By:  Renae E. Gregoire
The Write Idea
©2002

NOTE:  Since the search engine business changes almost every day, the numbers referenced in this article are most likely obsolete (it's now 2003).  Therefore, I've removed the chart showing pay-per-click pricing, but left the rest of the article intact.  You'll still find lots of good information, but you'll have to check the latest pricing and details yourself.  ~~Enjoy!  Renae Gregoire

It’s the newest phase and the hottest craze of online advertising—pay-per-click search engines. They’re popping up everywhere. I’ve checked out the top five engines for you, so you can decide whether to try one, all, or none of them! First though, let’s talk basics.

Pay per click search engines (we’ll call them PPCSEs from here on out) let you, as the advertiser, decide how much you want to pay to get someone to click on a link that takes them through to your site. Compared to banners, pop-ups and email campaigns, PPCSEs are a very good deal. Why? Because you’ve got targeted people actively searching for what you’re offering. Banners, pop-ups and emails are seen as an intrusion into the buyer’s online experience. But when someone visits a PPCSE, they’ve come to get information on a particular subject, and hopefully, to buy.

How do they work? Simple. You, the advertiser, bid on relevant keywords that people looking for your product or service would search for. The higher your bid, the higher your site’s position when the search is made. When the browser types your keyword, and clicks on your link, you pay the amount you’ve bid for that click.

Choose Relevant Keywords

The first step to using PPCSEs, besides registering and paying your deposit, is to select keywords. Most of the engines have tools to help you find relevant keywords for your business. My most recent visit to Overture.com, for example, showed that the engine received 71,426 searches for the keywords “internet marketing” in May, 2002. Granted, some of those searches were conducted by the advertisers themselves, but I’ll bet the majority were people looking for Internet marketing related tools and information.

Overture’s search tool also shows that 5,600 searches were conducted for “internet marketing service,” and between 4,000 and 4,500 each for “internet marketing company,” “internet marketing strategy,” and “internet marketing firm.” Again, these are results for May, 2002.

What keywords are you using on your web site? Those are the words you’ll want to check on any of the PPCSE search tools. Make sure you narrow your selection down to only the most relevant keywords. I, for example, am a copywriter. But if I chose the keyword “writer,” I’d get too many irrelevant views, which gives unlikely buyers the opportunity to click—and the opportunity for me to pay—even though they have no real interest in my services. How do I know this? Well, Google’s new Adwords PPC search engine suggestion tool tells me that if I use the keyword “writer,” my ad will appear when people search for “freelance writer jobs,” and “check writer.” I don’t want those people clicking through to my site, because it’s very unlikely that they’re looking for my services. The moral? Be as specific as possible.

Write Compelling Headlines, and Thorough Descriptions

Once you choose your keywords, you’ll have to create headlines and descriptions. Some of the PPC engines can help you, but be prepared to pay. Overture, for example, will write 20 listings for you for $99. If you don’t want to spend the money and would prefer to write your listings yourself, follow these tips:

• Make your headline attractive by using the word YOU. Force yourself to use it, and you’ll be compelled to include a benefit of your product or service. Features tell, but benefits sell. Try it!
  Use power words: you, money, save, now, new, secrets, easy and free. Only use free if you’re really giving something for free, and beware of freebie seekers who will click through just to get whatever you’re offering.
  
• Make sure your descriptions target people who are really interested. How? Try including a price in it. For example, “$99 buys you a powerful press release—Get your product or service noticed.” Sure, you won’t get as many clicks, but the ones you do get will be much more likely to buy.

And don’t forget to check the PPCSEs’ editorial guidelines. Many of them forbid ALL CAPS, multiple exclamation points and question marks. Save yourself the time and hassle of having to rewrite, and get your ad out sooner, by doing what the editors ask the first time around.

Tracking Your PPC Progress

Most, if not all of the PPC engines have tracking reports that let you see your ad’s position for each keyword, how many clicks you’ve received, and even how many times people searched for your keyword.

If you’re not getting enough clicks, try changing your headline, or your description. Maybe you can increase your bid and move up to a higher position. But as with all direct marketing, change only one item at a time. If you change your headline and still don’t get enough clicks, then try changing your description. If you change everything at once you won’t be able to tell what was wrong in the first place.

If you’re getting lots of clicks, but those clicks aren’t converting to sales, perhaps your offer is wrong. Are people clicking through directly to the page that’s relevant to their search? Don’t make potential buyers wade through your site to find what they’re looking for. Make it as easy as possible for them to buy!

And if they are being directed right to your offer, and they’re still not buying, you probably need to change your offer. But that’s a whole other article!

More Tips and Tricks for PPCSE Success

Before I share the results of my PPCSE research, let me give you a few other tips to help you maximize your PPC advertising dollars:

• Aim for narrow keywords. If your product or service meets a niche need, save money by advertising under secondary keywords. For example, if you operate an Internet marketing service, advertise under THAT keyword rather than Internet marketing. Sure, less people search for that term each month, but those that do are more targeted. And, it’ll cost you less per click, too.
  
• Even while you’re narrowing your keywords, go for quantity. The more keywords you can think of to define your product or service, the better. Use phrases instead of one word. What would YOU type into the search engine if you were looking for your product or service? I write press releases, but I don’t just advertise under the keyword “press release.” How about “press release writer,” or “press release services,” or even “press release distribution services”? Many of the engines let you list thousands of keywords, and the big players do. Regularly.
  
• Start with a small advertising budget, and increase your spending as your ROI increases.
  
• Test, test, and test some more! Even if you’re getting good results, try changing one item in your ad. If your click through or conversion rate changes for the worse, change it back. You can only win by testing to see what works best!
  

The Top Five Pay-Per-Click Search Engines

And the winner is…Overture. Well, at least from my personal PPC experiences and according to the majority of reviews I’ve read. Why? Because Overture gets the most traffic, and if your listing is in the first three spots under any keyword, your ad will show up on Yahoo!, MSN, and AltaVista.

Nielson/Net Ratings, a major information source for the online marketing crowd, reported that in March, 2002, searchers spent 13 million hours on Google, 5.4 million hours on Yahoo!, and 4.9 million hours on MSN.

And StatMarket reported that 36 percent of all web site referrals are brought by Yahoo!, 32 percent by Google, and 13 percent by MSN.

Since Yahoo! costs $199 to be listed (or at least to be looked at—there’s no guarantee they’ll accept your site), and because you have no way of controlling where your listing shows up in the rankings, it pays to get into the top three spots on Overture. You’ll get direct, and cheap, access to the top spots at Yahoo! I’m still amazed myself when I type “copywriting” into Yahoo!, and see my site listed right at the top of the page!

Google and FindWhat also come highly recommended by people who study these things for a living, and I like them too. FindWhat has less traffic, but the bid prices are much lower, and I still get quality hits.

Google is somewhat different. They do have massive amounts of traffic, and your ads will show up on the AOL engine. But your standing is not based on bid amount alone. Rather, it’s based on your bid amount AND how many clicks your ad gets. If you have the highest bid, but no one clicks on it, your ad will move down below someone who’s bidding less than you are.

Bottom line? Pay per click search engines are a great way to get more bang for your advertising buck. Check out what each engine offers, and see which will give you the best return on investment. Test them all. The results you get will depend on the keywords you’re using, and the quality of the traffic you attract. If you test, and pay attention to the results, you’ll soon find which engine works best for you.