Online advertising includes the optimisation of a website to achieve a top ranking in the organic search engine results, pay per click advertising, email marketing, placing of links on related directories and portals, distribution of press releases, blogs, viral marketing and banner advertising. Search Maestros focuses primarily on the first two areas; that is search engine optimisation for natural rankings and pay per click advertising.

Although online advertising can be divided into five main categories:

	Search engines	A top position on the search engines should be the primary objective of any campaign.
	Pay per click	Space is purchased on a highly visible portion of the page and pays for each visitor who clicks on the link. Examples: Overture, Google adwords.
	Paid inclusions	Some directories & portals charge a set fee for inclusion. Examples:  M-web, Yahoo directory. .
	Email marketing	Opt-in email newsletters are a useful and excellent method of attracting highly qualified visitor traffic. Adverts

Search Engines

Millions are spent every year on Internet advertising, and while there are various aspects to a successful web site, one of the most effective means of online promotion is through search engines. With billions of sites competing for attention on the web this potential cannot be taken advantage off if your site is not easily found by your potential customers.

Surveys have shown that as many as 75 percent of Internet users use search engines to locate information, the same research showed that almost 80% of the users abandon their query if they don't find what they are looking for within the first three pages of results. It follows that your site must feature prominently within the search results of the major search engines in order to reap the potential rewards. .

Pay Per Click

Pay per click - Whereas in the past, Internet users were reluctant to click on what they perceived to be a "bought" position, users today are more accustomed to online advertising as a serious medium and have realised that if the website owner is being charged for each visitor, he or she will make certain that they do in fact offer the product or service that is advertised. Pay per click is a very effective way of bringing immediate traffic at an affordable price to both large and small businesses. .

Paid Inclusion

Paid Inclusion is when a web page or Url is included by the search engines for an annual consideration. A top position is not guaranteed, only that the site will be included in the database, the ultimate position in the rankings of pages are determined by the search engine. Optimisation is still essential to obtain top rankings.

Banner Advertising

Although banner advertising is less popular now than in the early days of the Internet it still remains a powerful online advertising method. Banners can be static or animated and would be displayed in prominent areas on high traffic sites. Banners are generally sold on a cost per 1000 impressions basis, in other words you pay according to the number of people who see the banner, regardless of whether they click on it. Accordingly they are an excellent way of building brand awareness, getting your company name out there and in front of thousands of people.

Email Marketing

A Combined Approach

We believe that a successful online advertising campaign starts with understanding your keyword market. Free listings, pay per click, paid inclusion, banners and email marketing all have their respective place. The key is striking the right balance between them to ensure you are getting the most out of your online advertising Rands.

Pay Per Click Advertising

While a top ranking in the natural search engine listings can take some time to achieve, pay per click is a most effective way of bringing immediate traffic at a surprisingly affordable price. This type of advertising enables you to choose the keywords for which you would like your site to appear on search engines when a search is performed.

Pay per click (PPC) advertising is the most dynamic way to advertise on the internet. According to Jupiter Research Agency (www.jupiterresearch.com), in 2004 advertisers spent US$2.6 billion on PPC advertising, a figure which is expected to increase to US$19 billion by 2010. Pay per click advertising on search engines allows a website to appear in the search results right up there with the market leaders.

In PPC, rankings are calculated for keyword phrases based primarily on the price that is being paid. The advertiser decides how much they are willing to pay each time a person clicks on the search results. The more they are willing to pay per click and the more popular the advert, the higher the site will appear in the results for the chosen keywords. Advertisers only pay for people who actually visit their site, visitors who are actively searching for their product and are therefore already potential customers

Although there are numerous pay per click search engines, two of them are worth serious consideration, Google (Google Adwords) and Yahoo Search Marketing. Microsoft has an exciting and powerful paid advertising product which is currenty available only in the USA, France and Singapore, it will become available in the UK towards the end of 2006, watch this space!

Google Adwords

The Google Network is the largest online advertising network available, your ads will appear alongside or above the results on Google search results pages

Exposure on Google's Partner Sites
Your ads also appear on Google's partner sites, reaching over 80% of Internet users. Partners include AOL, Ask Jeeves, Virgin Internet, The New York Times, The About Network, Infospace and many more. You decide on the keywords that you wish to target and the maximum amount that you are prepared to pay for that word or phrase (CPC or cost-per-click), you also specify a maximum daily budget so that you have complete control over what you spend.

Click Through Rate Explained
The amount that you bid is not the only factor determining your position however. Your CTR (click-through-rate) - which is calculated by dividing the number of times that your ad is clicked by the number of times that it has appeared - and your CPC, together determine the position of your ads on the page. This means that the text of the advert is very important, since a well written and catchy advert will attract more clicks than a poorly written one. If an ad is irrelevant to users, they will not click on it and it will move down the page even though that ad might have a high CPC.

Good Return on Investment
For the potential of pay per click advertising, consider the following scenario. A hotel costing R1000 per night for example, pays R5 per click for the search term "South African hotel" and generates one booking per 20 clicks. The 20 clicks, at R5 each, cost a total of R100, the income for one night is R1000. That's a pretty good return.

Quick to Set Up
A Google adwords account takes a few minutes to set up, it can be paid in SA Rand and can be up and running within 15 minutes, generating qualified traffic to your website. There is no minimum monthly spend requirement although there is a once off R50 setup fee.

 Contact Web Blast Sa for Google adwords pay per click management. Contact Us.

Yahoo Search Marketing

Human Reviewers
Yahoo Search Marketing (previoulsy called Overture) functions in a similar way to Google adwords although the process is not automated. Adverts are submitted to Yahoo and are approved or rejected by human reviewers. The process usually takes around 3 days. If you wish to add new keywords at a later date or delete an advert, once again this has to be done by a human reviewer. The end result is less control for the advertiser.

Yahoo Partner Sites
Yahoo adverts, like Google's, appear on a large number of partner sites including Alta Vista, CNN, Infospace and MSN. The adverts are more integrated with the main (natural) search results and usually show before the natural listings .

Minimum Monthly Spend
Yahoo requires a deposit when setting up an account, this varies from country to country but is usually around $50 (US) and also has a minimum monthly spend requirement, once again this varies but is usually around $20. If clicks to your advert don't amount to the minimum monthly requirement, Yahoo will charge your account that amount anyway. If you wish your advert to appear in say the UK, Germany and the USA an account would have to be set up in each of these countries branches.

Contact Web Blast for Yahoo pay per click management. Contact Us.