How To Use Pay-Per-Click Search Engines to Promote a Website

This report describes how you can use pay-per-click search engines as a cost-effective means to drive traffic to your website.

Search engines such as Google and Yahoo display search results for both paid and non-paid search results.

You can submit your site to Google for free to generate traffic, but Google doesn’t guarantee they will list your site. Be sure you have at least 3 or 4 other sites linking to your site to help ensure Google will list your site. In recent years it used to be possible to submit your website for free to Yahoo and AltaVista, etc, but today these and many other search engines require payment for listings. Some search engines like Zeal.com allow free submissions for non-profit sites.

Some organizations use Web Position Gold software to automatically submit their websites to the multiple smaller search engines that don’t require payment for submission. Never use automated submission software to submit your site to big search engines – your chances of getting listed are greater if you manually submit.

Many Internet users search for relevant websites through pay-per-click (PPC) search engines such as www.overture.com and www.FindWhat.com and www.Enhance.com. As a result, you can generate even more traffic at a reasonable rate by purchasing keywords through these PPC search engines. Yahoo recently purchased Overture.com, AlltheWeb.com and Altavista.com, so now you’ll see that paid keyword listings purchased with Overture now appear on even more websites. Typically the above mentioned PPC search engines distribute their paid keyword listings to multiple search engine partners, further expanding the reach of their keyword listings.

How Do Pay-Per Click Search Engines Work?

PPC search engines like Overture and FindWhat allow Internet users to search for online information for free. A user goes to a PPC and types in a search term, also commonly referred to as a search phrase or keyword, such as “mid life crisis.”

The PPC then instantly searches its database of millions of websites on the Internet, poring over their contents in pursuit of websites that most accurately match the search term.

Overture turned up several hundred results for “mid life crisis.” As you’ve probably seen in your own searches, results are often in the hundreds or thousands.

Below are the top three results of the several hundred that Overture turned up for “mid life crisis.” Look below and you’ll see that results are generally listed with a short title. The title of the first search result is “Find True Peace and Purpose in Life.”

1. Find True Peace and Purpose in Life
   Mid life crisis? Questions about purpose and peace? Discover the power to change your life from people like yourself who made a change.
   www.powertochange.com (Advertiser’s Max Bid: $0.11)
2. Mid Life Crisis Means Its Time to Change
   Are you questioning what your life is about? Are looking real meaning and purpose? Origin community is a dynamic, inspiring group of people dedicated to changing themselves and the world.
   www.originlife.com (Advertiser’s Max Bid: $0.10)
3. Mid Life Crisis Site Is Here
   Click here for Information on mid life crisis products. On sale now. Unconditional guarantee.
   www.fogdam.com (Advertiser’s Max Bid: $0.10)

Underneath the title of the first search result above is the description of the website or web page: “Mid life crisis? Questions about…” Then under the description is the relevant web address or URL: “www.powertochange.com”. Some pay-per-click search engines also include the price the advertiser is paying per click in the results, as seen above in brackets next to the web address: (Advertiser’s Max Bid: $0.11).

Powertochange.com, an evangelistic website developed by TruthMedia, is in first place in the search results above. Powertochange.com pays a maximum of $0.11 USD each time someone searches Overture for “mid life crisis” and actually clicks on that search result and transfers to the site. Overture allows advertising websites such as Powertochange.com to choose a maximum bid and pay only one cent higher than the next closest bidder. This feature ensures advertising websites don’t waste money by bidding higher than necessary for a specific position.

Again, websites only pay Overture money if someone actually clicks on the search result. That’s where the term “pay-per-click search engine” originates from – advertising websites pay only when they receive a click. In the case above, the maximum cost-per-click (CPC) for Powertochange.com is $0.11 USD.

Because there are hundreds or thousands of results for a typical search term, users don’t read every single title and description. Most users scan the top few results on the first page. They simply click on a title that seems to offer what they’re looking for. They are then instantly transported to a web page, hopefully featuring content that satisfies their search.

Overture and the other pay-per-click search engines make their money when websites pay them to appear in those top few important spaces – the prime real estate. In the example above, Powertochange.com’s CPC was $0.11; in other words, they paid Overture $0.11 for every click-through.

How was $0.11 determined? Through bidding among competing websites. Websites bid against each other for the same keywords and the highest bidder gets the highest (and most valuable) spot in the search results. A website can overtake a position by bidding one cent higher than the website currently holding that position. Powertochange.com had to bid $0.11 for the number one position – one cent higher than position number two. If someone else bid $0.10 on the same search term, they would only get the number two position because they are one cent higher than position number two. Powertochange.com bid $0.11 first, so it reserves its position until another site bids higher.

The search engines set minimum bids and competing websites will drive up the price of the top spots, sometimes up to several dollars per click! Overture has a minimum bid of $0.10 American, while FindWhat has a $0.02 minimum bid. The hundreds of other results for searches are not paid for as Overture simply includes those sites in the search results because they appear to be relevant.

Most websites compete to be noticed so they can sell more product or services. Powertochange.com competes in an effort to share the Gospel with as many people as possible.

