Web Marketing 101 Series: Intro to Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Search Marketing

Pay-per-click (PPC) search marketing is a form of web advertising in which advertisers pay the publisher (the site that displays the ad) when their ad is clicked.

When you view a search result page in Google, Yahoo! Search or Microsoft Live Search, you almost always see two kinds of results: sponsored links and natural search results.  On Google, for instance, sponsored links can be found on the top and right-hand sections of the page, while natural (or organic) search results can be found in the main section of the page.  At the bottom of the page, you’ll typically see that the page is one of many, many pages of results.

Google Search Result Page

Yahoo! Search Result Page

Microsoft Live Search Result Page

The way in which advertisers (you!) get into the sponsored links sections of those pages is through a…

Web Marketing 101 Series: Intro to Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process by which owners of websites make improvements to the content, HTML code and inbound links of their web pages to make it easier for search engines to index them, and to ensure their pages naturally appear in results for relevant searches.

When you view a search engine result page in Google, Yahoo! Search or Microsoft Live Search, you almost always see two kinds of results: Sponsored Links, which advertisers pay to place on the page, and natural search results.  On Google, for instance, sponsored links can be found on the top and right-hand sections of the page, while natural (or organic) search results can be found in the main section of the page.  At the bottom of the page, you’ll typically see that the page is one of many,…