Pay-per-click ads: choose your words carefully

Topping the Google results page is no easy task.

You’ll need excellent search engine optimization (SEO) and, in most cases, you’ll need to outbid your competitors on specific keywords in the pay-per-click ad market.

At last count, pay-per-click spending was estimated at $10 billion, making it the fastest growing sector of the search engine market.

“It’s one of the fastest ways to get targeted traffic to your site,” attests Catherine Seda, an internet marketing consultant.

How does pay-per-click work? First off, advertisers bid on individual keywords and phrases that are relevant to their target market. The keywords are then integrated to text-based advertisements that appear in search results pages whenever a query is made regarding the keywords.

The price per keyword varies, but on the average, a keyword may cost an average of 25 cents to $1 per click. However, some SEO specialists say that some keywords can cost up to a $100 per click.

Is online marketing all about SEO? Mostly, yes. If you want ad exposure, you’ll need to invest in SEO and pay-per-click ads. The main thing you must do is to choose your words carefully and create call-to-action words that invite browsers.

Here are some tips from Newsday.com:

•    To help better target your audience, include negative keywords in your keyword list/campaign, which ensures your ads won’t appear in search queries containing those words. You may also want to geo-target ads to appear in specific locations.
•    Use a tool like Google Analytics (google.com/analytics/) to track which keywords are producing the best results.
•    Be specific in your ad copy to produce targeted results – i.e., dental implants starting at $3,000 vs. dental implants.