There are various methods you can use for marketing your local business online...

One of them is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, using special advertising programs like Yahoo! Search Marketing (previously Overture), and Google's Adwords program.

Pay-per-click marketing is a good advertising strategy, to get a prominent online listing on some of the major search engines.

This is especially useful if your site's pages are not ranking high enough in the search engines to get found by searchers yet, for your keywords. (Usually searchers only scan the first 2 pages of their search results to find the information they need.)

Start by opening a pay-per-click account with the Search Engine of your choice.

Then you create your marketing campaigns.

Create short, descriptive ads to be displayed in the search engine's "sponsored listings" section.

The sponsored listings usually appear above, or next to, the regular web search results, giving your listing more prominence. So when people search for terms you have bid on, your ads will be seen before the natural web search results.

The placement and cost of your ad. on the search engine pages will vary according to your PPC bid. Choosing very competitive keywords and high ad placement can be an expensive combination! So monitor and manage your pay-per-click marketing campaigns carefully...

We've managed sponsored search campaigns with the major search engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo Search Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter for Windows Live Search), and had the best results with Google Adwords. It's also the most user-friendly and responsive service we've used.

Yahoo Search Marketing sometimes offers a sign-up incentive, like a $25.00 credit to help new advertisers to get started, so check the link or directly on their site, so see if they are currently offering it. I think a sign-up credit is an excellent way to "test the waters" for any new advertising campaign!

We can also help you to get started with your pay-per-click campaigns contact us, to discuss your specific online marketing needs!