April 14, 2008

How Do Your Keywords Measure Up

We have all heard of Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing, but what does it really mean for your company? And how do keywords factor in to this growing marketing trend?

When advertisers place ads on search engines, advertising networks, content Web sites or blogs and only pay when a user clicks on their ad; this is PPC marketing. Typically a PPC ad appears above or to the right side of the organic search results.

PPC is not magic. It's not as simple as just paying a fee to have your ad appear atop the search engine results page. The importance of relevant and user-specific keywords within your ads and Web site content can not be emphasized enough as key elements for any PPC strategy. It is also vital when selecting keywords to keep the user’s intentions in mind. When choosing keywords, include action verbs such as “buy,” “order,” or “find,” in the title of your PPC ad to filter out the visitors with less actionable motives. 

“In some cases, a keyword phrase like “buy Apple iPod” communicates greater buying intention than a general keyword like “Apple iPod,” Kevin Gold, managing partner for Enhanced Concepts stated in the recent article “Aligning Keywords and Landing Pages” in Practical Ecommerce magazine.

Not every user who clicks on your PPC ad will give you the behavior you desire. Users sometimes arrive at the landing page and immediately press their back button if their first impression of your site does not match their intended results. PPC marketing alone is only a starting point, it is essential that you incorporate a relevant keyword strategy into your ads and Web content to drive visitors to your site and retain their attention. Is your site ready?