It’s back to school time…. Do you know where your kids are hiding? And more importantly, do you know how to grab their attention?

These days, many youngsters are busy creating their own social circles by blogging about the Jonas Brothers, updating their social network profiles, and uploading videos of their latest dance party. Using sites such as YouTube, even real stars like Miley Cyrus are taking advantage of these free mediums.

So how do marketers aiming to target this Online Generation, get their message heard? Well, it is becoming increasingly apparent that simply displaying some text ads on Google is not the only answer. These kids want rich media, gadget ads and expressive ad copy. In order to stay competitive in this market, companies targeting America’s youth need to take a long hard look at their current marketing plan and allocate the necessary time and funds into these new mediums. The days of simple keyword search are numbered with this group.

If you don’t believe me then read this… According to a recent MSN Article, this generation is responsible for spending $150 million dollars per year! How can you pass up the opportunity to be a part of that?

In the world of search engine marketing, the phrase “one size does not fit all” definitely applies. Some companies tend to try to mimic other companies, when everyone’s search engine cpc marketing strategy ought to be tailored for their particular business. Let’s start with keywords.
 
When compiling keywords every company shouldn’t use the same type of keywords. Some companies can use one word keywords and set them on “broad match” because their product(s) and or service(s) are so niche. For example: When is the last time you looked up the word “biosimulation;” probably never. On the flip side a child adoption agency would want to use a keyword phrase such as “Chinese child adoption” instead of the word “adoption.” They would use a specific keyword phrase, otherwise people looking to adopt a street, a dog, or even a tree may click on their paid ad causing unwanted, non-converting clicks to their business. Next is cpc bid strategy..
 
Cpc bid strategy also known as cost per click won’t be the same for every company.  Companies need to realize that the online competition in every industry is different. In the marketing industry the keyword phrase “internet marketing” would cost between a $6 and $7 cpc for positions 1-3 in some search engines. Whereas a keyword phrase, such as “apartment sofa” would be estimated to cost a $1 cpc for positions 1-3.
 
Remember just like “one size does not fit all” one keyword type or one cpc model doesn’t fit all businesses either.

Since working at MoreVisibility, I’ve had the opportunity to look at the many different aspects of client campaigns in order to determine the most effective search engine marketing strategy. When walking through the door, every client has a different level of understanding and experience with search engine marketing.  While some clients tend to pay attention to the ads, other clients may be more concerned with the keywords.  One area of particular importance that many clients do not even know about, are negative keywords.  I call negative keywords the ‘unsung heroes’ of the campaign.  Negative keywords are keywords or phrases that are added to the campaign that prevent the ad from showing when they are entered into search queries.  By adding negative keywords you will be eliminating a large amount of irrelevant searches or superfluous clicks which, in turn, can increase your return on investment and save you money.

Only recently, I was working on a client’s campaign in the heavy duty construction industry.  When digging deeper into the account (no pun intended) I discovered a large list of potential negative keywords.  While it was helpful to add negative keywords along the lines of toys, games and costumes; it was also helpful to add negative keywords related to accidents, injuries and crashes.  It’s just as important to concentrate on the negative keywords as it is to focus of the search keywords.  One helpful tool to utilize when creating your list of negative keywords is the Google keywords tool.  By entering keywords into the search, you can see the volume of searches conducted on your industry or product; you can use all the search volume information and keywords that it produces to decided whether or not these terms are relevant to your business objectives.

So remember, it’s ok to think negatively sometimes…it may save you a lot of money and increase your ROI.