What Is Pay-Per-Click? When To Use It - And When Not To
The only way to really guarantee top placement is to use
pay-per-click advertising. (This is an advertising mechanism in
which you pay for every click of a potential customer.) Most
search engines offer this on a bidding basis, and if it
generates more money than you spend on it, it can be sound
business advise. In most cases, you would DO THIS LAST - after
you optimize your web site and implement other promotional
techniques. If you do an effective job with your website
optimization and promotion, you may already come up top
naturally and not have to use pay-per-click for several
keywords. (This is expecially true for MSN or Yahoo.) Or if you
choose to make a big (temporary) advertising campaign while you
are optimizing (and have the money for this), then you may
consider this.
Some keywords will cost more than others, depending on
competition. Some will generate more paying customers than
others. Do the math as you go along. Figure out the return on
investment. This is seldom a one shot deal and often takes a few
months of tweaking to get the optimum pay-per-click bid amount
for the different keywords.
YOU WILL FIND SEO COMPANIES THAT GUARANTEE YOU TOP PLACEMENT
FOR YOUR FAVORITE KEYWORDS. THIS IS HOW THEY DO IT. They use
pay-per-click as part of the package and point to the
pay-per-click listing, showing you your top placement. The
natural links are normally much cheaper in the long run, since
once you achieved a top ranking without pay-per-click you will
have a steady stream of customers without having this kind of
per-click fee.
Google is, of course, an exception. For the first year you will
not likely rank for most of your desired keywords despite any
valiant efforts on your part. During this period, I would
encourage using Google's pay-per-click (AdWords). Although
Google is the slowest to recognize your natural ranking - it
will give the greatest return in the long run. While you do this
- use the information they give you while you manage your
pay-per-click keywords. See what is used most often - and what
gives you the most sales (conversions). They have tools to help
you with that.
ANY SEO FIRM that promises or guarantees top placement for
competitive keywords is either selling you pay-per-click or is
being boastful. Be wary with your money. You don't need an SEO
expert to sign up for pay-per-click. You may use one to help you
find the right keywords or perhaps to handle optimization
techniques. If they are selling you a package, pay-per-click is
often a justifiable part of it. However, don't let such a
promise be a decision factor in selecting an SEO expert.