Paid Search Management – Like A Champion

When clients ask me about paid search, they say that it seems like a lot of work to organically driving traffic to their website. Can’t we just pay for clicks? My response is always the same, “You can certainly pay for clicks, but do not think that it is that simple.” If you want your online marketing campaign to play like a champion for you, you will want the right balance of organic and sponsored links for your business including quality paid search management.

But I only pay per click, so how can I lose?

I am only going to scratch the surface on this one. When dealing with paid search, there are a plethora of factors involved. First of all, just because someone clicks on your paid link, you can not assume that they are anywhere close to being a potential customer. There is no pre-qualification process to paid search, no way to weed people out so your money is not wasted. You pay for every click. Depending on the competitiveness of your industry, your keywords could be quite costly, and those clicks add up quickly.

OK, so I should stay away from paid search?

That is not what I am saying. But it should not be your starting or only method of online marketing. Paid search can certainly create championship companies, but it does not create your online authority, interact with your customer base or keep your website fresh and relevant. It simply puts you at the top of the search results. For a price. But it does work, as this graphic illustrates.

Pop Results illustrates super paid search statistics.

Final Thoughts on Paid Search

When managed correctly as an extension of a well planned inbound marketing campaign, paid search can certainly increase traffic to your site, above what organic optimizing alone will do. If your keywords are properly chosen and carefully monitored, the ROI can and will be successful.