engaged in e-commerce, our monthly management fee is based on the complexity and size of the campaign. Typically, we charge 12% of your actual ad spend or $250, whichever is greater. For campaigns with a budget of $10,000 or more per month, we offer more flexible pricing.
How do you optimize a PPC campaign?
PPC campaign optimization is a process of regularly making incremental changes to a campaign in order to increase ROI. The objective is to identify and expand on the components of a campaign that provide the best ROI and eliminate or amend the components of a campaign that are performing poorly. An example would be periodically raising the bid on keyword phrases with the lowest cost per conversion and lowering the bids on the keyword phrases that have the highest cost per conversion.
Can I add products or services to my PPC campaign?
Yes. If you sell a variety of products or services that change over time, your PPC campaign that can be updated at any time to reflect these changes.
If you manage my PPC campaign, how often will I get reports?
Ordinarily, you will receive a monthly report that details exactly how your budget was spent across the keyword phrases you're bidding on in your campaign. This report will also include the number of ad impressions, the number of clicks, the average cost per click, the average positioning, the number of conversions, and the average cost per conversion.
Why shouldn't I do this myself?
That's certainly an option. However, PPC campaigns require extensive, ongoing analysis and a thorough understanding of the PPC marketplace. Our management services will pay for themselves many times over in increased efficiency. You will also have more time to spend with your customers and grow your business.
My PPC campaign already works. What more can you do?
Usually, there will be a number of ways that we can suggest that will make your existing campaign produce better results, such as expanding keyword lists and match type variations, ad copy testing, improving account structure, testing landing pages, more active bid optimization, and negative keyword utilization. If we think that your campaign cannot be improved sufficiently to justify our fee, we'll tell you.
Should I bid for the top ranking?
Usually, our advice is no. Bidding for the highest ranking is always tempting. The more you bid, the higher your position will be and the more clicks you'll likely receive. However, bidding this way almost always produces a higher cost per conversion than you have to pay. Also, you'll most likely have to set your budget at a level that is insufficient to maintain the top position throughout the day. Once your daily budget has been exhausted, the search engines will stop showing your ads. For these and a number of other equally good reasons, it's usually better to bid lower even if it means that your ad gets a lower placement. The result is more clicks and more conversions on the same budget.
Can you make any guarantees?
As you might expect, it's not possible to make blanket guarantees for any PPC campaign objective. That said, we'll work hard to ensure that your campaign achieves the results you're looking for.
Aren't the keywords that I should bid on pretty obvious?
It's relatively easy to list the primary keywords related to your products or services. However they're just a small fraction of the keywords that will drive high quality traffic to your website. These keywords will also be the most competitive and expensive keywords relevant to your market. We use software tools to identify and consider the hundreds or even thousands of variations and combinations of your primary keywords. Many of these less obvious keywords, in some combination, will drive valuable traffic to your site, often at a much lower cost per click.
Can I use the ad copy that has been developed for my print marketing?
Usually, this isn't possible. PPC ads, because of space constraints, are relatively short and must follow a common format. We only have 95 characters of text to work with so we'll want to emphasize different aspects of your business in a number of ad variations. We'll then test these ads to determine the best performer.
Why don't you just tell me what I need to spend?
We'll be able to give you a good idea idea of what you need to spend in order to achieve your objectives. However, how you set and adjust your budget is up to you. Broadly, there are two ways to approach this question. You can simply establish a set budget. If you take this approach, our job will be to maximize results within that budget. Alternatively, you can set a maximum cost per conversion. Our job will then be to maximize the number of conversions, regardless of the total amount spent, that do not exceed that desired conversion cost. The direction you choose will be dependent on the resources available to you and how you view customer acquisition costs.
If my PPC campaign is well constructed, why do I need ongoing    management?
To maximize results, any PPC marketing campaign needs to be regularly watched, tested and improved. Keyword bids require adjustment in order to adapt to changes in the marketplace. Optimization as an ongoing process is the only way to ensure the highest possible return for your investment.
How do the search engines rank PPC ads?
Unfortunately, they do not use the same ranking methodology. A number of factors, depending on the search engine, will determine your ad's positioning in the search results. The two primary factors used are the maximum bid for each click and the click-thru rate, which is the percentage of people that click on your ad when it is shown.
What is Google's Quality Score?
In order to determine the positioning of an ad, Google takes into account the maximum price you are willing to bid and a formulation called the Quality Score. It's a number Google calculates using a number of factors, each weighed differently. These factors include the click-thru rate of the keyword, the performance of that keyword historically, and the relevance of your keyword to the ad copy.
How do Google's match types for keywords work?
Google has several different "match types" which determine which user search queries will match a keyword combination. An "exact match" limits matches to the precise keyword combination, exactly as bid with no variation (e.g. a search for "travel agency" matches an exact match bid for "travel agency" No other search variation will match this bid). A "phrase match" allows additional words to be included in the search query but requires the ordering of the keyword combination that is bid to remain the same (e.g. a search for "travel agency Phoenix" matches a phrase match for "travel agency". It would not match a search for "travel Phoenix agency"). A "broad match" compares the keyword combination you have bid to a wide variety of potential variations, including synonyms, keyword re-orderings and much more. You can also use negative keywords to exclude certain variations ( e.g. any search that includes the words "travel" and "agency" matches a broad match bid for "travel agency" unless another word used in the search query is a negative keyword that you have excluded for that broad match combination). All three of the match type options are useful. The best campaigns utilize a combination.
Should we limit the number of keywords we bid on?
No. Placing an artificial limit on the number of keywords we might bid on may limit the opportunity to maximize the return on your investment. Budgetary factors and other considerations will usually impose practical limits on the size of any keyword list.
How many hours will you spend developing our PPC campaign?
We'll invest as many hours as needed to develop your PPC campaign. Regardless of how long it takes, you will not be charged more than the fee agreed to.
How much should I spend to justify your management fee?
Our fees have been structured with this in mind. The scope of the project and the cost to you is tied to the amount you're interested in investing in PPC advertising. If you want us to manage your campaign, our management fee is tied to your budget. And if our fee seems excessive given what you want to spend each month, you're probably not budgeting a sufficient percentage of your advertising dollars to PPC in order to give yourself the opportunity to achieve meaningful results.
Will you help me create better landing pages?
Absolutely. The quality of your landing pages is critical to the success of your PPC campaign. As part of our service, we will provide with you with landing page suggestions to improve conversion. For a fee, we will do the work for you.
