Paid Search Marketing...the high level value

First and foremost, I just want to state that I am a professional. This does not mean that I carry a weapon, it just means that I do online marketing for a living.

*cue dramatic theme music*

The real value in paid search marketing is its accountability, and its ability to target people at deeper stages of the purchase funnel. New to this? Let me explain:

When you setup a Google Adwords account, you should also setup a Google Analytics account. By doing so, you can track how much you're spending per click, and what kind of results you're getting from those clicks. Say you have a website that sells toy trucks. With Google Analytics, you can track which keywords are leading to sales, what your exact return on ad spend is for each keyword and ad group. You simply can't do that with traditional marketing. This also allows you to fluidly adjust your campaigns. After a week you might find that "red toy trucks" has converted 20% of its clicks into sales, while "blue toy trucks" has converted only 3%. You can either make adjustments (send them to a different page, change the ad text, change the price on the blue trucks), or stop spending money there altogether. The fluidity of paid search marketing is something that really can't be replicated by traditional marketing channels either.

The other point here is that pay per click can truly target people further down the buying cycle. By targeting terms like "buy a toy truck" or "get toy trucks" you can reach customers who want your products now. It's like a heat seeking missile for marketing. Not using paid search yet? Find a paid search management firm, or get educated and start one up on your own. The time is now!