Paying Your Way to the Top

摘要

From the moment search engines began organizing content on the Internet, advertisers and marketers have wanted their site to be at the top of the listing heap. Until recently, it was inconceivable that an organization could buy its way to the top on the major search engines such as Yahoo!, Google, MSN, and AOL. But take note: Not only is it exceedingly simple to buy listings by keyword and phrase, according to observers, search engine pay-for-performance is now a billion-dollar industry and the fastest growing form of advertising anywhere. Now whenever and wherever a business- or consumer-related search is entered, the results are likely to include ads. "If 50,000 people are searching for what you have to offer each month, you can't afford not to be listed," explains Harry Gold, managing partner of Overdrive Marketing Communications, a Boston emarketing firm. "Search engine placement, whether paid or natural, reaches people at the critical moment: when they are seeking your information or products." Gold cites the Trusted Time Division of Symmetricom as an example. After implementing a paid placement program, Gold says, Symmetricom experienced a 400% jump in Web site traffic and a 1000% increase in online leads resulting in a dramatic 67% increase in sales.