How Do I Promote My Website Through Pay-Per-Click Search Engines?

It’s actually quite simple to establish your website in the top few places of relevant search results. Follow the four steps below and you will generate click-throughs from search engines for as little as $0.05 USD per person.

1) Select Search Engines

Hundreds of search engines exist on the web. However, you can reach a large majority of web users by partnering with two or three search engines. Visit www.payperclickanalyst.com for objective, in-depth reviews and ratings of the top dozen pay-per-click search engines.

Following are some recommended search engines:

Overture.com

Campus Crusade for Christ, Canada has signed up with Overture to promote several of its evangelistic websites on a CPC basis.

Overture is respected as one of the PPCs with the greatest coverage of the Internet. Overture has great partnerships with several other search engines. If your listing is displayed in the top three positions for a keyword, your link will also appear for the same search on Yahoo, MSN, Netscape, Altavista, and several other search engines.

You can sign up with Overture for free, but you must spend at least $20 USD per month on click-throughs. Otherwise, that $20 will still be paid to Overture, regardless of how much credit was spent on click-throughs. The minimum cost-per-click is $0.10 USD.

Make use of Overture’s Search Term Suggestion Tool to determine how many users actually searched Overture with a specific term over the past month. Once you have an account with Overture (see Sign Up With Search Engines on page you can click on the icon for this tool. Then you simply type in the keyword you are considering for submission. The tool then generates the number of searches by users with that exact keyword over the past month. You can try out this tool at http://www.overture.com/d/USm/adcenter/tools/index.jhtml

This tool is helpful because you’ll want to spend your limited time writing keywords that are popular with your targeted audience. Rather than spending a half hour or more working on a keyword that had only 10 searches in the past month, use the Search Term Suggestion Tool before you work on a keyword, and be sure users will find your site through the keyword. Powertochange.com generally submits only keywords that have more than 250 searches per month.

Google.com

Google is the largest search engine in the world and sells space to website promoters through its AdWords Program.

For a $25 USD set up fee, and a minimum cost per click (CPC) of $0.05, advertisers get a box in the Sponsored Links section in the right hand side of relevant search results. The box includes the URL, a title, and brief description of the services offered by the website.

This self-service program is a competitive bidding system similar to Overture in that advertisers compete for top spots by outbidding one another. However, Google is unique because the top results in any search are determined by both CPC and the click-through rate. The click-through rate is defined as the number of clicks a URL and description gets as a percentage of the searches for the particular search word.

This is different because search engines like Overture only rank results by how much websites are willing to pay on a cost-per-click basis.

Google ranks results with both CPC and click-through rate to ensure users find relevant search results. Advertisers cannot be number one only on the merit of how much they pay; their content must be highly relevant as evidenced by a high click-through rate. Thus Google is heralded as having high quality or highly relevant search results.

FindWhat.com

FindWhat works the same as Overture in that advertisers compete only on the basis of CPC. FindWhat offers superior customer service and lower minimum CPCs than PPC. You can sign up with Ah-ha for $50 USD, with $25 of this counting as click-through credit, and the remaining $25 as a one-time set up fee.

While FindWhat may offer better value per click-through, it will take longer to direct large volumes of traffic to your site then it would take through Overture or Google. This is because FindWhat is newer and has far fewer partnerships and less coverage than the other big search engines.

One unique feature with FindWhat is the Logo Link program where advertisers can have a small full color logo appear next to their search results. This added feature costs an additional $9.95 per month and exists to help websites and companies develop brand image through repeated exposure of their logos.

Other Search Engines

Plenty of other search engines exist out there, and you may have good reason to partner with them along with or instead of the three mentioned above. Think about your target audience and be sure members of that audience are users of the search engines you partner with.

Partner with at least 2 quality pay-per-click search engines to ensure you have solid coverage of your audience. Also, be sure to promote your site through regular search engines where you can submit titles and descriptions of your site for free.

2) Write Keywords, Titles, and Descriptions

After you know what search engines you want to partner with, you need to write your keywords or search terms along with the titles, descriptions, and relevant URLs (web page addresses) that will appear when users search using your keywords. Each keyword relates to only one title, description, and URL.

Once you write several unique keywords, titles, and descriptions, you can use this same list for all search engines. You should start by making a master copy of this information in Microsoft Excel. Then you can simply copy and paste the information from this master copy into the appropriate sections of different search engines.

Powertochange.com, an evangelical website, has nearly thirty keywords, each registered with three different search engines (see Appendix for a list of example keywords, titles, and descriptions).

Check out the following article for detailed instructions on writing effective meta data.

Getting Keywords Approved

It is important to note that keywords and related titles, descriptions, and web pages may be rejected by pay-per-click search engines such as Overture. This happens when these four components do not accurately match one another. In other words, your keyword, title, and/or description may be rejected (i.e. not accepted or approved) if they do not accurately describe the web page you are promoting, or if they don’t all specifically describe the same content.

