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1 Thank You For Joining The Webinar Will Begin Shortly -1-

2 How Search Engine Marketing can Boost Small Business Revenue May 23, 3006 A discussion on what search engine marketing can do for your small business and how to get started -2-

3 Instructions for Webinar To ask a question, click on the tool bar in the bottom right hand corner of your screen. We will try to answer questions online throughout the Webinar, however, due to high traffic, we may not get to all of them. A Q&A session will immediately follow the Webinar in which the panel will discuss a few of the questions they feel are applicable to the majority of the audience. In the following week, a link to the archived presentation will be available to download at -3-

4 Today s Speakers Sandra Liu, Associate Product Marketing Manager, Google Kerrie Lenhart, Online Operations Product Specialist, Google Drew Mitchell, Marketing Services Manager, Hostway -4-

5 Today s Agenda Your business is online, now how do you get noticed? Growth of local online advertising and how it affects small businesses Importance of having a presence on search engines A step-by-step guide on how to use SEM to drive traffic to your site Common search marketing mistakes to avoid Q & A -5-

6 Taking Business Online Create a professional looking Web site If your site is a mess, you re losing sales Establish a presence on search engines Local search engine listings, pay-per-click advertising or natural search engine listings More than 5 billion searches last year in the US alone! Are you a local business? Submit to Google Maps, Yahoo Local, yellowpages.com, SuperPages.com, etc. Take advantage of unique marketing tactics -6-

7 Local Search Growing in Popularity Nearly 1 billion searches were made in the US last year for local businesses (comscore, August 2005) Of those searches, nearly 45% were made with the intent to purchase (The Kelsey Group, March 2005) -7-

8 Growth of Local Online Advertising In the US, $566 million will be spent on local search advertising in 2006 (8.8% of total paid search advertising) By 2010, 19.5% of total paid search advertising in the US will be spent on local paid search advertising. -8- Local Search's Share of US Paid Search Ad Spending (% total) emarketer s Search Marketing: Spending and Metrics report (April 2006),

9 Growth of Local Online Advertising Local businesses are expanding their presence online Local search advertising will enjoy higher growth rates than national search advertising from 2005 through US National and Local Search Advertising Spending, (% increase over prior year) National Local Total emarketer s Search Marketing: Spending and Metrics report (April 2006),

10 Growth of Local Search Impacts SMBs With so many companies having a presence on local search, it s necessary for SMBs to have a presence on local search engines to compete Most people have thrown their printed yellow pages away and rely on Google Maps or the Yahoo Yellow Pages to find local business information The bottom line If your major competitors are snagging customers out from under you, don t you think you should do something about it? -10-

11 Hostway s LocalSearch Business Profile Hostway distributes your LocalSearch Business Profile to 26 local search engines including Google Maps, Yahoo! Local, SuperPages.com and the Yahoo! Yellow Pages Company can enter and manage its business information in a central location No programming or designing necessary Your LocalSearch Business Profile is loaded with relevant keywords to your business that will help your listing appear higher on search engine results pages -11-

12 Pay-Per-Click Advertising Connect with potential customers at the exact moment they are looking for the products and services you provide Pay for your advertising only when an interested customer has visited your Web site by clicking on your ad Target customers in a specific geographic location that are interested in what you sell Price of the ad can accommodate most budgets Update your ads at any time to promote your upcoming sale -12-

13 Getting Noticed Online: Google AdWords Promoting your business online through Google AdWords is easy: 1. Create your ads 2. Choose keywords related to your business 3. Your ads appear by related search results 4. Pay only when potential customers click your ads to reach you AdWords provides: Targeted reach Greater control Measurable value -13-

14 Getting Noticed Online: Google AdWords Local Targeting Show your ads to people in a specific geographic area through Local Targeting Reach only the prospects who are most appropriate for your business Write ads that highlight special promotions or pricing based on geography Choose country-level targeting or narrow your focus to: Region and city-level targeting Customized targeting -14-

15 Getting Noticed Online: Google AdWords Local Targeting Local targeting vs. country targeting? Depending on your advertising goals, you may want to create two campaigns to promote your business: One using local targeting, and One using country or territory targeting. Targeting can affect how you decide to set up your Ad Groups and who sees your ads. -15-

16 Getting Noticed Online: Google AdWords Local Targeting How should I choose keywords? How should I write my ad text? Locally-Targeted Campaigns (Region, City, or Customized) Use keywords that aren't location-specific, such as dentist Regional and citytargeted campaigns: No need to include location names Customized campaigns: Include location name Country- or Territory- Targeted Campaigns Location-specific keywords, such as New York realtor or London flats Use ad text that's highly targeted to your customers. May include the names of locations in your ad text. -16-

17 Getting Noticed Online: Google AdWords Local Targeting What kind of traffic am I likely to get? What kind of traffic am I unlikely to get? Locally-Targeted Campaigns (Region, City, or Customized) Google users in your targeted location. Google Maps users. Google users searching for location-specific products or services. Google users with unidentifiable IP addresses searching for non-location specific keywords such as pizza Country- or Territory- Targeted Campaigns Users anywhere searching on your highly-targeted keywords. Google Maps users searching for your products or services Google users searching for any non-location specific keywords in your Ad Group (such as dentist).

