Search Engine Marketing - Frequently Asked Questions

General
     How does Search Engine Marketing work?
     Is Search Engine Marketing right for my business?
     What does it cost?
     Where will my ads appear?
     Why a managed service?

Conversion Tracking
     What is a conversion?
     How will this tool help me?
     How does conversion tracking work?

Search Engine Marketing Programs

Search Engine Marketing vs Search Engine Optimisation

How Search Engine Marketing Works
Search engine marketing is paid for advertising of websites appearing on top of or along side the natural search results in search engines like Google, MSN, Yahoo and many others, often under the heading of Sponsored Links or Sponsored Sites, and on other high-quality consumer and industry-specific websites .



Ad titles and text is specified by the site owner as well as the search term or content (ie keywords and phrases) that should trigger the ad. The site owner also specifies how much (starting from as little as 4p) he is prepared to pay for each click as well as daily maximum limit, giving total control of targeting and spending. Advertising charges are only incurred when a visitor clicks on the ad, not when the ad is shown.

The position of an ad within the other sponsored links is determined by how much you bid, how much competitors are bidding and the relevance of the ad to the search term.

High bid per click and a highly relevant ad = higher position
Low bid per click and poor relevancy = lower position



Is Search Engine Marketing right for my business?
Search Engine Marketing is designed to fit companies of all sizes and budgets. Advertisers are offered:

• Highly qualified audiences: Your ads will appear to users searching on search and/or content web pages relevant to the keywords you have selected for your campaigns.
• Control over expenses: You set the maximum cost-per-click (CPC) and daily budget amounts, which are automatically monitored to ensure you never pay more than you want.
• Flexible terms: No minimum time committment or advertising spending requirement.

What does it cost?
In the search engine marketing programs, the cost of your advertising campaigns really depends on you -- how much you are willing to pay and how well you know your audience. It all boils down to knowing your own goals and letting us know what they are. The set up and management costs for campaigns managed by Teckna can be viewed here, these are in addition to your advertising costs.

Where will my ads appear?
Your ads will appear in major search engines depending on which search engine marketing network you are advertising in:

Search Engine Marketing Network	Search Engines or Content Sites your ad will appear on
Google Adwords	Google, AOL, Ask Jeeves
Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture)	Yahoo, MSN, Altavista, Lycos, Excite, Wanadoo
Miva (formerly ESpotting)	lastminute.com, Maxim, Eurosport, Packard Bell, Supanet, Auto Express, breathe, ShoppingNet

Why a managed service?
So why pay someone to set up and manage your campaigns for you, why not just do it yourself? It may sound simple, and in many ways it is. However, a poorly worded advert will not receive many clicks and if you bid on the wrong keywords and phrases or bid more than necessary you will soon have spent your entire advertising budget but not generated any sales, a poor return on your investment. Teckna's search advertisting management services are carried out by professional search engine marketing specialists. Each campaign is created after carefully reviewing your site, product range and competitors and always in consultation with you. We have years of experience in selecting the optimum keywords and phrases as well as writing ad copy that attract visitors.

What is a conversion?
A conversion is registered when an ad click leads to an event that you consider valuable. Depending on the business, a conversion can be defined as:

• A purchase
• A sign-up or registration
• A request for more information
• A page view
• Time spent on your site
• A demo download / game play

The page where you confirm that a user has successfully taken one of these actions is the conversion page. A special piece of html code need to be placed on the conversion page, and as a result of this actual conversions can be tracked, reported on and viewed alongside number of impressions and clicks.

How will this tool help me?
When you have access to conversion data in your reports, you can make smarter online advertising decisions, particularly about what ads and keywords you invest in. Given better data, you can better measure your overall return on investment (ROI) for your search engine marketing campaigns.

For example, Bob owns an online business that sells eBooks. He knows how many clicks his search engine marketing campaign gets, but would like to know specifically which keywords are converting to sales. With basic conversion tracking, Bob can get this valuable information. With customised conversion tracking, he can also report the dollar amount of each sale and get the total revenue generated by each of his keywords as compared to the total cost of the keyword. With conversion statistics, Bob discovers that the keyword independent eBooks has a return on investment (ROI) of 500%. Consequently, he optimises his campaign by increasing the spend on that keyword, thus maximising his search engine marketing ROI.

How does conversion tracking work?
In online advertising, a conversion occurs when a click on your ad leads directly to user behavior you deem valuable, such as a purchase, signup, page view or lead. Several of the search engine marketing programs (Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing) have developed tools to measure these conversions, and ultimately, help you identify how effective your search engine marketing ads and keywords are for you.

It works by placing a cookie on a user's computer when he/she clicks on one of your search engine marketing ads. Then, if the user reaches one of your conversion pages, the cookie is connected to your web page. When a match is made, the search engine marketing system records a successful conversion for you.