With the rise in contextual-based advertising, small businesses can gain a significant advantage over competitors in similar niche markets. With benefits of keyword bidding and quality rankings, your business can gain prominence and visibility in the top search engines. Yahoo! search engines, although a rivaling second to Google as a search site, still offers plenty of options fro context-driven advertising and managing an effective e-marketing campaign. Yahoo! Search Marketing offers a wide range of products and services that can meet the needs of any budget.
Sponsored search is the fresh wave of online marketing, allowing you, the small business owner, to pay for placement with a well-strategized plan. Yahoo! Search Marketing as we know it today was an acquisition of Overture; it was the place to go when for evaluating the price of keywords available for bidding at any given time, and finding the best keywords for your website overall. Recently, Yahoo! shifted gears to a ranking system for determining value, rather than bidding only. This takes into account the performance and historical data of keywords and combinations, offering a more targeted approach based on quality (very similar to Google's concept).
What's Available with Yahoo! Search Marketing
The key offerings of using Yahoo! Search marketing include:Sponsored search optionsLocal advertisingSearch submissions on multiple listing sitesYahoo! Shopping portal exposureYahoo! Travel portal exposureDirectory submissions on Yahoo! directory
Packages vary based on your small business needs; most small business owners will find the local advertising segment especially helpful in targeting a specific market. This can help target the prospects you need in your neighborhood only, maximizing your marketing dollars with very little effort.
Sponsored Search allows you to place our business in the top, light blue boxes found on search listings. This is considered one of the key areas where visitors are likely to click, and can help you boost your search engine ranking visibility immediately. Promotional options allow you to target specific zones and territories where this will appear.
Yahoo! Local can drive customers in your neighborhood directly to your business listing. Similar to Google Maps listings, Yahoo! local will help you get a higher placement specific to your location. It's a good way to target a market and attract visitors who are more likely to visit an offline presence as well. The search algorithms are configured using zipcodes and keywords, making the results more targeted and better refined. The difference between Yahoo and Google in this area is that Google will allow advertisers to show ads on specific geographic regions, while Yahoo depends solely on Search Local listings. If you want the Google-influenced targeting strategy, Yahoo! does offer Geotargeting. This can narrow down your distribution to specific states, cities, or neighborhoods.
Search Submit is a powerful tool on Yahoo! Search Marketing campaigns, allowing you to simultaneously submit to additional search engines such as AltaVista and AlltheWeb,iVillage, and CNN.com. Results will appear below the sponsored search box, and ranking will depend on the traffic quantity and links to your website. You'll also be submitted to Yahoo!'s business search engines. Yahoo! also features a handful of Search Submit resellers: iNeedHits.com, InfoSpider, MarketLeap, PositionTech, and Trellian can help you improve your content and page ranking to be more compliant with search engine submission procedure.
Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Travel portals are high-traffic destination websites that can offer you some strong customer leads on a regular basis. Listing and advertising on these partner sites might just help your small business receive some extra visibility, especially if you have a product or service relating to any niche topics in these industries. The great thing about your appearance on these networks is that they are visitied by otivated sellers. These people are already in ‘shopping mode,' and may be more likely to click on your links or products if they are readily available. Yahoo! Shopping buyer's guides can highlight a product for your business, and link out to your website in a professional and attractive format. If you retail multiple products, setting up a Yahoo! Store can give you an additional extension of your business. Both the shopping and travel portals offer pay-er-performance programs, so you'll only be paying for advertising once it is clicked. This gives you an easy way to track the effectiveness of each campaign.
If you decide to include your business on Yahoo! Directory, you can choose from both sponsored and regular listings to boost your traffic through exposure. According to Yahoo!'s website, over 330 million unique users tap into Yahoo! directory on a regular basis, and your site would appear as a formal directory listing under the right category. This is a great way for your small business to prmote its online presence under a formal category and index.
Benefits of Yahoo! Search Marketing
Yahoo! Search Marketing differs from contenders such as Google and Microsoft AdCenter in a few distinct ways. The key benefits of Yahoo's search program include:SimplicityEase of use and overall functionalityEasy keyword selection through the Overture keyword tools available (and they're free)Low levels of competitor saturation of specific keyword combinationsRecommendations of similar keywords through OvertureLower overall costs for niche keywords and new topicsUse of the Quality Index that takes into account the ad's historical performance and expected performance
How ‘Quality Ranking' Is Determined
Yahoo's recent updates to Yahoo! Search Marketing have identified the use of a Quality Index. This is a combination of:
Conversion data availableHistorical resultsKeywords in the URLKeywords in the landing ageKeywords in the heading and titlesThe bidding or click priceComparison of price on other advertising sites
Maximizing Your Small Business Marketing Budget With Yahoo! Search Marketing
The best ways you can make the most of your Yahoo! search marketing campaign dollars is to focus on sponsored listings and choose the Local options if you have an offline presence. These strategies will make it much easier to reach higher page rankings, and gain the visibility you need. In addition, you'll need to develop your website and content with a few things in mind. You can:
Make sure keywords are contained in your title tagScatter keywords throughout your landing pageTake advantage of ‘dayparting' where you can run more or less ads during particular parts of the dayTest different landing pages to see what worksUse keywords in the landing page URLTake advantage of naming a domain name with high keyword rankings
Costs for Small Businesses
Yahoo! Search Marketing options can prove to be a valuable extension of your online marketing campaign, especially if you are on a limited budget. Your small business can open an account for just $5, and package rates depend on:
The number of directories you want to submit toSponsored search vs. regular listingsBanner advertising purchasesGeotargeting vs. general exposureKeywords selected
The value of pay per performance marketing initiatives is your ability to control your budget; you can start with as little as $50 per month or as much as $1,000. How much you invest will largely depend on your conversion rates. You'll need to calculate what your conversion rate is before even beginning a formal campaign. The conversion rate is the amount you can afford to pay a potential customer to visit your site, and turning that into an actual sale. If the price is higher than the profit you would make, your marketing efforts will be wholly ineffective.
After you've determined a budget, registering for an account is as simple process. Yahoo! will approve your account in as little as 24 hours, and you can start creating the listing immediately. You'll need to track the visitors and results of your campaign on a regular basis, and have the freedom to adjust the amount you've invested at any time.
Your small business can benefit from Yahoo! Search Marketing in many ways when you:Outline specifically what you are looking forMonitor your progress frequentlyAdjust the program each month until you see some consistency
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