Adwords is a hard place to get website traffic especially when one doesn’t understand the fundamental metrics involved. Going it alone can be expensive and even more time consuming but hiring an expert isn’t for everyone. Here are some Pros & Cons to Hiring an Adwords Expert.

Pros

• Free up time for developing other areas of your business.
• Increased control over your PPC budget.
• Eliminate costly trial and error.
• Lowers the risk of failure dramatically
• Can compete in heavily saturated markets

Cons

• You become dependent on your Adwords expert.
• Finding the appropriate expert takes time and ample consideration
• Initial cost can make it more expensive to begin
• Dispense trust by handing over confidential data
• Commitment to long term strategies

You really only have two choices when it comes to advertising your business with Google Adwords: do the job yourself or hire someone else.

For more help on deciding which option is best for you and your business read should I hire an Adwords agency or do-it-myself.

Some argue that such a thing as ‘Effective Advertising’ doesn’t even exist. Small business owners across middle Tennessee are struggling and seeking to find new ways to drive more customers into their business with out spending more money.  It is time to open up to the future, do more with your advertising budget and get advertising results you can track, optimize and improve.

Traditional Advertising Method Downfalls

Advertising such as phone books, newspapers and magazines aren’t working well anymore and are outdated to the point of extinction. How many times have you looked in the phone book lately? TV, radio and billboard advertising have always been expensive; however they do produce exposure to a very large market close to home.

Problem with these forms of local advertising is you have no idea how effective they are. All you get are “statistics” provided by the companies that do the advertising. They can not tell you how many people found your business much less who spent money with you.

Business owners need advertising that gives the ability to control who sees ads, when they see them and allows them to precisely track how many customers are received from the advertising budget. There is a solution right at your finger tips for more effective advertising!

Google Search Engine Marketing

Often time’s companies overlook the internet for an advertising means because they do not understand how the marketing process works. Some simply find it to complicated or lack the knowledge to attempt it. Implementing a targeted pay-per-click (PPC) campaign on the Google Adwords Platform is by far one of the most affordable means of advertising.

You control ad placement, click price, advertising budget, demographic, geography, age range, and times of day to run your ads. The list goes on and on but the point is this; your business could be advertising to only people who need your help and doing it at the exact moment they need it, while tracking results and improving your advertising every month.

Not convinced?

People who use the internet to find local business is growing at a staggering rate; Thirty-Four percent last year alone. Reports also show that local search on mobile devices grew over Fifty percent from 2008-2009. Now that’s pretty good and all but here is the Jackpot. The Google Search Engine reaches 80% of the world’s population of internet users Every Day! You can no longer ignore the fact that when people want something they choose to find it online from their computer or phone.

Using Internet Advertising is an effective way to promote your local business

to targeted customers, exactly when they are looking for your business,

from anywhere in the world at any time of the day!

For more information about starting your first website or for help increasing your exposure with Google Pay-Per-Click advertising contact us now for details.

We all know that billboard advertising works where you have large amounts of traffic. Where do you find an Ton of traffic? Strong consistent traffic is found on highways, interstates and the internet. Yes, the internet. Welcome to the world of Banner Advertising.

Harness The Power of the “Internet Super Highway”

Outdoor advertising and banner advertising both consist of placing a strategic marketing message in front of a massive amount of potential clients. We advertise our message to this “Traffic” hoping to attract some of the “people passing by” to come into our store or contact us for more information. Traffic on the road verses on a webpage is essentially the same. The more people whom travel a road or the more people that visit a webpage obviously determines how mush exposure we get for our ad.

So, how are they different?

Our first obvious difference is where our ad’s or billboards are located. We all know billboards are on the side of a particular road or highway. Banner advertisements consequently are located on the side, top or bottom of a webpage(s). You have seen them and have probably clicked on a few searching the internet  for your hearts desire.

Now let’s get into the BIG differences that you need to understand before investing your advertising budget into one or the other.

Read this  and you will know which billboard advertising method will work best for your business!

Market Exposure:

Billboards:

• Predefined locations on certain streets or highways. Depending on the location you choose, or can get, will dictate how much traffic you receive. You can obviously target more locations for increased exposure should you be comfortable with the expense of multiple billboards.

Banners:

• Full control to place an ad or multiple ads on any relevant webpage in a single city, state, country or All of the above! You can have ads showing up on an unlimited number relevant websites increasing your exposure to unlimited prospects and spreading your business reach.

Customer Targeting & Tracking:

Billboards:

• Considered minimal targeting. You have no control over the needs or desires of the people driving past your billboard. None the less, billboard advertising is great for branding your business in your hometown or the cities you obtain locations in. Tracking results can only come from asking every customer that comes to your business or website “How did you find us?”

Banners:

• You target your customers by advertising to them on webpage’s closely knit to your industry. If you sell automotive accessories you can place your advertising in front of only people who would have a need or want for floor mats or trailer hitches. Now you have a steady stream of “Targeted” Traffic. Tracking is set up to run automatically and accurately so you can eliminate wasteful spending and put your money where the sales are.

