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(Continued) The Rank for Sales Weekly Newsletter, Dec. 10, 2005. Page 18 
If you're not convinced by now, maybe this will... Are you the procrastinating type that always puts off things? Or maybe you're still not convinced 100% that generically optimizing your site will make it appear more like on the first page of the search results instead of on page 30 or 40... Or maybe you simply didn't have the time to get around to it. If you recognize yourself in any of this, maybe what follows will make you take a more decisive approach to your overall search engine marketing strategy. According to DoubleClick's latest Search Trend Report, the cost of the average keyword was up 47 percent from September 2004 to September 2005. What's more, Internet marketers and online advertisers are starting to discover new CPK (cost-per-keyword) metric terminology. Since search engine marketing has now become such an increasingly important and critical part of most ad budgets, CPK is now as ubiquitous with media planning executives as CPMs and CTRs are. DoubleClick's "Search Trend Report for Q3 2005" found that the average CPK as well as the average CPC (cost per click) showed steady increases throughout the third quarter.
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 This could be due to a number of reasons, but the report stated that the most likely factors were "competition and a greater emphasis on higher-priced, higher-trafficked keywords that give advertisers the potential for greater visibility and brand awareness." After a precipitous rise and fall in late '04 and early '05, CPK has been rising steadily throughout the year. During the third quarter, CPK rose from $20 to $26 in DoubleClick's index. The SEMphonic Keyword Pricing Index (SKPI), an index of cost-per-click and bids on selected industry-specific keywords, also showed a slow but steady rise across all industries in the first half of November. In certain sections of the retail market, however, the SKPI shows keyword prices are rising more dramatically. Prices are up in kitchen, food, and wine (8%), arts and entertainment (8%) and most significantly in clothing and accessories (10%). Comparing data from November 15 and November 1, SEMphonic noted a small rise in both top bids and average CPC, which rose from $0.49 to $0.53 on branded words, and from $0.96 to $1.00 on non-branded words. Overall, they report the average CPC rose about 4%. A SEMphonic spokesperson said, "This shows a slow but steady rise in advertising costs as the holiday season approaches, but does not yet represent any significant jump in pricing." My conclusion to all of this What's more, and almost automatically, people assume that organic listings are more relevant than PPC ads, and they are certainly right about that. So why continue to spend more and more of your hard-earned cash on "short-term" PPC investments when instead you could be investing for the long-term benefits of quality and relevant search engine optimization? The onus is on you. If you still need more convincing, drop me a line and I will see what else I can do to make you understand. Well, that's it for today folks. Thanks for being here and I will see you all next week. Have a great and safe weekend! Serge Thibodeau, editor Please note that I am available for SEO consultative work or to help you optimize your website for the major search engines. Feel free to contact me for an honest and fair assessment.  Note: Although I always try my best to answer each individual question that I receive, there are times when it's just impossible for me to answer every one I get, as the amount of emails sent to me keeps increasing all the time. Also, please note that, for confidentiality reasons, the names of people writing to us are never disclosed. Please send all your questions, comments or general enquiries to: questions@rankforsales.com Subscribe to the free Rank for Sales Weekly Newsletter <<< Previous page Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 3 14 15 16 17 18  Bookmark the RFS Newsletter by simply clicking here. Search engine industry news corner:  About Rank for $ales Rank for $ales can be reached via email at info@rankforsales.com or you can call from anywhere in the US or Canada, via our toll free number at 1-800-631-3221. Our offices are located near Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Visit our web site at www.rankforsales.com About Serge Thibodeau Pagina+™ is offered by Rank for $ale's parent company: GCIS Inc. Besides serving as editor and CEO of Rank for $ales, Serge Thibodeau currently writes professional search engine optimization articles in some of the following publications:
SEO Today (www.seotoday.com) Additionally, Serge Thibodeau has successfully developed and deployed Global Business Listing, a powerful and flexible 'paid inclusion' search engine that will further increase any company's rankings and visibility in the major search engines. On the Web, at: www.globalbusinesslisting.com Bookmark the Rank for $ales newsletter by simply clicking here. Legal Notice This newsletter is sponsored by Rank for Sales, a professional SEO firm in business since 1997. We suggest you bookmark our newsletter and place it in the list of your favorite websites by clicking here. Feel free to contact us if you need to have your website optimized by a professional SEO firm, or if you have any question on the subject of search engines. |
