Introduction to Keyword Advertising

What is Keyword Advertising?

Keyword Advertising is online advertising that uses search engine keywords to trigger contextualized ads. Advertisers select a set of keywords related to the product or service they wish to advertise. The ads are then displayed in relevant places based on those keywords on the Search Results Page (SRP) that is produced by the search engine. Keyword advertising is sometimes called pay-per-click advertising (PPC), search engine marketing (SEM), or search advertising; all of these terms generally refer to the same topic.

You MUST Measure the Results!

Your keyword advertising provider will supply you with statistics like Clickthrough Rate (CTR) which will tell you how successful your advertisements are in getting users to visit your landing page or Website. However, you must also use an analytics package (e.g. Google Analytics) to measure if you are converting these visitors into customers (e.g. do they buy something, sign up for an email newsletter or visit your Contact Us page). Unless you are measuring the visitor's propensity to do what you want them to do, you are NOT measuring the effectiveness of your keyword advertising campaign!

Major Keyword Advertising Services

Google AdWords
http://adwords.google.com

Yahoo! Search Marketing
http://sem.smallbusiness.yahoo.com

Microsoft Live
http://advertising.microsoft.com/search-advertising

Independent Application or Service Providers

Wordtracker

Keyword research tools for SEO, PPC, link building and blogging.
http://www.wordtracker.com

Engine Ready

Search Engine Marketing & PPC Agency
http://www.engineready.com

Simple Keyword Advertising Checklist

(1) Set up an Account
(2) Choose Keywords
(3) Set a Budget
(4) Run the Campaign
(5) Measure the Results
(6) Repeat steps 2 -5, as necessary

14 Tips for Keyword Advertising Beginners

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum81/2839.htm
Please consult the online reference for an explanation of each of these recommendations, the list is only repeated here for reference purposes.

Also Note: The original article is titled "15 Tips…", but their list does not include a Tip #13. Consequently, I have adjusted the article title in my reference above.

(1) Don't use broad matching
(2) Use dynamic titles
(3) Use global negatives
(4) Turn off content targeting and search network
(5) Test different creatives and positions
(6) Optimize your landing page
(7) Optimize your creatives
(8) Track conversion and ROI (Return On Investment)
(9) Work out your CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)
(10) Don't enter into bidding wars
(11) Set a weekly budget and stick to it
(12) Geotarget
(14) Keep a close eye on your competitors
(15) Enjoy it.

Keyword Advertising Glossary

Landing Page

A landing page is the page that appears when a potential customer clicks on an online advertisement, this page will usually display sales copy that is a logical extension of the advertisement or link. In keyword advertising campaigns, the landing page should be customized to enhance the effectiveness of different advertisements. By studying the user behavior metrics (provided by Google Analytics or other analytics packages) of the landing page and linking advertisement, marketers can compare the click-through rates and conversion rate to determine the most effective landing page, advertisement, and other elements of advertising campaign.

See the Wikipedia "Landing Page" and "Search (Engine) Analytics" references listed below for more information.

Geo-targeting

Geo-targeting is the practice of determining the physical location of a website visitor, and delivering different content to that visitor based on his or her location (e.g. country, region/state, city, metro code/zip code, organization). In general, the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the visitor is used to identify their Internet Services Provider (ISP) and thereby their location.

See the Wikipedia "Internet Marketing" reference listed below for more information.

Keyword Advertising References

Social Media & Internet Marketing Guide (SBDCNet -- SBDC National Information Clearinghouse)
http://sbdcnet.org/index.php/social-media-a-internet-marketing.html

Internet Marketing (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_marketing

Search Engine Marketing (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_marketing

Search Advertising (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_advertising

Pay Per Click Advertising (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_per_click

Landing Page (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_page

Search (Engine) Analytics (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_analytics


KEYWORD TOOLS
Word Tracker Keyword Suggestion Tool
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com

Google Keyword Tool
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal