Are You Missing One of the Best Deals in Marketing?

November 16, 2007 by · Leave a Comment

What is PPC?
On a search engine’s results page there are two kinds of listings, organic and sponsored.  Sponsored or paid listings are (somewhat) conspicuously identified at the top and/or right-hand side of the engine’s results pages.  Organic listings occur naturally, while sponsored or paid listings are bid on by advertisers.  Advertisers decide how much they are willing to pay for these ads, and they pay for the ads only when a visitor clicks on the ad …hence the name Pay Per Click (PPC).

Why should you be using PPC?
Well, because as our headline said… it’s one of the most significant and cost-effective advertising innovations, ever.  If you haven’t at least experimented with Pay Per Click, you may literally be handing low-cost, high-quality leads to your competitors. [Read more...]

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, Online Marketing, PPC, Search Engine Marketing ·

The true state of B2B Search Engine Marketing

October 24, 2007 by · Leave a Comment

We’ve recently taken a lot of interest in determining the viability of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click Marketing (PPC) among B2B and technology marketers.

See, there seems to be a great disparity between the amount of interest marketers have in search engine marketing and the amount of effort or budget being applied to it.

I recently had an opportunity to speak at a large business expo held in Hartford, CT.  My presentation was “B2B Web Strategy”, which would encompass everything from SEO to PPC, web design, usability, lead generation, e-mail marketing, analytics and more.  I learned within minutes that the SEO/PPC portion of this presentation was all anyone cared about.  I barely mentioned the acronyms before hands were raising and the questions begun.  The interest in these topics by the “typical” marketer (i.e. not one who has attended multiple Search Engine Strategies conferences, subscribes to and reads every MarketingSherpa study, etc.) is astounding.  [Read more...]

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, PPC, Traffic Generation ·

PPC Reporting Metrics – Keys to your Campaign’s Cost-effectiveness

January 24, 2007 by · 1 Comment

Pay per click advertising (PPC), allows marketers to quickly drive targeted traffic to their website. PPC also affords site owners the opportunity to test new product initiatives fairly quickly. But PPC has its pitfalls; so it is important to hire someone competent to do it for you, or to be prepared to spend a great deal of time learning how to properly organize a campaign and write compelling ad copy, not to mention how to do an exhaustive keyword analysis. Even with a good group of keywords, several different ad creatives and a properly structured campaign, a well-executed PPC campaign requires constant monitoring and adjustment. [Read more...]

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, PPC ·

B2B Online Spending on the Rise

January 10, 2007 by · Leave a Comment

The folks at MarketingVOX have posted another nice summary of some recent research compiled by Lisa Phillips, senior analyst at eMarketer.  The report cites Veronis Suhler Stevenson forecasts showing that online spending in the B2B category will rise 23.7 percent next year to $2.4 billion.

Still, that figure is dwarfed by print advertising among the top 100 B2B advertisers, with nearly four times the spending of online in 2005.  Nonetheless, eMarketer says the Direct Marketing Association is predicting that 2008 is the year when online marketing efforts will become the dominant medium for B2B advertising …although it’s a bit hard to see how we get there from here quite that soon.

But going beyond advertising, a 2005 U.K. Internet Usage in Business Market Report showed that the Internet is being viewed by companies as a strategic weapon used to improve a business’s entire value chain.  There is a very real risk that B2B companies with an online focus limited solely to branding/image and lead generation will lose out to “2.0-savvy” businesses who are busily internet-enabling everything throughout their enterprises.

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, Online Marketing, PPC ·

Understanding Pay per Click Advertising (PPC)

October 23, 2006 by · Leave a Comment

What is PPC?
On a search engines results page there are two kinds of listings, organic and sponsored. Sponsored or paid listings are conspicuously (somewhat) identified at the top and or right hand side of the search engine results pages. Organic listings occur naturally, while sponsored or paid listings are bid for by advertisers. Advertisers decide how much they are willing to pay for these ads, and they pay for these ads only when a visitor clicks on the ad, hence the definition – Pay per Click.

Why should you PPC advertise?
If your company is a B2C or takes customer orders online, you probably already are …for the same reason that most B2Cs have substantial traditional (offline) advertising budgets.  You simply can’t afford to be relatively invisible in a medium that at least some of your competitors are almost certainly exploiting.  No surprise, then, that some of the highest keyword bid rates – and some of the most skilled PPC specialists – are found in the B2C or e-commerce arenas.

But B2B companies also have many reasons to advertise with PPC and determine what it can do for them.  Let’s look at some of them… [Read more...]

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, Online Marketing, PPC ·
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