To Ad Words, or to Not Ad Words?

Google Ad Words is their banner ad program that allows you to, "buy" keywords and key phrases on a per-click basis which will be positioned along the top and sides of relevant, and sometimes less-than-relevant, search criteria entered by the user.

So should you buy into the Ad Words program? As with everything, what is your anticipated return on your investment? Lets take a look at the Pros and Cons of Ad Words participation:

Pros:

• Top placement against specific keywords and even geographic targets.
• For very generic terms or very crowded categories it is the quickest method to gain placement.
• You only pay when someone clicks-in to your site.
• You can set a ceiling of how much you're willing to pay per day or month.
• Qualified leads because users are searching for your product or service.
• Complete site usage statistics included via Google Analytics.

Cons:

• Your website should be configured to perform against specific keywords, phrases and geographical parameters without the need to pay for placement.
• Google provides methods via maps, webmaster tools and other products to configure your site and get added to their rankings within days so being a little patient will save money.
• Depending on the category, the cost-per-click and rates of fraud can be egregious and can exhaust your set budget quickly and thus your site falls-off the radar until it is replenished or the budget is raised.
• Expensive to sustain. Paying a bit more for a website that is built and configured to perform is much less expensive then paying each time someone uses your website.
• Generic results (non-paid rankings) will be slower or may not happen once the Ad Words program is active for your domain name.
• Your website host should provide complete site usage statistics, but if not, then Google Analytics are available for free to anyone.

So what should you do? Read, ask and search yourself on topics related to search engines and specifically the results that are currently returned when you enter keywords your site should be returned against, and then let us know how we can help drive more business to your business!