Whilst the major search engines get most of the traffic, there can be a lot of value in looking at the smaller search engines when it comes to PPC for small businesses. The advantage of using a search engine like Google is the depth of coverage available. You not only have PPC ads in the search results pages, you can have your ads displayed on other web pages and blogs.

Smaller search engines don’t have that depth. But what they lack in depth can be covered by the quality of the traffic generated. There are a lot lesser known search engines that provide PPC advertising – here is a short list:

• Marchex – Provides reasonable traffic they claim to increase your ROI

• ABCSearch -  Another that claims increased ROI

• SearchFeed - This search engine allows you to geo target 11 countries – handy if you want your ads restricted to a particular region

• 7Search – Smaller than those above but is gaining in reputation

• MIVA – Not really a search engine but it has one of the best reputations for providing quality traffic with a good conversions rate.

There are many other PPC options, a search through one of the search engines will help you find them. You can often find that your cost per click is much less using one of the smaller PPC options. Before dumping Google or one of the other major PPC search engines, do some research, perhaps run a small low trial to compare costs , click through rates and conversions.

PPC for small businesses often needs to look at alternates in order to find value for money. Test out the smaller PPC options – you have nothing lose and everything to gain.

Pay per clicks can be a shortcut to building traffic for your site.
In fact, some larger companies are foregoing SEO and going straight to pay per click (PPC).
Is PPC feasible for small business owners? It’s certainly worth considering the pros and cons.

The basic premise of pay per click is that you pay each time one of your ads is clicked on.
So instead of finding your keywords, optimizing your site and searching for innovative ways to link and get linked, you simply “buy” your way to the top of the search engine mountain of success.

Google AdWords is one useful type of PPC, now Yahoo! and MSN have their own version.

It’s relatively simple to set up a PPC account.
For example, on Google, all you have to do is go to Google Adwords, register, give them your credit card number, and you’ll have an account. From there, you create an ad (with a title, text, and a link to your web page), and then choose your keywords that will guide traffic to your ad (you can’t get away from keywords no matter what). The next step is to then bid on those keywords.

How do you know what to bid?

Your goal is to be in the top three bidders for this keyword.
Any pay per click company you use will list their ad prices. See if this is something you can afford. Being in position three has its advantages–you pay less and you still get “seen” often. Because the pay per click system is determined by many factors such as quality, click throughs, and other factors, being in the number one position isn’t always worth the extra monetary output.

Two Types of Pay per Click Ads:

• Search engine ads are just that. These PPC ads will be placed on search engines.

• Content match ads are placed on websites and will be distributed throughout that system. For example, Google AdWords are distributed throughout the Good AdSense program, so this type of pay per click ad will show up on a variety of sites.

The Pros of Pay per Click Ads:

• It’s dependable. If you have the money, it’s pretty much a sure bet to generate web traffic quickly. By quick, I mean within days or weeks as compared to months, if not years of building your site’s recognition by natural search (when people just type in a word or phrase). Also, PPC’s don’t experience as much fluctuation, so you don’t see the daily ups and downs that occur otherwise.

The Cons of Pay per Click Ads:

• You have to pay, and sadly, it’s become popular and the prices are still going up.
• Natural searches work as well and shouldn’t be ignored. Ideally, PPC’s should be used as a part of your promotional campaign and not its entirety.

Nothing is guaranteed, but pay per clicks can be a great tool to help small businesses get established fast. The secret is to do some research and get those all important keywords nailed so that whether your clients find your site through a natural search or through a pay per click, those keywords will draw the right viewers straight to your website.

Keywords are a very important part of your web design. If used correctly, keywords can help search engines find your site and drive traffic your way. Small business websites need all the help they can get and with a little bit of know-how, you can position your small business site for maximum exposure.

First, you need to develop your keyword list.

How? One easy way is to brainstorm. What is your site about?
List all the key words that describe your business, its services and products. If someone were looking you up in the phone book or on the web and couldn’t remember your exact name, what might they check under?

Other ways to create your keyword list is by utilizing sites such as Keyword Discovery.com or SEObook.com, or Google AdWords.

Ideally, your Internet search will verify many of the keywords you came up with on your own, but it will also give you some new possiblities. You should have about 50 to choose from, and of those 50, you’ll probably focus on 10 to 20 on a regular basis. By keywords, I also mean keyword phrases, such as: water damage, carpet repair, etc.

