So is it still possible to make money during these troubled times? The answer to this my padawans is most definitely, affirmative.
Even in the middle of the credit crunch, in fact even more so now than in previous years, it is still possible to reel in the cash as a result of paid online advertising. But there are some ifs and buts that go hand in hand with this wise offering.
Picture the scene, “Not so long ago in a galaxy remarkably close to this one actually… 16 million households had access to the Internet and 95% were using broadband. There were on average 10-12 billion online searches occurring each month, worldwide and Google alone received 675 million of these search queries.”
This means that Google can still be regarded as the Jedi-Master when it comes to search engines with 10.5% of UK web users favouring it. However, other search engines have their benefits and may be regarded Jedi- Knights (just go with the Star Wars references, if you will).
For example MSN has a great Return on investment and Yahoo is ideal for mobile searches. And although the reduced screen size for mobile search only allows for the placement of two ads per page, this method is becoming increasingly popular as more people rely on their iPhones to search online during the commute to work.
The success of Cost Per click (CPC) campaigns has fluctuated in the last year in key sectors, as a result of the following reasons:
- Travel (particularly holidays)is moving from overseas to the UK
- People are resorting to brand loyalty and comfort products
- People are buying more second hand goods
- Job stability is weakening
- The property market crashed
- Financial services (e.g. loans companies) have less competition
- Gambling has increased
This list shows that where some businesses such as tour operators and estate agents might have seen a decline in click-throughs, others, such as eBay and online casinos might have had a sudden increase and seen good returns on their investments.
The moral of this cyberspace epic is that even when economic pressures are looming there are some businesses that will thrive and others that will suffer. There are also some marketing efforts that will do better than others, and this time round the Force has most definitely been with digital marketing, particularly paid search. Yoda might even say “Paid search, the salvation of many businesses it has been mmmmmm” and that little green guy knows his stuff, let me tell you!
Chichester Design’s Little Gems
All we can say is if you want to achieve successful paid advertising then there is a simple mantra which should mutter to yourself and follow religiously:
- Know your customer
- Know your market
- Know your company
If you know where you are and what you’re doing then you’ve won half the battle. This may seem obvious but you would be surprised how many people proceed with online advertising without covering these basics.
Also, make sure that you use the tools that are freely available to you such as Google Trends to see what keywords are coming up most frequently in a particular region/sector and the Google Adwords Keywords Tool, which will help you decipher a comprehensive list to start you off.
But remember, that the Chichester Design has Google Adwords Professionals on hand to take on your Adwords accounts and advise you on your other paid advertising options. Don’t be shy, let us help you make a bit of money during these troubled times by contacting us today.
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