Pay-per-click 'does not have to be scary'

24th January 2008

Paid search marketing may appear expensive and daunting, but this is just a myth, it has been claimed.

Christine Churchill, president of KeyRelevance.com, commented on her Search Engine Land blog that many small businesses have expressed concern over losing money in pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns.

"Small campaigns with a few long-tail niche keywords may bring all the traffic you want," she said. "There is no rule that says you have to have a large campaign and whopping budget for PPC to work for you."

Ms Churchill recommended beginning with a small PPC campaign to minimise risk and then expanding as business increases.

Also, one thing to watch out for, she continued, is measuring PPC success solely through the number of clicks it generates.

The expert explained that conversions - clicks which turn into sales - are more important when evaluating the effectiveness of internet advertising.

Search engine optimisation guru Mike Grehan recently commented on his ClickZ Network blog that businesses should never solely rely on paid links, but always incorporate natural optimisation techniques.