STRATEGIC INTERNET MARKETING Powerful Promotion Techniques Web Site Promotion Services Pay Per Click PPC Services Link Exchange with Us Free Internet Marketing Quote Free Website Design Quote

Easy Web Site Builder with Free Hosting, Free Domain Registration

Pay Per Click : Advertise Locally Using PPC Search Engines

While search engine advertising has been a great advertising medium for businesses targeting a national or international audience, the effectiveness of this type of PPC advertising was limited for targeting a local market until very recently.

For example, a realtor with a web site in Minneapolis is likely interested in advertising on search terms such as "homes for sale" and "sell my home." The only problem was the realtor would have to advertise to everyone in the country who happened to type those terms into search engines. This was wasteful and ineffective because the vast majority of visitors clicking through to the site would not be qualified visitors since they lived outside the realtor's regional market.

At that time, the only work around to this was to include a regional qualifying term next to each search phrase, so instead of advertising on the term "homes for sale" the realtor would have to advertise on "Minneapolis homes for sale."

What about the prospective clients who live in Minneapolis, but only type in "homes for sale?" They're likely just as qualified for the realtor, but it there wasn't a way to target this type of searcher. The gap between forcing advertisers to use regional qualifying terms or advertising to a national market was finally closed this spring by Google.

Local PPC Targeting

Targeting a known geographic location of searchers became a reality earlier this spring when Google launched their local targeting program. So, now the realtor in Minneapolis can advertise on the more general terms, then specify a geographic area where they'd like the ads to appear.

The options for this PPC advertising feature include picking specific cities, metropolitan areas, or even a distance radius from a specific point. For example, maybe the realtor only wants to generate leads from within 30 miles of their home.

Yes, it works very well. There are very few types of advertising online or offline where you have such detailed control over your target market. Basically, it's pretty hard to beat the targeting power of this program. Since this is pay per click advertising, you are only charged when searchers click through to your web site.

Local Advertising Tips

• Promote Your Location - You'll definitely see better conversion rates for your local PPC advertising if you include your physical address on your web site. We recommend including this in the footer of every page of your site to reinforce that you're local to the prospects.
• Track Performance - When you use local advertising you will still have to compete against businesses willing to advertise nationally on the same search phrases. This means search terms can get expensive, but your conversion rates should support this. However, as with any form of advertising, it's important to track what's working.

About the Author: Ed Kohler is the president and founder of Haystack In A Needle - a full service web marketing and search engine positioning firm based in Minneapolis, MN.

Easy Web Site Builder with Free Hosting, Free Domain Registration