It’s important to note that the broader the category, the more competition you’ll have. It’s better to be king of a small kingdom than a peasant of a large kingdom. Don’t go too obscure, but narrow the search to what your company does and what people would look for that would lead them to your site.

Once you have your keyword list, it’s important to optimize each page with one or two keyword phrases.

To optimize a page, the TITLE tag is on of the most important components. The best position for a keyword is at the beginning of your tag. Place only one key phrase at the beginning of the tag. Remember to scatter one or two keyword phrases throughout each of your web pages. You’ll find that it comes pretty natural if you took the time to choose the proper keywords.

See? It’s not as difficult as it sounds. Keywords are the best way to draw traffic to your site and let the search engines know what you’re all about. Take the time to incorporate keywords into your website design and in time, you’ll reap the benefits for your small business needs.

Video conferencing, also known as web conferencing has been around for awhile, but with the latest technology it’s now available and affordable for small busineses.

Video conferencing can save time and money—and who doesn’t need that in today’s economic climate?

The benefits of video conferencing are:
• It’s great to use between two people (point to point) —or multiple groups (multi point) in various parts of the country.
• Video or web conferencing can incorporate other computer/visual materials such as shared documents, white boards, and training materials and other audio and visual materials that will enhance your presentations.
• Many video or web conferencing services only require downloading software and a webcam. Even if your recipient doesn’t have a webcam, they can participate in voice mode only.
• Most new notebook computers have built in webcams–so that’ not an added expense.
• Why fly to a location for meeting when video conferencing is a much smarter alternative amd saves on travel expenses?
• A video or web conference is much more interactive than a phone call—and encourages participation–those who participate can’t easily surf the web, eat lunch, and not pay attention while on camera.
• You can reach a wider audience, chat with potential clients, brain storm with partners, and even teach a webinar with the use of video or web conferencing.
• Humans are complicated. Emails can be misunderstood and hours of conference calls are boring and ineffective. By utilizing the visual image, you are able to utilize visual, audible, and gestural clues needed to make solid assessments.

Video conferencing has many applications. Get creative. Involve your employees, welcome new and potential clients by showing them you have the technological tools to compete. What better way to announce a new product line, share a marketing video, or get feedback at a pivotal time than by using this simple and affordable technlogy?

There are many companies offering video conferencing services such as Skype VoIP, Gmail (Voice and Video Chat), Webex, ooVoo, and Live- Conferencing.com, to name a few.

Be sure to check your options before committing to a video or web conferencing service. Quality, types of services and prices range greatly, so take care in choosing what’s best for your small business.

There many exciting ways for small businesses to utilize their website to the max. The goal is to offer customers a reason to return again and again, and the only way to do that is to offer fresh content.

Five Fresh Ways to Update Your Website:

• Offer printable discounts and coupons, including birthday BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free), and a discount for referrals

• Offer small tips for do it yourselfers and answers to common questions

• Consider uploading photographs of special events, a customer appreciation award, or featuring a monthly customer. Some sites have a place for customers to use as a “billboard” and wish a family member a happy birthday or happy anniversary. This can drive two or three dozen new people to your site.

• Contests! Everyone loves to win something. Have a weekly or monthly drawing for a free service or nice discount. Tell them they have to register for the contest online. This is a smart way to get them to visit your site.

• Go for the funny bone. It’s great when a business offers a side of humor on their site. Great quotes, clean jokes, and cartoons can be downloaded from other free sites and give your small business more of a family and community feel.

It’s vitally important that small businesses infuse their website with fresh content monthly, or even better, weekly. In order to update your website, and you use a web designer, you will need to know the password and how to log-in so that you can make small changes to the site—or have an agreement with your web designer for monthly upgrades. Many businesses outsource their website and internet needs, but it’s important to begin to learn the ropes and start implementing these upgrades regularly.

Fresh content is proven way to keep customers coming back. Taking the time to update your website regularly will become a Monday morning habit, and can actually become an enjoyable part of your day and well worth the investment of your time. In today’s belt-tightening economy, small businesses must use every incentive they can–discounts, tips, humor, and a little bit of customer attention will create a connection with your customers and establish your presence online and in your community.

