Buying your way to the top of Google

Because of the numerous factors involved in getting top 10 ranking, improving your position can take weeks. To speed up the process, we recommend using Google’s pay-per-click advertising program, Adwords.

When you use Adwords, your site will show up in the “Sponsored Results” above or to the right of the regular results.

When you use AdWords, you begin by creating “ads”, which will appear when search terms you specify are entered into Google or appear in the content of pages served by Google’s advertising partners.

When you first create an account, it may take as long as 10 days before the ads begin to show, but after that changes are reflected almost immediately.

This means you can try an assortment of ad copy and keyword phrases to see what performs best. You’ll be able to measure your percentage of clickthroughs (the number of people who click on your ad vs. the number of times it’s shown (impressions)), and you’ll see if your page content measures up to visitors’ expectations by looking at factors such as time on site, number of pages viewed, and bounce rate (the percentage of people who left your site after viewing only one page).

Your ad’s position in the Sponsored Results is dependent on the bid you make on each keyword phrase. Your bid is the maximum amount you’re willing to spend for each click.  In most cases, the actual cost-per-click will be less than your bid maximum.

You want to use targeted keywords over generic terms for a couple of reasons. First, the amount you’ll need to bid for top three positioning will be lower. Second, since you’re paying for the clicks, you want anyone who clicks to be a likely customer.

To manage your spending, AdWords also lets you set a daily budget. If you set your budget to $5/day, your total charge each month will never exceed $155 ($5 x 31 days).

If your customers are within a defined geographic area, you can define the location(s) where your ads will appear.

The initial setup of AdWords can seem intimidating, as there are a lot of options and considerations that go into developing campaigns. We can take you through the setup process or create campaigns for you and monitor their effectiveness. Whatever level of support you need, we are happy to provide it.