To avoid wasting time by having your keywords rejected, accurately and concisely communicate the main content you are promoting. Look at the web page you are looking to promote. Take into account the prominent, important, and relevant words and phrases on the page. Then include a number of these words and phrases in your title and description, and be sure the keyword accurately sums up the content. The keyword should simply be expanded on in the title, and the description should expand on the title, drawing in the reader, articulating exactly what the promoted page offers.

For example, the keyword “counseling” was submitted by powertochange.com under the assumption that users could, in a sense, get free counseling by reading the content of the site. However, the keyword was rejected by Overture because it’s too general; it doesn’t specifically communicate the true content of the site but merely alludes to an indirect benefit offered by the site.

Some PPCs such as FindWhat accept keywords without intensive review which may save time for advertising websites who write keywords. However, this provides less incentive to write quality, accurate keywords.

Following is an example of a keyword that was accepted by Overture:

Keyword: purpose in life

Title: Find meaning and purpose in life

Description: Questions about purpose in life? Discover the answers to your tough questions from people who overcame suffering and found the power to change.

URL: www.powertochange.com

This keyword was accepted because the keyword, title, and description summarize the prominent, important, and relevant words and phrases on the promoted web page. The keyword is expanded on in the title, and the title is expanded on in the description, articulating exactly what the promoted page offers. Note that the keyword “purpose in life” is included in both the title and description.

Attaching the Referring URL

After you complete a keyword, title, and description, you need to assign the URL or address of the specific web page you want users to transfer to when they click on your search result. For keywords that promote more general content on your website or the website itself, the front page, such as www.powertochange.com, will do.

However, if you’re really zoning in on the specific needs of users that you can meet through a specific page on your site, your URL should also be specific, transferring users directly to the most relevant page.

For the keyword “family conflict”, powertochange.com refers users to the page featuring life stories by people who experienced family conflict and found their hope in Jesus: http://www.powertochange.com/changed/index_Family.

3) Sign Up With Search Engines

Once your master list of keywords is completed, you’re ready to sign up with search engines. It’s actually quite simple. Log onto the homepage, such as www.overture.com, and click on the Advertisers icon. For Overture, the icon is “Advertise your site;” for Google, it’s “Advertise with us.”

Follow the links for advertising and input the search terms, titles, descriptions, and URLs from your master list. Then you’ll need to determine how much you’re willing to bid or pay for each click on each keyword (the CPC). For those keywords that no one else has bidded on, you’ll only have to pay the minimum CPC ($0.05 for Google and Overture) to be in the #1 position.

But for more popular keywords, where others have already bidded, you’ll have to pay more than the minimum for the top spot(s). You should decide on a budget for your keyword campaign and determine your average CPC. Then you can set limits on how much you’re willing to spend on any keyword.

Fill in the contact information, and complete the payment section. You’ll pay by Mastercard or Visa. It may take several days for the search engine to review your information and email you to confirm your account is set up. If some of your keywords are rejected, you should be contacted with an explanation. You can then choose to modify the keyword and resubmit it.

4) Maintain Your Accounts

After you receive confirmation that you’re signed up with a search engine, they should walk you through some simple steps to maintain your account. They’ll provide you with valuable tools and teach you how to use those tools to manage your bids.

In competing for a certain position that is occupied by another bidder, you’ll need to bid one cent higher than her to overtake that position (as discussed briefly on page 3).

You’ll also want to check up on your accounts regularly to ensure you’re not bidding too high on certain keywords; in other words, paying more money than necessary to maintain a certain position in search results. Take a look at the example above and you’ll see all three bidders in the top three positions are paying more than necessary for their positions. Bidder #1 could still be #1 if he paid only $0.18 instead of $0.25. The same is true for the other two bidders and their positions. They’re wasting money. And though we’re talking only pennies, they add up fast.

As mentioned earlier, Overture has an Auto bid feature where advertising websites can ensure for free that they will always pay only one cent higher than the next highest bidder. The dollar figure or cost per click they denote then becomes the maximum they are willing to pay, though they may actually pay less than that depending on the bid of the next competitor. This feature saves advertisers time and money as they are guaranteed to never waste money bidding higher than necessary for a given position.

Depending on your budget, you’ll also want to write new keywords to promote important new content on your website. You may also want to revise and improve some of your existing keywords, titles, and descriptions as you learn more about your target audience.

Summary

To promote your site through pay-per-click search engines, first do some research on the more popular ones, and determine which engines most effectively reach your target audience.

Then make a master list of the keywords, titles, descriptions, and URLs that will best connect with your audience. Sign up with your chosen search engines and input the keywords from your master list as directed, setting bids that work with your budget.

Finally, maintain your accounts weekly to ensure you get the best value from your advertising dollars. Write new keywords to promote important new content on your site.

emember that writing keywords is really an art. It takes patience and a good deal of insight in the lives and thought patterns of those in your target audience.

The more accurately you pinpoint exactly what your audience is looking for in their terms, the more qualified your traffic will be. And the more qualified your traffic, the better value you get for your advertising dollars. Those users you paid for will be more likely to respond to the Good News on your website.