Climb to the Top of Search Engines Today!

By David Larner
Reprinted from Sharing Ideas Jan. 2005

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 website is one of the key ingredients for success; however having a great website is not enough.

The majority of visitors get to websites 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, Overture, Kanoodle, Findwhat and others are generating billions of dollars of revenue thru cost per click (ie: 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 “motivational speaker” on Overture is willing to pay up to $3.58 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 bid $3.59. You would then link the ad to your website and each click would generate a new visitor. Notice that I used the term visitor rather than the term lead or sale. When purchasing cpc advertising it is very easy to spend a small or large fortune soliciting visitors that 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.

Five Common Pitfalls That Can Drive You To Bankruptcy:

Selecting one word search terms that are generic in nature and lead unqualified traffic to your website.

An example would be to buy the keyword “speaker”. Do you care about audiophiles who are looking for home theater products, computer products, car stereo, etc? 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 product or 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 Overture run a proposal for one 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 website 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, website offer, etc. to yield an affordable and reproducible advertising model based on conversion results.

Leading people to a poor quality site that doesn’t have a clear and obvious call to action.

I regularly see people spending their hard earned cash on driving traffic to their website only to see their potential prospects leave in frustration. Remember, attracting visitors is only a small part of the equation. Top search engine ranking means nothing if they don’t buy! Conversions are what counts. Your site represents your face to the world. If it is poorly laid out, unclear, and built around your own personal interests it won’t generate much business. Your site should be fast, functional, easy to navigate and action oriented. It should have a clear and concise call to action and make it easy for potential prospects to buy. Don’t get caught up in your own view of things. Always view things from the perspective of your target audience.

Not monitoring the results.

If you don’t have a straight forward methodology for determining what works and what doesn’t then you are flying blind. It is imperative that you setup conversion tracking so that you can effectively monitor the results of your efforts. Many of the top CPC providers offer this capability to their customers and it should be implemented and reviewed regularly. The goal is to enhance what works and to quickly abandon the wallet draining areas that don’t.

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 website you can obtain similar results. Next article we’ll cover a variety of non-paid ways to help you climb to the top! 

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(c) 2005 Royal Publishing, Inc.