Advertise in Times Square or in the middle of the woods?

Which would yield better results? Times Square of course.

The difference between a web site with high search engine ranking and one with low rankings can mean the difference between high profits and low profits. So if your web site has high rankings, this can equate to advertising in Times Square with huge visibility.

I'm going to talk about 2 related methods of search engine marketing, pay-per-click and search engine optimization. When it comes to Search engine marketing:

• Businesses want to get the highest return from online advertising dollars.
• It can come down to a mouse click whether you're website is found or not.
• Customers can reach your business on the Internet right from their homes.
• Small businesses can look big, so even small businesses can create a dynamic website and look bigger than they are resulting in a big impact on there website visitors.
• Getting your website on search engines can increase exposure.

The first method, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is a very popular method of search engine marketing.

Google and Yahoo are the two biggest providers with about 90% of the market share of PPC. When a user types in keyword and gets a list of search results related to the keyword or keyword phrase, text banners along the top and down the right are the ads. Every time someone clicks on one of these links, the advertiser pays the provider the bid amount. Advertisers sign up with AdWords (google) and Overture (yahoo) and ads appear based on how much has been bid for the keywords. With competitive products the cost can be expensive, and the greater the bid amount the better the placement of the ad. PPC can range from a few cents to up to 50.00 per click. For some small businesses this may be to time consuming and expensive to be worthwhile, but it can be used temporarily though to increase exposure and spike web site traffic.

The second method is Search Engine Optimization. (SEO)

This is where your site is created or modified to increase your visibility in search engines naturally. This can be done by you or by an SEO company that knows how search engines like Google and Yahoo work.

Type a keyword into a search box and the search engine scours the web and in a fraction of a second it lists millions of results spanning hundreds of pages. If you are a customer, which website would you bother to click on? Answer: the one at or near the top of the search results. So web sites that are listed beyond the first page or two generally won't get the traffic the top listing sites will. This is where search engine optimization steps in.

Some things involved in SEO:

• Researching your targeted market. This may mean looking at competitive websites to see what they are doing to achieve high ranking.
• Analyzing your site for keyword rich content and Meta tags.
• Identifying your keywords to fit the search engines. What keywords are people searching for the most?
• Building up the number of related websites that link to your website. Ideally the sites that link to your site should be quality sites that are related to your product or service. For example, if your company does Kitchen remodeling then related businesses may be architects, interior designers or appliance suppliers.
• Updating the content of your website regularly. Search engines like current up to date content. When I search I want results that are fresh and new, so websites that are updated regularly can have better ranking.
• Reporting and Return on Investment (ROI) tracking to ensure progress.

Once the web site is optimized the site has a better chance to rise in the rankings and get more customer exposure. And this method is without fee when someone clicks on your web site link.

SEO In the Long Run

• Good business and Search engine optimization is a long-term affair. It takes time and effort for a site to gain in ranking.
• Loss of rankings can hurt your business and give your competition the edge.
• Search engine optimization is a proven investment to maintain exposure of your site.
• Search engine optimization can be performed by you or outsourced like pay-per-click.
• Costs can vary from several hundred dollars to tens of thousands annually to maintain a search engine strategy.

Beware of SEM/SEO firms promising top search results for your business. Many search engine optimization companies guarantee top rankings that are unrealistic. Given there are 30 businesses similar to yours in your area, all with quality websites, how can all of them be listed in the 10 ten search results?

If you have a business that needs to make more money, consider Search Engine Marketing for your website and get your business out of the woods and into Times Square.