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Can you teach an old dog new clicks?Last week, Google released its last quarter’s revenues, which between October and December 2009 grew by 17%. That equates to revenues of $6.67 billion during the quarter – up from $5.7bn a year ago. Net profit was $1.97bn. So by how much did your company grow last quarter? A company growing strongly in a recession, how about that?
Many small, medium and large companies use contextual advertising across search engines, the most popular in South Africa being Google, Bing and Ananzi. These are the text ads you see when you get your search results back from the search engines.
Generally, a search for a product will show a list of advertisers selling or producing that product. The trick is to maximise your relevant click-through rate while minimising your costs.
Relevance is your target market – you want only people who are interested in your product to click on the ad. This is set by the content of your ad and the keywords you choose on which to have your ad displayed.
Cost is how much you pay per click or, more accurately, for one lead or one customer. It does not count if you get hundreds of clicks and no leads or no new customers.
So how do some companies get more clicks, pay less per click and then get more customers by advertising directly above or below you on a search engine?
Simple: they word their ads correctly, and that means something that will appeal to your customer, and not a clever idea worded from your nephew studying marketing. The ad must be something that will appeal to them while they are searching online.
Next up is the cost per click: do you want to be number one, two or three? From four onward, the click rate drops significantly. Often the price differential is significant; if so, be ad number two or even three. But if the price is a few cents more, be ad number one. (Note – the highest paying ad is not always displayed at the top of the list.)
You have to check your reports and tools regularly to ensure the maximum effectiveness of your campaign and ensure the highest return on investment.
There is a reason why companies use tax specialists, and that is to minimise their tax burden legally and increase their profitability. Online advertising experts can generally make your campaign more effective and cheaper, and the saving differential will pay for their fees.
Spend your money wisely, track the success of your online campaigns and you should find a great return on investment on your spend.
An old quote says: “It’s morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep their money”, so do not be a sucker when you spend online. If you want some new thoughts or ideas on what you currently are doing, or could be doing, e-mail me on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.solarstorm.co.za or call me on 011 0234 369 (Skype francoisv100). Who said you can’t teach an old dog new clicks?
