The Fastest Way to Get Traffic to Your Site

Lots of people would like to get their Web site to the top of Google's free listings. But that's precisely the problem: You're competing with lots of people. It's certainly possible to get to the top - after all, somebody has to be there! - but it takes a lot of time and effort. Alternatively, you could pay a search engine marketing company to do this for you.

But by far the better way to get to the top of Google is to pay for it. Google's "AdWords" program allows even a small business to buy advertising for selected key words and phrases. You might be surprised at how little you have to pay.

Here's how it works ...

Google (at www.google.com) has two types of listings: Free and paid. Google makes its money from the paid listings.

Google AdWords is the name of Google's paid advertising system. It is a pay-per-click advertising system, which means that you only pay when someone clicks on your advertisement.

AdWords is an auction-based system. You offer to pay a certain price for each click, and you compete with other bidders for higher placement.

You choose which words or phrases you would like to use for your ad. When somebody searches Google using those search terms, your ad will appear. If they then click on your ad, it takes them to a specific page on your Web site.

The biggest advantage is that it gives you CONTROL.

Another problem with trying to get into the free listings at Google is that you don't have much control over how your page will appear. You're not sure exactly which search phrases will display it; you're not sure what Google will say about it; and you're not sure which pages of your site will match Google's criteria for each search phrase.

With AdWords, all those problems disappear. You can control the exact wording of your ads, the exact page they link to, the exact search phrases they match, and exactly when they appear.

For example, when I went overseas for a month last year, I turned off all my Google advertising while I was away. (That was in the days before I had fine-tuned my advertising campaigns. Nowadays, I would just leave the ads running, knowing that they would make me money in my absence :-))

You can control where the ads appear in the world. For example, at the time of the Australian election last October, one of my clients had an election-related Web site, so we ran some Google ads - but only for Australian Internet users.

You can get even more specific with geography. For example, I can run ads for events that I'm conducting in Sydney, and only show those ads to people in and around Sydney.

You can run two ads side by side and find out which is more responsive. Then you delete the weaker ad and replace it with a third ad that you pit against the stronger ad. Keep doing this until you find the ad that gets the best results.

Google tells you exactly which words and phrases people used when searching. For example, when we did the advertising for the election campaign, we found that "Australian election" had 50% more searches than "federal election"; and "liberal party" had three times as many searches as "labor party"!

With all these benefits, why would you ever go for free listings?

I hope I've convinced you by now that Google AdWords is the best way to get traffic from search engines.

But what about the free listings?

Actually, I'm NOT suggesting that you give up the idea of getting a free listing in Google. There are definitely advantages to these listings.

What I am saying is that you should go for the paid listings first - to test your market, refine your ad copy and improve your marketing. Then put your efforts into the free listings if you choose.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gihan Perera is a co-author of "Get Traffic Fast", a fast-track program to get started with Google advertising, avoiding the common traps and pitfalls.

Sign up to his free mini-course "Google Kick Start" here:

http://GihanPerera.com/get-traffic-fast.html

---

What is PTRE and Is It Worth Your Time?

PTRE stands for Paid To Read Email programs. Online companies... Read More

Under The Covers: ClickBanks Affiliate Tracking System

The core principle of affiliate marketing is that the referring... Read More

The Truth About Pay-Per-Click Ads

Are pay-per-click ads the best method of getting customers to... Read More

Pay-Per-Click Marketing: How to Waste Your Advertising Budget

A well-oiled pay-per-click search engine campaign can land hundreds of... Read More

Effective Keyword Bidding Strategies

When doing Pay Per Click Advertising you'll often see "Bid... Read More

How to Maximize Paid Search Results

Because of increasing competition that has led to higher advertising... Read More

Adsense Tricks to Explode Your Profits

Lots of people say to make your ads blend in.... Read More

Internet Advertising Options

Your online business will likely require more advertising than a... Read More

Creating Revenue Without Much Effort, Set It And Forget It Online

Earning more revenue from your website is the goal of... Read More

How to Use Pay Per Click Advertising to Increase Web Site Traffic

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to... Read More

Google Adwords Guide I

You probably have already heard about the new marketing tool... Read More

3 Tips For Adwords PPC Management

Adwords PPC Management Tip No. 1Setting up an accountIf you... Read More

Discover the Art of the Pay-per-Click Start (Round 1 of 2)

Setting up a pay-per-click campaign is simple, right? Practically all... Read More

Pay Per Click 2005: Very Expensive Without Expert Help

Despite being online using email since 1995, at the start... Read More

6 Easy Ways to Increase Your Adsense Revenue

How much revenue do you generate from Google Adsense?Recently there... Read More

Google AdSense Fraud - Deep Insight

It's worthwhile to examine Google's definition of Google AdSense and... Read More

Profiting From Second Tier Pay Per Click Search Engines

Once you venture into the world of Pay Per Click... Read More

How To Win The War of Pay per Click Advertising.

Do you know what is the most important question among... Read More

So You Want Big Profits From Your AdWords PPC Advertising Campaigns?

So You Want Big Profits From Your AdWords PPC Advertising?... Read More

Googles AdWords Select(tm) Groundbreaking Program

One of the absolute best online marketing processes available to... Read More

3 Adsense Tips To Dramatically Increase CTR

Here are three Adsense Tips, together with the required HTML... Read More

Advertising And Generate New WebSite Traffic

Here's a simple way to use "No Results, No Pay"... Read More

Pay Per Performance Web Traffic

Why should you pay to get web site traffic, isn't... Read More

The Pay Per Click Mistakes Of A New Marketer

My first real foray into Internet Marketing was a Pay... Read More

How I Boosted My Monthly AdSense Profits from $673.07 to $21,398.85 in Just 6 Months

How I Boosted My Monthly AdSense Profits from... Read More

Regarding the AdSense Update...

If you haven't yet got a Google AdSense account for... Read More

Organic Natural Search Engine Optimization versus Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Advertising

When you purchase visitors or "clicks" from a search engine,... Read More

Google AdWords: Like Playing The Lottery

A "dollar and a dream," is all you need said... Read More

Can I Make Money Online with the Adsense Program?

Sure you can. If you will learn how many other... Read More

When AdSense Goes AWOL

No matter how hard you work to optimize your page,... Read More

10 Powerful Tips to Optimize your Google AdWords Campaigns

Google announced in January 2005 significant changes in their popular... Read More

5 Critical Pay-Per-Click Tips

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is a good supplement to natural search... Read More

5 Ways To Make Your Adwords Ads Outshine Your Competitors

Google Adwords is a very good place to promote your... Read More