Climb to the Top of Search Engines Today!
Everyone wants to get listed on the top of search engines. Hardly a
day goes by when someone doesn’t call me on the phone or stop me at a
seminar and ask how they can make it to number one. In today’s
competitive market getting noticed can be more difficult than ever.
Whether you’re a speaker, author or consultant you need visibility.
Having a quality web site is one of the key ingredients for success;
however, having a great web site is not enough.
The majority of visitors get to web sites using the major search engines
and directories. Enter the search term "professional speaker" into
Google and you will find that there are over ten million results. Try
entering a phrase like "motivational speaker" and you will quickly learn
that there are over one million sites competing for this term. In order
to be listed on the first page you need to be ranked in the top 10
results. That means that the odds are less than one in one hundred
thousand that you will make it to the top page. What can be done to
hedge your bet?
There are multiple ways to obtain top search engine ranking. In this
issue we are going to focus on the benefits and pitfalls of paid
placement
advertising.
Buy Your Way to the Top
The easiest (and most costly) way is to buy your way to the top. Search
engines such as Google, Bing and others are
generating billions of dollars of revenue through cost per click (cpc)
advertising. Although the implementations are different, the concepts
are relatively the same. They all sell sponsored listings on the top
several pages of their search results for a fee. This fee is usually
determined by competitive bidding. For example: today the top bidder for
the term "mesothelioma lawyer" on Google is willing to pay
over $100. each time someone clicks on their ad.
To be listed in the number one position, all you have to do is open an
account and a competitive amount. You would then link the ad to your web site and
each click would generate a new visitor. Notice that I used the term
visitor rather than the term lead or sale. When purchasing PPC (pay per
click)
advertising it is very easy to spend a small or large fortune in
soliciting visitors who don’t produce leads or sales. A number of
factors can influence your online marketing campaign, including your ad
copy, keyword phrase selection, bidding strategy and your offer.
Four Common Pitfalls That Can Drive You To Bankruptcy:
Selecting one word search terms that are generic in nature and
lead
unqualified traffic to your web site.
An example would be to buy the keyword "lawyer." As a professional
lawyer, do you care about attracting people who are interested in
becoming a lawyer or are looking for an attorney that specializes in oil
and mineral rights? Not at all! You will get
thousands of visitors that will do nothing but deplete your bank
account. Use targeted keyword phrases. This requires a significant
amount of time and research; however your efforts will pave your way to
the bank.
Selecting search terms that are not geographically specific, if
your service is only available to a local or regional
audience.
The Internet has global reach. Would you advertise your local business
in the New York Daily News or the London Times? Why pay to get visitors
from all over the world if your product or services aren’t applicable?
Use city and state specific keywords or regional targeting to focus on
your specific audience and objectives.
Trying to obtain top position for all of your keyword phrases.
Maintaining top positioning for non-competitive keyword phrases may make
sense if the cost is small. However, for competitive terms, the
investment
dynamics can change dramatically. Recently we had Yahoo run a
proposal for one law firm client who wanted to obtain top positioning on a
variety of very competitive terms. The proposal called for a budget of
over $300,000 per month and was expected to yield 6,328 visitors at an
average cost of approx. $50 per visitor. Further analysis showed that by
running the same keywords in the number five position we would receive
approx. 2,000 visitors at an average cost per visitor of less than $20.
Neglecting the Math
The goal is either to get quality leads for potential speaking
engagements or
to sell more back-of-the-room products. If it costs one dollar to drive
a
visitor to your web site and one out of fifty people purchase your
product, then your cost to acquire a customer is fifty dollars. If your
profit margin
cannot support this model, then stop immediately. The objective is to
refine your keyword phrases, related bids, web site offer, etc. to yield
an affordable and reproducible advertising model based on conversion
results.
Our clients regularly generate new business using cost per click
advertising.
This process takes extensive effort, analysis and time to implement.
However, by selecting relevant keyword phrases that drive targeted
traffic to a well- designed, action-oriented web site you can obtain
similar results. Next article we’ll cover a variety of non-paid ways to
help you climb to the top!
Dave Larner is a best selling author, speaker and online marketing
consultant with over 24 years of industry experience. He has helped his
clients obtain thousands of top ten keyword positions on the major
search engines and his firm can help you.
Contact us to setup a Free no obligation consultation
or call us at (818) 986-7200 for rates and details or email us at info@tmcla.com.