Effectiveness Of Internet Advertising – You Bet!
Internet advertising can be quite a lucrative business. There are no significant upfront costs, and it takes as little as an hour to set up an account and start running campaigns. That is precisely why it’s so popular. But is it effective? You bet!
Internet advertising has been around since 1994 when AOL used banner ads to promote their internet service offerings. Today, there are many different methods of internet advertising that businesses can use to drive traffic to their website or provide information about their product or service on the web. The most common form of advertisement for businesses online is search engine marketing, which includes pay-per-click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO).
What Is Pay-Per-Click Advertising?
Pay-per-click advertising, or PPC advertising, is the act of placing bids on a search engine to be shown ads. When you sign up for an ad campaign on a website like Google AdWords, you are actually bidding to show your ad to someone who is searching for a product or service that is similar to the one you provide. For example, if your company sells cars, it will bid high prices for the first slot in search results that has something relating to automobiles. Once you are in first place, you can bid low to stay there or bid as high as you want. This strategy is known as pay-per-click advertising.
Search engine optimization is the search for keywords and phrases that will enable users to find your website or business faster. When someone searches for a product or service on the internet, he or she typically looks for related words and phrases on the web. This is how people find products that they were not previously aware of by using a different search engine “keyword”. For example, if someone searches for “magazine stands” on amazon.com, they will see a number of sites that are similar to the product or service he or she is looking for as well as a number of links on the web to other related products.
What Is Search Engine Optimization?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving your search engine ranking by making sure it’s “closely related” to your primary keywords and phrases and by making sure that all your website pages follow the same set of rules on how to use those key phrases. When you have a business website, it is important that every page has at least one page on which you include keywords and phrases related to what you sell. When that page is optimized for search engines, it can drive more traffic to your website. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a great way to boost your business at the same time.
Google AdWords vs. SEO
When you have a business website, you will probably want to use both Google AdWords and SEO. If you choose to use one over the other and if you do use both, it is important that your advertising dollars are not being spread too thin over multiple platforms. Those who have used both effectively for their business share their thoughts on why each method works so well.
Using Google AdWords
Google AdWords is free and easy to maintain. AdWords provides information on who is searching for what, when, and where. This can be a great way to conduct market research on your website, your competition, and your customers all at the same time. AdWords also allows you to create an account that includes all of these features and also provides you with suggestions on how to manage and improve them.
Some of the downsides to using Google AdWord campaigns include:
Your ads can be blocked or removed if someone else who has used the same key words or phrases complains. If a competitor is not happy with you or their own ads have been blocked, they can report you as the offending party.
Your ad placement can be delayed if there is not enough supply of keywords and phrases for the keyword you are bidding on, or if there are other ads that are competing for that very same spot on the page.
Third party ad services, such as Facebook or Twitter can be used to break your advertisement into smaller segments and include them all in a single AdWords campaign. This means your advertisement may not be as effective as it could be without being broken into smaller parts.
Using SEO
Google SEO requires a little more time to set up and learn than what is needed with AdWords, but it is well worth the effort.
Conclusion
AdWords platform is easy to implement. SEO strategy is hard to learn and master but it pays big in the long run. Google AdWords is free, while SEO requires time and money because they both are defining your success in Internet marketing.
The best way that I have seen this happen is when you make sure you’re using multiple methods of advertising for your particular niche. I would do a search on Google for “best ways to advertise in the health industry”, think about what I would want to see, and then try to find out how many different ways there are to advertise in this market and how many different companies actually use them.