Paid
Placement vs Pay For Inclusion
Which
is right for you?
With various
buzz words being touted out in cyberspace, I think we need to
start with some clarification. The term "pay-per-click"
can refer to both a paid placement program and a pay for inclusion
program. It is simply a pricing model and does not represent
any specific type of service.
Paid
Placement (PP) is a service where the site owner selects
the keyword phrases that he wants his site to rank high on,
creates ads for those terms and bids against other sites
for top placement. These ads typically appear at search engines
under "sponsored listings" or "featured sites"
or they may appear on the right hand side of the screen in boxes.
This program gives the site owner complete control over his
site's visibility and the pricing model is typically pay-per-click
— or pay for each visitor that clicks on your ad to visit
your site. You are not paying for exposure, your are paying for site visits.
Pay for
inclusion (PFI) is a service where the site owner pays
a search engine or directory to index his site. In response, the search engine/directory
guarantees that they will index the site but does NOT guarantee
that they will include it (although most will if your site meets
their guidelines). They also do not guarantee any specific ranking
position of your site under any particular keyword phrase(s).
The pricing model for PFI is typically a flat fee paid once or
annually. The only control
the site owner has is which pages to submit for indexing. Keep in mind, too, that Google frowns on "paid links" meaning that your site could be assigned a penality for buying inclusion.
To determine
which program is right for you or if you should do both
requires some research. First you have to take into consideration
your market. How much competition is there for your product
or service on the Internet? If it's a large market and fiercely
competitive, you should definitely look at both programs. A
Web-Kare account executive can work with you researching keyword
terms and their current bid rates. From this information he
or she can help you decide which terms you should buy in a PP
campaign. Web-Kare will also research industry-specific directories to determine if they have traffic that is relevant to what you're offering. The cost for inclusion in an industry-specific directory may outweigh the small demerit Google may assign your site, if any.
Whether
you have a competitive market or not, you need to check
out the current PP bid fees and anticipated traffic. Some
PP providers have a minimum monthly spend, your Web-Kare account
executive can help you research and prepare a marketing plan
that will place your keyword phrases strategically for maximum
ROI.
Even
if you decide to stay with free listings (yes, they're still
available), you should realize that your site will need to be
optimized to get indexed. Not only does it need to be optimized
for the proper keyword phrases as determined by our research,
it has to be optimized to meet the search engine guidelines.
Search engines are cracking down on "overly optimized"
sites, refusing to include them in their index. Contact
Web-Kare today for a free site evaluation of your site and
to speak with an account executive.