Cost:

Billboards:

• Average minimum for Cookeville, Tennessee is around $400 Bucks a month and does not include set up. Nashville, TN will run you significantly more averaging around $800 Plus dollars a month. Additional charges occur when you want to change your message. Higher monthly charges apply for upgraded digital billboards, however, your message and marketing can change repeatedly.

Banners:

• Average minimum for set up is under one thousand dollars. You choose how much $$$ you want to invest per month in ad spend, run as many ad’s as you like and choose from; Image Ad’s, Text Ad’s or even Video Ad’s. Only pay for the customer traffic that decides to click on your ad and visit your website.

How does banner advertising work?

Banner advertising consists of placing banner ads (boxed image ads) on relevant web pages across the internet. The major search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo offer advertising on what they call the “content network.” Once you have set up an advertising account with your search engine of choice you would upload your image ad and tell the search engine to place your ad(s) beside content that is similar to what you are promoting.

For example purposes lets say you own a flower shop and want to promote your fabulous wedding bouquets. You set up and design a catchy image that tells customers that you are the florist of choice for wedding bouquets. When someone visits a popular wedding website, or any website where wedding bouquets are relevant, your ad will display somewhere on their page. This potential customer did not intentionally do a search for flowers but it is a given that any bride will insist on a gorgeous bouquet for her wedding. Therefore, when the searcher lands on this popular site there attention is taken from the site to your ad. They click it and visit ‘Your’ website to discuss buying their wedding bouquet from you.

Outdoor Billboard Advertising vs. Online Banner Advertising

Outdoor Billboard Advertising is…

• Great for localized branding by keeping your name out in the public eye.
• Good for consistent local exposure to customers who may need your services.

Banner advertising is…

• Capable of exposing your business across the globe.
• Targeted to reach your precise customer no matter where they live.
• Less expensive long term.

Outdoor Billboard Advertising has great results for many types of businesses and will always be a great means of advertising as long as people have cars. Banner advertising is pretty darn close to the same thing – well, except for the differences!

You know your business better than anyone and hopefully with this information you can decide what advertising method is best for your bottom line. The internet is changing the way people shop for products and services. Could you see increased business and revenue by expanding your reach on the “Internet Super Highway?”

P.S. - For more information on the cost comparison of search engine marketing vs. billboard advertising click here.

P.P.S. – If you enjoyed this information about billboard advertising on the internet with banners then why not share this with your business associates on Facebook or Twitter. Simply click the icon of your social site of choice below and thank you Much!

Billboard  advertising can work great for most people depending on the business plan and customer. However, if your like me and would rather reach qualified customers in multiple locations and drive qualified track-able customers to your business then this post is for you.

I am going to compare billboard outdoor advertising and pay-per-click search engine marketing (PPC Advertising). When we are through you will have a better understanding of both and will be able to make an educated decision about how to best spend your advertising dollars.

Cost Per Month Comparison

Outdoor Advertising – Average cost in and around Middle & East Tennessee is approximately $750 a month. Packages typically range in price from $400- $4000 per month and sometimes do not include setup fees. This is not so much of a problem today with new digital technology.  Average investment for 3 months of billboard advertising is $2250.00 / Yearly Cost – $9000

Pay Per Click Advertising – Set up ranges in price from $499-$2400 with an average cost of $975. Estimated monthly management and cost per click cost is around $600 per month there after.  Total investment for 3 months of PPC advertising equals $2775.00 / Yearly Cost – $8175

The figures above were pulled from advertiser’s websites. Prices will vary per city and per campaign. Depending on who you know, you may get a discount for each. Bottom line, the cost of advertising will be about the same

Effective Reach of Advertising

Billboards will share your message with literally thousands of people per day and your ad(s) are always showing. Billboards are great for targeting  customers who travel through, live and work in a chosen town or on a particular highway. Pay-Per-Click is a great way to reach millions of online customers looking for precisely what you offer. PPC is great for targeting customers where they live and on what they use the most for information; their cell phone and computer.

• Pros

Outdoor Advertising – Always on, thousands of impressions everyday and targets specific road or interstate you do business on. With new digital boards you have the capability of changing ads on a daily basis for specific promotions or a wide variety of products or services. Outdoor advertising is also an excellent choice for branding your business name in the community. You can commit your advertising efforts short term or long term.

Pay Per Click Advertising - You control the time, days and locations your Ads appear. Leave it on all the time or run it only on the weekend. Run it only in Nashville or in every household and on every smart phone in Tennessee. Write as many ads as you want to promote any product or service. Advertise to customers at the precise time they are looking to buy what you have to offer. Although you can run PPC for a short time it is best suited for businesses that have long term goals and commitment.  Last but certainly not least, you can accurately track conversions and return on investment with PPC Advertising.

• Cons

Outdoor Advertising – Small area of focus and no way to accurately track results or ROI.

Pay Per Click Advertising – Takes proper management for best results and requires an optimized website.

Both of these advertising methods are effective for promoting your small business. Which one is best suited for your business?

Learn more about pay per click advertising

Help make this a better article by leaving your experience and/or opinion below. Much appreciated!