Advertisers pay millions to put their messages out on the traditional broadcast systems of television, radio, and print. These systems let advertisers reach a wide audience. The drawback, aside from the expense, is inevitably the message reaches a large number of consumers who simply aren't interested.

Search engines are also a form of broadcast, but a unique system where the normal rules are flipped around. Instead of advertisers broadcasting their messages to consumers, the "reverse broadcast network" of search engines lets millions of consumers each day tell advertisers exactly what they want. These consumers needn't be convinced to buy a particular product, such as a new car, DVD player, or washing machine. They're already in "buy mode." When they search, they're looking for someone who stands ready to fulfill their needs.  
- We can help you tune into this consumer desire and increase sales!

Why Is Search Engine Advertising Important ?

1. It's Quick, Easy, and Inexpensive to Generate New Business

2. Expand Brand Awareness

3. A Simple Way to Test New Promotions

4. Advertising Complements Web Site Optimization Efforts

5. Search Engine Alliances Show Path to Success

Web sites that lack search engine visibility are losing business. Second only to e-mail, the most popular activity for U.S. internet users is product/service information search -- 67.3% of users perform searches, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. And an estimated 40% of Internet users are using the web to make product or service purchases.

Top Five Activities of Americans Online, 2001 (As a % of Internet users age3+)

E-Mail  84.0%

Product/service information search 67.3%

News, weather, sports 61.8%

Playing games 42.1%

Product/service purchases 39.1%

Source: US Department of Commerce, February 2002

These statistics suggest that if you want shoppers to buy from your web site, one way to do so is to make sure they can find you in the search engines. With nearly all search engines moving to some form of a "pay-to-pay" model, companies must proactively advertise on search engines.

1. It's Quick, Easy, and Inexpensive to Generate New Business
What make this form of marketing more exciting is that it takes minutes to add a new product listing to a search engine. Links generally appeared during a keyword search within a few days away from sending qualified traffic to your web site. Search engine advertising can immediately profitable and get potential return on investment (ROI).

2. Expand Brand Awareness
Although achieving new sales immediately justifies your media expenditure, creating a strong brand continually brings you new and return customers long after your investment in a marketing campaign has ended.

According to research from The Conference Board, 60 executives from major U.S. firms cited search engine listings as their top marketing tool for enhancing their companies' brands.

Most Prevalent Online vs. Offline Brand-Building Tactics among US Companies, 2001 (as a % of respondents)

	Online	Offline
Print ads	-	71%
Search engine listings	59%
Event sponsorships	-	50%
Trade shows	-	48%
Referrals from online affiliate partners	48%	-
TV ads		46%
Banner ads	43%
Direct mail		41%
Referrals by offline partners		36%
Customized extranets	34%
Note: n=60 executives from major US firms  Source: The Conference Board, December 2001 www.eMarketer.com

It's interesting to note that search engine listings fall behind only print ads when both forms of marketing are considered. We believe that search engine positioning is a requirement for companies doing traditional marketing, because search engines support branding efforts while providing the directions to the online store.

For example, if you're running a TV or print campaign, a percentage of people will look for your brands in the search engines, and then visit your web site to place an order. Search engines act as brand builders as well as shopping tour guides -- they lead interested consumers right to your doorstep.

3. A Simple Way to Test New Promotions
It's impossible to change your print ad in a magazine during the time, it's in circulation. If the ad doesn't work, you're stuck with it for a while. Even if you don't like the listing that search engines have chosen for your web page based on how it's optimized, once you redesign your page you'll wait for the search engines to re-spider it, which could take months.

What kind of promotions can you run in a paid search engine listing ? Any you want, really. here are a few ideas:

• Unveiling of a product or service

• Change of a product or service feature, benefit, solution, or price

• Expanded geographic areas of business

• Specialized industry focus

• Limited-time discounts and offers

• Seasonal promotions or items

• Refer-a-friend or reward programs

• New partnerships or clients

4. Advertising complements Web Site Optimization Efforts
Just as it's a simple way to test new promotions, search engine advertising supports your optimization efforts, too. Are you hiring an optimization firm ? Wait! before you provide them with the keywords you think are important to your audience, run a paid placement campaign you'll find out almost instantly how much traffic search engines can deliver, and what your conversion rates are for the keywords you chose.

We guarantee that you'll discover at least one surprise. A keyword you thought would perform well actually bombs, or one that you half-heartedly chose ends up beings a golden winder. Now discuss these with your optimization team to better your keyword selection and web redesign objectives. And if you're going to expand your current optimization efforts, again, try paid listings before wasting resources on optimizing new pages that may get rankings but no customers.

5. Search Engine Alliances Show Path to Success
Each search engine can show results from its own database, as well as pull results from other search engines.

Optimization Vs. Paid Placement

Optimization	Paid Placement
Extensive Programming effort – Long time to gain visibility. No Guarantee.	Fast Visibility – 1 to 2 weeks. Guaranteed Placement.
Search Engine selects Titles and Descriptions	We select Ad Titles and Descriptions, enticing the customer to buy, while also Branding.
Search Engine Selects landing page	We select and create landing page, delivering the customer to the page that will create a sale