All words are not created equal
Thralow currently pays for thousands of search words and phrases, and the number is growing all the time. Two employees spend much of their time researching words that might bring customers to the company's sites, selecting new words and tracking their effectiveness. Much of the research involves mining data about how customers use the search function at the Thralow sites to look for products once they get there. There are also software tools available that help businesses select keywords.
Thralow learned early on to choose fairly specific words and phrases. For example, rather than bidding for the word 'Canon' — Canon being one of the best-selling brands of binoculars — he'll buy 'Canon binoculars' or even 'Canon 10X30 Image Stabilized.' "If you used just Canon," he points out, "you would also get camera buyers."
As long as a word or phrase at least breaks even, he'll keep it, on the assumption that many of the customers who come to the site via that word will return in the future and spend more.
It's not just that you can track the effectiveness of your marketing and advertising on the Internet, Thralow points out. You can also experiment with and test marketing initiatives and find out very quickly and cost effectively whether they'll work or not. "If it's working you keep doing it, if it's not, you stop and cut your losses," he says. "You can run a campaign in half an hour and know within a day if it's working or not."
His company will try almost any Internet marketing ploy — or keyword — once, he says, however silly it may seem. One of the things he has learned about search engine advertising and Internet advertising in general is that you must test before making any long-term or high-cost commitment, and you must have a budget for the test commensurate with the potential return.
The beauty of Internet advertising is that you can test quickly and precisely and twithout much risk. "As long as it fits the budget — as long as it can't put us out of business — and as long as it's measurable, we'll test anything," Thralow says. "If it works after we test, have at it! If it doesn't, well, we know we don't need to do that one again."
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