Search Engine Marketing BUDGETING

Though there are not many barriers to using search engine marketing, doing proper budgeting can be a little tricky.

Understanding how search engines bids for ad placement work will help you get more out of budgeting. In addition to a fluid formula based on keywords and pay per click, there are other costs to consider.

Search Engine Marketing Keywords

Search engines bill based in part on the keywords we wish to bid on. As part of setting up your campaign, we will determine the keywords or phrases that we judge will correspond to your prospects' search terms. When a searcher enters keywords that match your selections, the search engine serves your ad, causing it to appear on the results page.

This will give you a little more insight into doing the budget for your search engine marketing campaign.

Based on our keyword selection, the search engine presents us with the current bids for each keyword or phrase. We then have the opportunity to determine the price you are willing to pay for it. The actual cost of the keyword is determined by auction and may be different each time an ad is served. This auction is automated, computing the going price for a keyword using a complex algorithm that dynamically tracks bids.

Where your ad ranks on the results page will depend on the amount you end up bidding for your keywords.

Since your competitors are also bidding on these keywords and keyword phrases, and because that bidding only affects the current cost, it's never a case of the high bid takes all. The high bid is only valid until someone bids higher.

Pay-per-click, AKA Search Engine Marketing

Once we've settled on our keywords, and their individual costs, we wait to see who clicks on your ads. It is only when a prospect actually clicks through and visits your landing page that you are charged for your ad. The amount you will be charged for each visitor is determined by the cost of the keyword when your ad was served, as well as the amount your competitors are willing to pay for a specific position.

Search engines allow us control your budget by setting a maximum amount we are willing to pay per word and a maximum per day. In other words, determining what you're willing to pay for given keywords, and your daily maximum limits how many times the search engine will use your keywords to serve your ad on any particular day.

We must keep in mind that there are many factors involved. If you too bid low on a keyword, for example, your ad could be shown near the bottom of the sponsored links. Or, it might not be shown at all. You can avoid popular words to reduce your costs, but then your visitors won't be as highly targeted. If you set too low a daily limit on the maximum amount you wish to spend, then your ads might not appear at key times of the day.

Other Costs

There are some other costs that you need to keep in mind. For example, there is the cost of designing, developing, hosting and maintaining a landing page. After all, once you entice a prospective client to click through, you want him or her to land on a page that increases the chances that you will succeed. See

As well as developing the landing page, you'll want to monitor visitors once they arrive so that you can measure response. In other words, you'll want to invest in a program or service that can tell the level of effectiveness of your landing page.

Finally, there is the consulting fee for helping plan and execute your campaign. Companies like Mine The Internet .com usually base their fee on the complexity of the campaign, as well as on any other services (such as web development, hosting or monitoring) they may provide.

A full-service company like Mine The Internet .com can help you set a budget based on a combination of these factors.

Now you have a little more insight into budgeting for your search engine marketing campaign.