You can gain a lot with pay per click advertising. It`s quite amazing what a little well-aimed publicity can do. However, if you don`t know exactly how to set up a proper campaign with PPC, you could be in trouble. It`s very easy to lose a lot of money with this type of advertising when you don`t know what you`re doing.

That`s why it can be useful to hire a pay per click expert to set up and run your ad campaign for you.

1. Save money. Though you`ll be paying someone to run your PPC ads for you, you`ll be making money instead of losing it, since they will know what they`re doing.
2. More efficient. It takes time and energy to sort through keywords and write great ads. You have better things to do and hiring someone to take care of this task frees you up to do other important business tasks.
3. Get better results. Do you know what ad copy works best for pulling in high converting traffic? A pay per click expert does.

Pay per click ads can really help your business, but only if done properly. It`s usually worth it to hire someone to do this part of the job for you, freeing you up for other things and getting better results to boot.

If you`ve ever clicked on an ad only to end up on a website that appears to have nothing to do with what you clicked on, then you know how bad an idea it is not to optimize your landing page. Pay per click advertising can be very effective if you do it right, but even getting relevant traffic isn`t going to help if people are going to be confused when they reach the landing page.

For each targeted PPC ad that you put out there, you need to make sure that it leads back to a page that will give people what they want. For example, if you are targeting one ad at teachers and another at parents, having them end up on a page that appeals to firemen isn`t really going to do the trick.

Your landing page should also fit with what the ad is about. Using cryptic language on the your advertising will only result in a confusion once the person arrives at the landing page. The chances that they`ll click away are very high and you`ll end up paying for too many clicks that don`t give you anything in return.

Pay per click can be very useful. Just make sure that your landing page is appropriate for the ad and you`ll boost your conversion rate.

Pay per click advertising makes a lot of people nervous. If you don`t understand it, then it`s quite easy to make a lot of mistakes that could really cause some problems down the road, mainly, loss of money.

To make sure that you are getting your money`s worth out of pay per click advertising, here`s what you need to do:

• Educate yourself. If you don`t know much about pay per click, read about it and learn as much as possible before beginning.
• Track and analyze. Make sure you know which keywords are working for you and then increase efforts in that area.
• Start slow. Rather than dumping a huge amount of money into a pay per click campaign, start out with just a few cents a day and keep your budget limited to reduce risk.

Pay per click advertising can be lucrative and pay. It’s important that you don’t lose your head and that you track everything.

If you`re looking into PPC for your small business, it`s very important that you know what you`re doing. There are too many sob stories around the internet about people who have lost their hard earned money on pay per click advertising. With a little knowledge, you can go a long way in the PPC arena.

Some of the more common mistakes include the following:

• Bidding on general keywords. If you are bidding on “work at home” the competition is going to be terribly high and you`ll pay far more than it`s worth.
• Not setting up a worthy landing page. It doesn`t matter if you`re getting tons of traffic if your landing page doesn`t convert.
• Forgetting to set negative keywords. Go through your campaign and be sure to set up negative keywords . . . those searches you DON`T want your ads to be shown on.

Make sure you learn everything you can about PPC for small business or get someone to handle your advertising for you. It`s not worth jumping in with both feet and ending up paying out more than you need to!

SiteProNews ran an excellent article on PPC advertising through Google AdWords. Toward the end of the article, I found this little gem:

According to research undertaken by Google in 2005, the headline of your ad represents 40% of its impact. The first line of copy accounts for 25%, the second line 20% and the Display URL 15%.

This is great to know and illustrates the importance of writing a good headline. In general, online copywriting rises or falls on strong headlines. Ad copywriting is no different. And it doesn’t really matter whether you are using Google AdWords or another PPC provider, effective headline writing is necessary to get the clicks and turn them into conversions.

But what makes a good headlines in ad copywriting? For starters, it must use your primary keyword. But it must also get the reader to read the ad. The purpose of the headline is not to get the click. That’s what your call to action is for. The headline is simply to get the searcher to look at the ad and read the ad’s text. It should be an attention grabber.

Good headlines are short, to the point, and say, “Read the rest of me.” When you can capture the attention of the searcher and get them to read your ad then you’ve done your job as an ad headline writer.