18 Getting Noticed Online: Google AdWords Local Targeting Which local targeting option is right for me? If you know the specific cities & regional areas appropriate for your market, choose regional or city targeting. If you want to define your own target area, choose customized. -18-

19 Getting Noticed Online: Google AdWords Local Targeting How does this work? The AdWords system may analyze a searcher's query (for example Houston florist") to establish what location that person is searching for. The system may also take note of the person's Internet Protocol (IP) address to see where he or she is searching from. -19-

20 Getting Noticed Online: Google Local Business Ads Local business ads are an ad format option for advertisers to promote specific business locations: Target users by keywords and by the geographies they are interested in Engage local searchers interactively with a map presence Provide rich information to prospects via a logo or image in the info window Promote multiple locations within a single ad group -20-

21 Getting Noticed Online: Google Local Business Ads Google Maps: Text ad including address and map marker with icon Info window that expands on user click with optional phone number, logo or image Google.com: Text-only version of ad on Google.com and search partners with city and state as 5 th line America s Classic Theater Watch the oldies but goodies movies Discount matinees on Tuesdays New York, NY

22 Trends Shaping Search Engine Marketing Targeting locally to reach your neighbors online Online advertising driving offline sales Simpler ways to get started with search engine marketing Leveraging AdWords tools to make your account more successful Track results online or off -22-

23 Trends Shaping Search Engine Marketing Pay-per-call Advertiser only pays when a customer calls the unique 800 number listed on a company s search engine ad Bid management tools Will help very active search marketers manage keyword campaigns on multiple search engines from a single interface Exciting for small businesses that want customers to call, rather than visit their Web site -23-

24 How to use AdWords to drive traffic to your site 1. Learn as much about PPC advertising as possible 2. Research your competition 3. Identify your target audience carefully 4. Define advertising goals before you begin 5. Choose powerful keywords 6. Write ads that get the right customers to act 7. Optimize your website for conversions 8. Track your results -24-

25 Learn As Much About PPC as Possible Use Google s AdWords education resources at:

26 Research your competition What keywords are they using? What do their text ads say? How highly are their ads listed? Study their landing pages Pick out things you like and don t like -26-

27 Identify Your Target Audience Carefully Define your primary and secondary target audience demographic Brainstorm search terms they are likely to use to find your business and rank them -27-

28 Define Advertising Goals Why are people visiting your site information? Purchase? Etc?? What are your conversion and site traffic goals? What type of ROI do you want to achieve? -28-

29 Choose Powerful Keywords Don t use extremely generic, one word terms Run the risk of wasting money on browsers, not shoppers Use keyword suggestion tools from Google to help develop your keyword list: oolexternal -29-

30 Write Ads to Get the Right Customers to Convert Use keywords in your ad titles Have a strong call to action Use concise, powerful language Test more than one ad -30-

31 Optimize Web Site for Conversions DO NOT send PPC visitors to your home page! Create a landing page specific to your PPC ad Have a strong call to action above the fold of your landing page Have multiple conversion points throughout your landing page Delete all unnecessary navigation Keep it simple -31-

32 Optimize Web Site for Conversions -31-

33 Track Conversions Define what a conversion means to you Without a clear metric against which to measure success you ll never know if your money is being spent effectively Google Analytics: Free site analysis tool that is an easy way to measure online conversions -33-

34 Common search marketing mistakes: #1 Adding hundreds of keywords for one ad A well-organized account structure is critical to success Organize your account by topic: Group highly specific keywords that relate to a single product or service Accurately reflect your website and product or service in your ad text Long lists of random keywords will result in your ad showing on irrelevant searches -34-

35 Common search marketing mistakes: #2 Setting an unrealistic advertising budget Consider how much you are actually able or willing to pay for your advertising Use the AdWords keyword tool ywordtoolexternal Remember: you control your budget and you can adjust it even after your ads run

36 Common search marketing mistakes: #3 Thinking online advertising is hands-off Don t just set up your ad campaign and forget about it The best way to ensure success is active campaign monitoring Bid and keyword tweaking. Track the performance of your ads Adapt your ad creatives and keywords to match seasonal or popular trends -36-

37 You ll Never Know if You Don t Try With PPC, you can easily test the performance of various creative executions Run multiple text ads to see what works best Create multiple landing pages for each keyword group to see which one converts the best All of this trial and error will make you more intelligent about what makes PPC visitors convert and allow you to make your money go further Test, test and test some more!! -37-

38 Professionals are on Hand If PPC advertising seems too much for you to handle on your own, there are professionals that know the search engine marketing space much better than you Companies are available, such as Hostway, that can even manage and optimize your PPC campaign for you Experts can save you a lot of time and wasted dollars by setting up and managing your PPC campaign right the first time -38-

39 Thank You for Attending The archived presentation will be available later this week at:

40 Q & A -40-

41 Useful Links Hostway Hostway Online Marketing Google s AdWords Resource Center Archived Webinar