Friday, September 14, 2007

Using AdWords for exposure


First of all, did a nice Coventry app. I actually did it a few days ago but I just got it faxed back today. This was a referral, lady who wanted all copays - couldn't grasp deductibles (I tried my best) and with Coventry in MD almost everything is a copay and she can get an affordable rate with a low deductible. Coventry doesn't have online apps in MD yet.

Now....AdWords - tried it about two years ago - lacking results as a lead generation tool. Very expensive now to get 1st page ranking - over $4 a click and too much junk. That being said I did indeed make a profit off the campaign. You'll think you're getting exclusive leads but what you'll see is many people hit multiple sites. Also, unlike internet leads which can be returned for credit, you not only pay every time someone clicks your site, but all the quotes with no phone, no email or uninsurable.

This is something different. When I type in the names of local towns there's almost no ads. That's because people who advertise use the product's keyword - like "smithville maryland furniture." It's pretty expensive per click to run those targeted ads. You can try to plug in 10 cents but your account won't go active.

However, not hardly anyone's advertising just using "smithville maryland" keywords since it doesn't generate targeted traffic for their product. But I'm after the exposure. So now for 10 cents a click I'm on my town and all surrounding town's searches. This is exposure, not lead generation! If you want a little exposure in your locality just Google your city/town and see how many ads are on the page. In my town and surrounding towns it's zero to 2 ads. Because of that Google basically is taking what they can get, meaning it's very cheap.

All this will be is people searching their home towns and simply seeing my business name. I could care less if they click. If they don't I have free exposure - $5 to activate an AdWords account. If they click they click - at 10 cents per click I'm golden.

No comments: