| Pay As They Come: Pay per click marketing, drawing | | | | The highest bidder gets the top placement on the |
| the online customer to a website is accomplished | | | | results page for a keyword search. Google AdWords, |
| through search engine optimization (SEO) and | | | | Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter all |
| pay-per-click advertising (PPC). SEO uses keywords in | | | | offer bid-based PPC advertisements. All three offer a |
| the content and Meta tags of a website along with the | | | | way to enter a maximum bid and a maximum |
| number of links associated with that site to determine | | | | spending limit, usually on a per day basis. Smaller, but |
| the site's ranking in search results. SEO is a long-term | | | | no less effective, specialized search engines also |
| strategy that consistently delivers traffic from search | | | | provide PPC to advertisers. The world of bid-based |
| engine appearance. PPC delivers quick results and is a | | | | PPC advertising is dynamic, changing continuously as |
| powerful way to build on a site's SEO ranking in | | | | bids change and searches continue. The alternative, |
| search engine results. Together, SEO and PPC are the | | | | flat-rate PPC, is slightly less dynamic but a solid |
| backbone of online marketing. | | | | marketing tool. |
| PPC, while still young, has evolved into two general | | | | Flat-rate PPC is predictable in that the cost per |
| modes: bid-based PPC primarily on search engine | | | | click-through is the same. A second primary difference |
| results pages and flat-rate PPC on related content | | | | from bid-based PPC is that flat-rate PPC |
| websites. In either model, the customer clicking on an | | | | advertisements appear on websites chosen for their |
| advertisement drives the cost. If no customer clicks on | | | | suitable viewer demographics. The amount paid per |
| the advertisement, then no revenue is generated or | | | | click will depend on average view statistics for the |
| collected. When a customer clicks on the | | | | website and the placement in the window on the site, |
| advertisement, the host site charges a very small but | | | | often referred to as "above the fold" or "below the |
| predetermined amount. In general, this is good for both | | | | fold". As with bid-based PPC, the advertiser can |
| parties. The advertiser only pays for someone clicking | | | | choose the maximum amount he is willing to spend on |
| through to his website, which is akin to paying for a | | | | the campaign. Once that amount is reached, the ads |
| newsprint ad only when a customer enters the store | | | | will cease running. Flat-rate PPC is predictable if the |
| with the newspaper in hand. The host site receives | | | | demographic and the view statistics for the host site |
| revenue for the clientele already frequenting the site | | | | are accurate. In many respects, flat-rate PPC is a safe |
| for the content. | | | | investment with a respectable ROI if done well. |
| Bid-based PPC is limited to search engines and based | | | | Bid-based pay per click and flat-rate pay per click, |
| on search keywords. Advertisers bid the amount they | | | | along with SEO, are critical marketing tools. |
| will pay for being displayed as a "sponsored ad" for a | | | | Coordinated marketing campaigns using these tools |
| given keyword. The bidding is entered and automated. | | | | can deliver steady traffic to any website. |