| As more and more businesses seek to attract more | | | | effectively and will cost less than more generic, |
| customers using the Internet, their owners get | | | | industry-wide terms. |
| confused about such terms as "organic traffic" and | | | | Pay-Per-Click programs can be used very effectively, |
| "paid traffic". Well here's what the terms mean, the | | | | but they must be closely monitored or they can quickly |
| advantages and disadvantages of both and how to | | | | get out of hand. Google, for example, allows you to |
| include both into your small business internet marketing | | | | establish a daily limit of the amount that you are willing |
| plan. | | | | to spend on advertising each day and when you reach |
| Organic Traffic | | | | it, your ads will automatically stop appearing. Pay Per |
| Just as the name implies, traffic generated organically | | | | Click is nice since you pay absolutely nothing unless |
| is that which arrives at your site a natural byproduct of | | | | and until someone clicks on your ad and is directed to |
| just being in business and doing business. As the name | | | | your site. |
| of your business and your products and services are | | | | Other paid traffic sources involve placing banner ads |
| spread around on the Internet, it will become | | | | on various websites and newsletters in your industry |
| increasingly recognized. For example, the more places | | | | category. These are usually charges for on a CPM or |
| you have listed your company and the more links are | | | | cost per thousand impressions. That means if a site is |
| on pages around the net pointing to your website, the | | | | viewed by 35,000 people, then your ad will have |
| higher its name will be listed on the major search | | | | 35,000 impressions and you will pay for the ad based |
| engines (Google, Yahoo, and Bing). | | | | on the number of people to which your ad is displayed |
| Each reference to your company, especially its listing in | | | | (rather than taking any action). |
| directories and search engines, has an accompanying | | | | You can also pay for listings and ads in various trade |
| keyword or keywords under which the name will be | | | | publications, both online and in the more traditional, |
| 'filed' when the reference to it is located. The more | | | | printed media. |
| such references it gets, the higher and higher the | | | | Time Until Effective |
| company name will be ranked. When an Internet visitor | | | | When creating a small business Internet marketing plan, |
| does a search on a specific keyword, such as | | | | it is really important that you consider and allow for a |
| "plumbers in Pittsburgh", the search engine refers to its | | | | mixture of organic and paid traffic sources. The more |
| files and displays, down the center of the page, each | | | | time and energy you are willing the put into creating a |
| of the names that are in its index which closely match | | | | buzz in the organic arena, the less you will need to |
| the requested term. If your company name has more | | | | spend on paid traffic sources. Recognition of your |
| and more relevant references than others, it will likely | | | | company on the organic side of things can take quite |
| be listed first. | | | | a long time, depending on the effectiveness of your |
| Since few people look much beyond the first page of | | | | marketing blitz. If you need or want to have targeted |
| search results, it really can pay to have a tremendous | | | | traffic really quickly, then you will need to use some |
| quantity of good references to your company. This will | | | | amount of Pay-Per-Click advertising. You can get |
| help your company to be listed within the first 10 results | | | | traffic from Pay-Per-Click within a few hours, but it will |
| and thus allow you to capture the treasured page one | | | | cost you a few dollars. |
| spot in your category! | | | | Your Cost Per Acquisition |
| Therefore, by heavily promoting your company through | | | | In order to properly determine your Internet marketing |
| articles about your products and services, directory | | | | budget, you really need to have a good understanding |
| listings, video publications, forum posts, blog entries, etc., | | | | of what it presently costs you to get a new customer |
| you can really 'push' your company name to the top of | | | | to your business. This is called your Cost Per |
| the organic search engine rankings. This, of course, is | | | | Acquisition or CPA. If you were to simply determine |
| free of cost, except for the time and energy that is | | | | the number of new customers you had last year and |
| put into creating such a buzz. | | | | divided that by your marketing cost, that would give |
| Paid Traffic | | | | you a rough CPA. For example, if you attracted 500 |
| There are several ways that you can purchase traffic | | | | new customers last year and your marketing cost |
| on the Internet. Some are more effective than others | | | | was $20,000, your CPA would be $40 (20,000 |
| and some can be very costly. | | | | customers divided by $20,000 cost). |
| The most common is a process called "Pay Per Click", | | | | You can then experiment using Pay-Per-Click to see if |
| of which Google's Adwords program is the most often | | | | you can attract customers using that method for less |
| used. In these programs, you (the advertiser) establish | | | | than $40 each. It may take you, for example, 1,000 |
| a small 4 line ad, a video ad or a banner ad, and have | | | | visitors at $.25 each to get 30 real prospects and 7 |
| some associated keywords. Whenever a search is | | | | new customers, so your CPA for that would be $36. |
| made on that keyword (or other related keywords), | | | | (1,000*.25=250 divided by 7 new customers=$36). |
| your ad is displayed free of charge on the rightmost | | | | While the $36 CPA would be good, you also have to |
| column of the search results page. The order in which | | | | consider the additional 23 targeted prospects that you |
| those ads appear is based on the relevance of your | | | | now have on your marketing list. These are an added |
| ad and the page to which you wish traffic to be | | | | benefit that will likely mean some additional new |
| directed (your quality score) and the amount you are | | | | customers over time, as you market to them. |
| willing to pay to get the associated traffic. | | | | Working Your Plan |
| There is sort of an auction on ad placement and ads | | | | If you work at your small business Internet marketing |
| can cost from 15 cents to $20 or more per click. That | | | | plan very logically, you will first determine your current |
| depends on the competitiveness of your respective | | | | CPA and then design the proper balance of organic |
| market and the keywords being used. By doing some | | | | and paid traffic that will keep the new customers |
| exhaustive keyword research, you can usually find | | | | coming to your business! |
| some keyword phrases which will target your traffic | | | | |