Why Should Small Business Buy Search Ads?

While free advertising through organic visibility on Google and other search engines can provide your business with online exposure for marketing purposes; the option of paid search ads should not be dismissed out of hand. This is especially the case when you consider that paid ads are actually designed by search engine companies – the creators, controllers and experts of online search itself!

Benefits of paid search ads for small business

• Online competition is fierce – this can especially be the case for small businesses. Simply getting noticed online amongst the noise and the ‘big guns’ out there can be tricky. And with most people being unlikely to click beyond the first page of search results, a paid campaign could provide your business a visibility boost at critical times.

• Getting started – a start-up small business may find that a paid ad campaign – even a temporary one – can at least get them some visibility online and give them a foot in the marketing door, so to speak.

• Help from the experts – paid ads may be good for business owners who lack the time and expertise for an SEO campaign, or who don’t have the means to hire an in-house SEO professional.

• Get online quickly – even a well-designed SEO campaign can take time to take effect. A paid campaign could be used in the meantime to improve visibility and get established online.

• Keyword assistance – keyword tools enable you to develop appropriate keywords for your content, even if you are new to the concept.

• Controlled costs – with paid ads, you don’t pay for appearing online, but when people respond through clicking or contacting your business. You also have the option of determining the amount you want to spend so you can keep within your budget. This also means that as your business grows, and your marketing budget expands, you have the option of expanding your campaigns.

• Better targeting – with paid ads, you can target particular audiences, according to pre-determined demographic features. Paid ad campaigns offer geo-targeting – the ability to target audiences within a certain radius of your location. They also offer scheduling for timing ads for a particular day and time.

• Mobile optimisation – paid ad campaigns provide the capacity to optimise your ads for mobile devices. This is certainly an important benefit when you consider that the number of people using mobile devices is growing at a seemingly exponential rate.

• Calculate ROI – search engine companies provide analytic tools with paid ads, enabling you to determine the effectiveness of your campaigns.

Even if your small business is ranking pretty well organically, you might want to consider paid ads to provide you with a little extra help in the world of internet marketing.

Is there a downside?

Well there is a cost involved. Even if people contact your business or click on your links, there is no guarantee of making a sale. Also, if you have a very limited budget, you may also have limited results.

More information

Google Adwords, Bing Ads and Yahoo! Search Marketing may have differences in how they work in the finer detail for paid ad campaigns, but in general work in a similar manner. Click on the links to find out more.

So, when it comes to considering the question of “Why Should Small Business Buy Search Ads?” you might want to think of paid search as an additional tool in the small business marketing toolkit. And while paid ads should probably not be used to replace well-designed professional SEO in the long run, they can certainly act as a beneficial supplement to your online advertising.