Paid local search is the close cousin of natural search in that they both show up on the same search results pages based on keywords entered by the searcher. Also know as Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Cost-Per-Click (CPC) the idea is that you pay the search engine of choice every time one of your ads is shown (“served”) on a search engine results page (SERP) and a searcher clicks on it. That click is a conversion and the search engine dings your account for it. A conversion is simply a successful completion of a hoped for transition from one step of the buying process to the next step. It is NOT necessarily a sale of your product or service.

How Is PPC Pricing Determined?

Let’s say you want to show up in the serps for a keyword or phrase that is relevant to your business. You also have competitors that want the same thing so through an on-going bid process you try and outbid your rivals for the rights to show up on Page 1 of your chosen search engine. If you’re willing to pay more than your opponents you’ll land the best spot on the right-hand side of the serp pages or along the top. Those spots are all paid ads, bid on by other business owners to show up well. The bidding process determines the price of the keywords/phrases that you’re targeting.

What Happens To The Losing Bidders?

No one really loses, they just don’t place as well as you will. The second highest bidder will place second and so on.

Implementing a Pay-Per-Click Program

There are two main ways: The Hard Way and the Easy Way.

The Hard Way

Open an account on any or all of the search engines that offer a paid ad program. Fund the account, bid on your keywords, then write your ads. Now all you have to do is monitor your accounts several times a day, every day, for traffic and results, making sure no one is outbidding you or has written a more compelling advertisement. You’ll need to compare your Google account with your Yahoo account then compare each of them against your MSN account just to make sure that you’re money is being spent on the site with the most traffic for each of your keywords at that particular moment of the day. Make adjustments where necessary then go back to work and try not to think about how all of that has changed already before you get back with your cup of coffee.

The Easy Way

Have a computer do all of that above, faster and better than you could even if you had nothing else to do. Have a live human periodically monitor the computer just to make sure no one forgot to pay the electric bill. In addition to that, we can offer:

• Testing: test your ads and keep the best.
• Record the phone calls generated so you can monitor your staff as they field the leads.
• Constant, cross-platform checking on keyword value and traffic to determine optimum asset placement; which engine is performing best so we know where to put your money.
• Real-time reporting.

There many other functionality benefits to our program but if one of these above hasn’t caught your attention, you’re probably not a good candidate for this program.

Tell Me More About This Pay-Per-Click Program

Call 214-213-7445 right now and let’s schedule a time when we can go into more detail, show you a live account/site and answer all of your questions. This may fit nicely into your marketing program, it may not. Why don’t we find out? Call 214-213-7445 and we’ll come to you if you like.

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Phillip Crum is the Chief Idea Officer of MarketingMeasure located at 2414 Arbuckle Court Dallas, TX 75229, and is committed to the idea of helping small business owners do a better job of finding their next customer or client. He and his two sons,Tyler and Preston, also own a Sir Speedy Printing franchise and employ those additional capabilities in the overall marketing services menu of offerings. Phillip can be reached at 214-213-7445, or pcrum@MarketingMeasure.com.