Proper Keyword Selection Can Save Money
by: George Morris
Google AdWords™ are increasingly becoming widely used in the product and services sector as a sure fire method to rank on the first page without scrolling, or as the industry calls it "above the fold". AdWords give businesses a way to control their search engine ranking through a bidding process. The concept is simple, the more you pay, the bigger your budget, the higher your rank.
In search engine speak the terms "natural / organic results" and "paid results" are often used. Natural results are what most people think of when looking for the search engine results. These results are often flanked by the paid results, in Google these adds appear in the very top, very bottom and the right of the natural search results. User experience studies have shown the 80% of the clicks on search results go to the natural results, while only 20% click on the paid results.
Paid results, as they pertain to product and services are more "relevant" then natural results because an interested party is paying for the placement of a particular add.
Paid placement is highly recommended, however you must be careful in the keywords you choose. Follow this rule when using pay-per-click ads, general terms = high cost and low quality traffic, specific terms = low cost and high quality traffic.
Keyword Choice is Everything
Selecting the proper combinations of keywords can make a significant difference in the traffic received and the cost paid for a particular keyword phrase. Take for instance our company, Imulus. Quick background, we are a full service design + interactive agency which means we build websites, web applications and marketing collateral. Also, we are located in Boulder, Colorado. So here goes:
Campaign 1 / Local
We are trying to reach out into our own backyard, where we ultimately have greater success they compared to trying to reach clients in Portland, Oregon. The few selected terms below give you an idea of the level of traffic we might expect. Google allows us to select a budget to keep that number reined in.
Denver Web Design
Returns 44 Clicks per month / 2,681 times shown / Avg position 2.2 ?Total 1 Month Cost $240.89
Boulder Web Design
Returns 13 Clicks per month / 1,115 times shown / Avg position 1.2?Total Cost 1 Month $62.36
Obviously market size will have a direct link to the number of times your keywords are searched upon.
Campaign 2 / National
In this campaign we are going to reach outside of the Denver metro / Boulder market. Our new target market is the United States. Qualifiers of Boulder and Denver will be dropped in favor of more national terms. These numbers are not actuals, just estimates.
Web Design / 1290 Clicks per month / $8,550 per month
Web Developer / 168 Clicks per month / $497 per month
Website Design / 1110 Clicks per month / $5,146 per month
Notice the cost per month, as we market more general terminology the number of clicks per month increases drastically and so does the cost. The only part of the equation which diminishes is the quality of the leads.
Better Traffic Quality
Campaign 2 will drive more traffic then Campaign 1 but will the traffic be worth it? Using the terms Web Design, those ads will appear when anyone searches using those terms even if they have qualifiers on the term. By using general terminology we might be picked up on searches for "Alaskan web design" in which case the odds of us landing that client are pretty remote. Adding qualifiers narrow the clicks to just those which are qualified for our business, adding Denver and Boulder gives us focused results.
For more information visit Imulus at
http://www.imulus.comAbout The Author
George Morris is co-founder of Imulus, a internationally recognized design + interactive agency located in Boulder, CO. Imulus is one of the fastest growning web design + interactive agencies in the Denver area. George is interested in emerging technologies, website usability and search engine marketing.
