Look at Pay-Per-Click Tools for Small Business
Managing online paid-search-term campaigns can
be like water torture for a small-business owner: A slow drip of deadliness,
choosing keywords and deciding what to pay for each on services like Google AdWords and Microsoft AdCenter.
For the
uninitiated, paid-search campaigns involve advertisers paying a fee, usually
based on clicks or views, to have their links placed high on search-engine
results pages. They typically bid on keywords or keyword phrases. Users can
find themselves guessing at the words those searching for your products or
services might enter into Google, Bing, Yahoo or other search engine. All for
the prospect of having your short bit of linked copy appear across the top and
on the right side of a web-search results page.
Bigger
companies often have help from pricey pay-per-click automation and management
services and perhaps professional search marketers. But small and midsize
businesses face a tougher task in finding affordable support for paid-search
marketing. Programs exist, but none are easy in my view. Or even that is affordable.
So to get a feel for the best choices in a tight market, below are the three
lower-cost paid - search marketing tools.
Click Sweeper
What you get: A great suite of Google AdWords campaign-building tools. Boston-based Word Stream offers a pay-per-click management platform that lets users easily build ad campaigns from scratch or fine-tune campaigns with some cool keyword analysis features.
What you get: What amounts to an entry-level, top-end paid-search tool. If your business invests significant money in paid-search marketing, then Clickable is for you. You get a top-line PPC management tool that works with Google, Yahoo, Bing and even Facebook. It even -- for an additional $300 per month -- will assign an employee to help you design ad strategies -- that’s actually an affordable option, considering the cost of paid search.
What you get: What amounts to an entry-level, top-end paid-search tool. If your business invests significant money in paid-search marketing, then Clickable is for you. You get a top-line PPC management tool that works with Google, Yahoo, Bing and even Facebook. It even -- for an additional $300 per month -- will assign an employee to help you design ad strategies -- that’s actually an affordable option, considering the cost of paid search.
Source: www.entrepreneur.com
Why you might like it: It’s flexible. Overall we found that
Click Sweeper strikes a good balance between automatic bidding and user
control. You can let the tool do the bidding for you, or if you need to
micromanage a few keywords, you can enter bids manually. There is a nice sense
of direct control over your spend.
Why you might not like it: its complex. That’s partly due to the
nature of the pay-per-click beast, but there are numerous menus, tabs and
options to set for every keyword. So gearing up the service can feel as onerous
as trying to manage your AdWords campaign with no help. Click Sweeper does
offer a set of tutorial videos. They’re dry and watching them takes time, but
they can get the job done.
What to do: If
you are outgrowing Google’s Adwords tools, Click Sweeper is logical step. Just
be sure you give yourself plenty of time and patience to figure it out.
Word Stream for PPC
Why you might like it: Ease of use. Word Stream simply shines at
managing keywords. A long list of powerful keyword research tools helps you
decide how to build your campaigns and write ad copy. And Word Stream does a
nice job of suggesting new or related keywords, and recommending words to
avoid. We especially liked the way the tool helps to effectively group
keywords, one of the trickiest parts of search-engine marketing.
Why you might not like it: Simplistic keyword bid management. Word Stream
does a good job of tracking how keywords perform, but users might miss the
opportunity to assign complex rules and goals for bidding that are available in
some other services. So you can waste money, unless you have a firm grasp of
your bid strategy.
What to do: For
ongoing paid-search-marketing efforts, Word stream makes a lot of sense. It
offers a nice mix of cost and features for a more sophisticated pay-per-click
marketing effort.
Clickable
Why you might like it: Clickable offers a powerful mix of
features well suited to most small business needs. It generates daily bid
recommendations based on revenue goals. Custom reports track and compare
whatever data you’d like and turns it into a neatly branded presentation. The
bulk keyword editing tool quickly manages your ad copy and campaigns
simultaneously across different search engines, which can be handy for an
advertising blitz. And social media gets its due: Facebook marketing tools also
help your business break into what some are calling “F-Commerce.”
Why you might not like it: While Clickable may look affordable
compared with sophisticated paid-search marketing, it isn't low cost. Expect to
spend about $10,000 a year. And you still might feel constrained. Bottom line:
Clickable may not be the best choice for smaller shops or those just wading
into paid search marketing.
What to do: If
you are looking for value over a full-service paid-search marketing agency, or
if you feel comfortable running your own paid-search marketing internally,
Clickable is an intriguing option. Just make sure you know the pay-per-click
market, and have the money to invest. With up-front costs this steep, a return
on investment might be tough to find.
Source: www.entrepreneur.com
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