Getting the Most From
Your Keyword Advertising

More and more companies are using keyword advertising through search engines such as Google, Overture, and LookSmart to drive traffic to their Web sites. Many, however, are missing an excellent lead generation opportunity -- to capture the names of people who visit their Web site.

Keyword advertising can be an excellent lead generation tool, but it must be deployed in a way that creates an opportunity for prospects to identify themselves, and perhaps even answer some sales qualification questions. Here is an overview of how to set up a basic, but effective, response-oriented keyword campaign.

Step 1:
Develop an effective offer

Prospects won’t respond unless they are given a good reason. That’s the job of your offer – to present a reason for responding. One approach is to help prospects learn more about a topic they are researching. For example, if your company provides customer relationship management software, you aould create an offer to help IT executives learn more. Prospects would certainly be interested in something called “The IT Executive’s Guide to Simplifying CRM.”

The key to a good offer is that it must seem to be altruistic. If it smacks of product sell, prospects won’t respond. An effective information guide offer might include a package of white papers, case studies, archived webinars, and research notes. It can also boost response if you include an interactive component such as a Flash demo or ROI calculator.

Step 2:
Create a responsive ad

Most keyword advertising seems to focus on product, but effective direct response advertising is almost always offer oriented, not product oriented. If you focus too much on product, prospects won’t have any reason to respond.

Here is an example of keyword ad that might be used with the offer above.

Stop building CRM from scratch. Free information kit shows how next-generation CRM technology simplifies delivery of superior customer service -- while leveraging your current investment.

Step 3:
Produce a responsive Web page

At first glance, you may want your keyword advertising to click through to your main Web site, but this is usually a mistake as most home pages aren’t set up to lead a prospect through the response process. It is more effective to have your keyword advertising click through to a special landing page.

Your landing page should include a few paragraphs of copy that focus on reasons to read your valuable information kit – and have a response form prospects can fill out.

The response form should capture name, company, address, email, and phone number. In addition, you can ask a series of questions to qualify leads. But don’t get greedy. You’ll lose response if you ask more than three qualifying questions.

-Richard Bloch

Specializing in: 
• Direct response
• Sales lead generation
• Technical writing
• Email & Web
• Articles
• White papers
• Newsletters
• Brochures
• Data sheets