What is Paid Search?

This isn’t rocket science. Paid search is exactly what it sounds like. You pay for placement of a marketing message on a search engine, website, or affiliate network. There are some nuances, however.

Sponsored links in Google are on form of paid advertising, or "pay-per-click"

The reason that there is so much buzz about paid search (or online advertising, pick your phrase) is that certain types of customers tend to use established patterns of search (customer always goes to Google) where you can’t get easily ranked, or established patterns of purchase (“www.motorcycle-superstore.com is where I buy my gear, always,”) where you can’t even have a ranking in no matter how hard you try.

However, certain websites are funded through affiliate networks, and that’s where affiliates come into play. Basically, some channels of marketing only allow certain subscribers, and that means money. In many cases, big money.

Is it all worth it? Often without the help of an Internet marketing guide, it’s treacherous. Cost can spiral out of control.

Why it’s so important (The Result)

Paid search (or paid marketing, or paid advertising, whatever) accomplishes two fundamental things.

1. Gets you ranked faster, much faster than organic (SEO) search in particular areas (top sponsored links on Google search results)
2. Gets you into an exclusive area online for money (onto Food Network, for instance)

There two types of paid search.

• PPC – Pay-per-Click: Pay as you go, and usually on a particular search engine, website, etc. You can pay per click (PPC), pay per lead (PPL), which all fall under the category of cost-per-action (CPA) campaigns.
• Affiliate Marketing: A network of sites devoted to running the affiliate’s sponsors (you.) Sometimes there is no way to get onto those sites without the affiliate.

Pitfalls of Paid Search.

Costs can build … FAST. We have helped a number of clients that were paying too much, not bringing in the right type of traffic, and not budgeting correctly. To some people, it’s like giving a Ferrari to a 13-year old; inevitably they crash.

If you don’t have budgeting experience, no matter how easy the affiliate or CPC company says it is to control, do your homework before jumping in.

Also, PPC specifically seems to be the last bastion of amateur Internet marketing done before a company gives up on online marketing and calls it quits. “We’ve tried X, we’ve tried Y, now let’s throw money at it and do PPC!” Why? So many affiliates claim so many things, it’s hard not to believe them. And many companies feel that if they’re paying for it, and the company is credible (i.e. Google) it’s safe and effective. In terms of PPC, it’s only as effective as your research. In terms of affiliates, it’s only effective as they understand your business (if they must qualify you, otherwise it’s how well you know your customers.)

Remember also that tracking the progress is critical if you are to budget correctly. If you cannot, unequivacally state that this PPC or affiliate campaign made you X amount of money, you should stop and call us right away.

What paid search tactics are used for.

• Helps you get noticed: PPC: Get placed in niche markets. Paid search can reach specific niche markets (by triggering for specific niche keywords) and track the success by keyword or campaign. Also, paid search can be filtered to trigger only for specific geographic locations at low cost. Affiliate marketing: Piggyback onto existing marketing channels. Highly contested, always controversial, affiliate marketing can be expensive if you don’t know what your doing. Using the power of existing developed markets by affiliate companies, you ride their media channel wave, reaching the your target customers wherever they go – online, or offline.
• Helps you drive traffic: Test what marketing language works, quickly. One additional benefit with PPC is you can run a multivariate campaign (2+ ads, same landing page on your website) and that can tell you very quickly what language is most compelling to your customer. Is it cost, quality, or emotion that drives click-thorough? Then, you can fold that back into the very fabric of how you build your website and beyond.
• Helps you build trust: Affiliate marketing: Use the brand of others to build trust. Affiliate marketing is a ‘piggyback’ method of building trust. If the affiliate lets you use them, then their trust is added to yours (the percentage of transferral based upon how well known the affiliate is.)
• Helps you build referrals: Affiliate marketing: Use channels to target certain traffic. If your target customers  use particular services, those services probably have affiliate marketing programs. Google AdWords alone has an affiliate program, where any website can run ‘Ads by Goooogle.’ Your ads are pushed to these affiliate sites based upon the correlation between your ad and the content of the page (relevance). That’s why we say that it builds referrals; you’re spread out so wide on the web that some people it gets in front of will be ‘lock and key’ fits with your product or service. For very low cost it can pick the cherry leads, wherever they are. PPC: Pay-per-click can be niche targeted for effectiveness. Many PPC programs can be targeted to specific geographic locations (”I am a psychotherapist in the Los Angeles county region”) and only for certain ‘trigger’ words (”family counseling”) – making PPC a great bang for the buck.

How we help.

We have deep experience in running PPC and affiliate campaigns. If you’re just starting out in marketing, consult with us first before spending anything on these two types of paid search marketing.

Resources

Visit our PPC and Affiliate Marketing pages for more information.