Pay-Per-Click Advertising

You've added your website address to your business cards, letterhead and local advertising, told all your friends and relatives, and registered it in search engines large and small. Now what? Internet advertising is too costly for professionals and small businesses. Or is it?

Don't Pay for Exposure
Until recently, ads on the web were priced according to size, placement and exposure, much like print, radio and TV ads. That might work for a Fortune 500 company seeking brand recognition, but it's not cost effective for an appraiser targeting a small, select audience. So what's an appraiser to do?

Pay Per Click
The answer is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, where you pay not for the number of times your ad is shown, but only for visitors who click on the ad and visit your website. PPC programs are offered by several companies, the two biggest being Overture and Google. What makes them work is keyword targeting. Say you're a real property appraiser specializing in urban real estate. Your ad would appear only when a searcher uses keywords specific to your discipline, i.e. commercial real estate appraisal, commercial property value, and real estate expert witness.

Ads Top Regular Results
Google's PPC ads appear for keyword searches performed at Google, AOLSearch, Earthlink, and Ask Jeeves. Overture powers their own sponsored results and those at Yahoo!, AltaVista, FAST, Excite, HotBot, Microsoft and others. The ads are brief text-only ads -- text is more effective than graphics -- at the top, and in the margins of regular search page results.

Advertisers Bid For Keywords
Although the specifics differ, both Overture and Google charge only when a visitor clicks through to your website -- not for the number of times your ad appears. The cost, which ranges from a dime to a few dollars per visitor, is determined by eBay-style bidding for the top position. Google charges more, but has no minimum monthly outlay. Our real estate appraiser might pay Google $100 for 150 visitors. His cost at Overture: $50 for 190 visitors, with a $20 minimum. Both programs let you cap costs to stay on budget.

PPC is Just the Ticket
Because costs are determined by competitive bidding, PPC advertising is pricey for hot items with mass appeal. However, for an appraiser targeting a relatively small niche market, often with no competition, PPC can be extremely cost effective.

Before You Start
Before you jump in, consider two old advertising adages. Bad advertising will kill your budget. (If you've never selected keywords or written an ad, get help.) And good advertising will kill a bad product. (Make sure your website is worth a visit.)

Thanks to the American Society of Appraisers for permission to reprint this article written by Lou Bruno for their Newsline newsletter.