Many business owners have a textbook approach to marketing. They read about what typically works for businesses in their industry and that becomes the benchmark for their marketing approach.

If taking out Yellow Page ads is the traditional way to market their business, then that is what they do. It becomes a cookie cutter approach to marketing and it may not be the best approach anymore.

Just because certain businesses have been successful in the past without using the Internet, it doesn't necessarily ring true that the Internet should continue to be ignored as a marketing avenue.

Undervalued Websites

A website is undervalued when it is being used as an electronic brochure and not much more. Because of old-fashioned ideas, the company can not imagine the application of Internet Marketing to its website. Yet, that is exactly what they should be doing; especially service providers.

Service providers need to stop thinking that word of mouth is the only way to get business or that you can only sell products on the Internet. The Internet can be an excellent way to get clients. My wife is an Interior Designer; a profession that doesn't typically advertise on the Web. Yet, we started a Pay-Per-Click program for her that became so successful she couldn't take on anymore clients.

Creating an Online Campaign

Don't worry about how much competition there is on the Web; putting together a successful online campaign to drive traffic to your website is possible with a focused Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign. Here's a simplified primer to get you started:

1)Research the techniques.

Yahoo, MSN and Google control 95% of this online game. The goal is to be on the first page of Yahoo, MSN or Google as the result of a keyword search by your target audience. You can purchase online ads through both Yahoo and Google.

2)Establish a budget.

Put a limit on the amount of money you spend on a campaign. Every time someone clicks on your ad, money will be taken out of your account, so have a realistic budget.

3)Find the right keywords for your audience.

Look at the ads being used by your competition and see what keywords they are using. Then compare that to your audience. What other words could you use that would attract traffic? Test those ideas by using the free keyword selector tool at http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/rc/srch/

4)Create your ad.

Write search listings for each of your keywords. Create a headline for your ad using not more than 25 characters. Exactly repeat your search phrase in the headline and in the body of the ad.

5)Bid on the words.

Yahoo claims that you'll have the most success by bidding on at least 20 or more keywords. The order of the ads on the pages is determined by the prices bid on the keywords; the higher the bid price, the higher the ad placement.

6)Split Test your ad.

Test your ads to see which ones work the best. Check your click-through rates to find out which ones are performing the best.

7)Have a separate landing page for your ad.

Don't send your ad traffic to your homepage and hope they'll find the product or service you are advertising. Create a special landing page for your PPC campaign.

If you haven't considered a PPC campaign, now might be the time to give it a chance. Start using the Internet to market your business and get ready for an avalanche of leads and sales.