If you are looking for a way to generate traffic to your website, paid advertising is worth your consideration. There are numerous paid advertising methods and the most effective are the ones offered through online services. While SEO and website content is important, these strategies don’t generate nearly the same traffic as online ads.
Ad Position
Before attempting to choose a paid advertising service, you should understand the meaning of ad position and ad rank. Most choose to have their ads placed somewhere on web search engine results pages. Ad position refers to the hierarchy of ads on such a page. Those with a #1 ad position will appear as the first ad on the page. Obviously, ads that appear higher up on the page will generate more traffic as more web surfers will see and click them. It is important to understand that ads can appear in more places than merely the top of a page. They can also be placed on the sides and bottom of pages as well.
Ad Rank
Your ad position is determined according to your Ad Rank. This is a score that is determined by your auction bid as well as other variables like the quality score which includes the ad’s relevance, anticipated clickthrough rate and more. If you choose the cost per click bidding style, your bid is determined by the amount that you are willing to spend for each web surfer who clicks on the ad. If you’d like to improve your ad position, bump up your bid or spend some effort on designing a better ad. When you have the highest Ad Rank, your ad will secure the first eligible position on a search engine’s results page. The ad with the second highest Ad Rank will appear below the top ranked ad and so on.
Google AdWords
Google AdWords is an incredibly popular online advertising service. When using the service, it is imperative that you monitor your average ad position. To do so, log into your AdWords account, click “Campaigns” and find the “Avg. Pos.” column on the statistics stable. You can optimize your AdWords ad position by connecting Google Analytics to your AdWords account. Doing so provides you with a means of analyzing visitor activity on your website. This data lets you see the number of people who visit your page from an AdWords advertising as well as the number of sales that directly stem from the service. This information is critical to using AdWords in the most effective way possible.
Customization
It is important to note that you can make day to day alterations of your AdWords account to tweak your settings and ad content to gauge what works best for your website. This means modifying tags, ad content, your website and more. Some businesses have gone as far as hiring a dedicated Webmaster and building relationships with online marketing experts who understand how to make services like AdWords work for their unique website.
Remember, there is no guarantee that AdWords will actually work. While many website owners have generated significant traffic as a result of the service, others have discovered that it isn’t effective. The key is to continuously check your Google Analytics data to see what percentage of your website’s traffic comes from AdWords and the number of those visitors who made a purchase.
If the service doesn’t work for you, don’t pull the plug right away. Oftentimes, it requires a “long view” before accurate results can manifest. Those who nurture and cultivate paid advertising techniques will find that they typically become more beneficial as time passes.
