If you are like me, the topic of the ruptured BP Oil pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico, and the resulting damage to land and sea in the region is a painfully frustrating one! The news media reported recently that the oil spewing from the ruptured line is now on par with the Exxon Valdez spill every 8 days! So every week is like another Valdez spill over, and over.
On one hand, we should be very thankful that in all the years of off-shore oil drilling, that such an accident has not happened. But this single event may easily make-up for all those that never occurred (sadly). Now two months into the constant stream of oil, we only hear news of more oil expected and the damage it is causing.
Should it really be that hard to plug a leak? A lot of people are asking that same question.
Where are most people looking to for answers? Online. From web pages, to blogs, to Facebook and Twitter accounts, the world is angry about the spill, and they have plenty to say!
So, how does a wealthy company like BP go about trying to minimize the PR damage, and deal with the litany of accusations of an angry world? One way that BP has tried to deal with it is by purchasing ad words from top search engines Google and Yahoo!. Take a look at this search for the term “Oil Spill” The first Sponsored Link directs you to BP’s website to show progress of what they are doing to control the spill and to direct information seekers to the company’s official website. BP has received flak from many critics, do you see this as unethical?
On any search site, you will see two types of results, either a sponsored link, which are considered as paid advertisment, or an organic link, which is the popular result that users typically lean towards using.
Most people searching online for a term, are used to seeing the results that show up at the top of the search results pages, often with a colored background or down the right column of the search result. Those are the paid advertisements.
Do users have to pay for them? No. If you find a paid advertisement link, and you take the link to the site, only the company who placed the ‘ad’ pays for it. The other search results are simply a matter of either popular results that other users are tending to choose, or may be sites, blogs, or businesses who are aware of the keywords that users are looking for, and use them in their content effectively.
Today, you can make sure your online promotions are targeting keywords that users are looking for. Almost every search will come back with over a thousand results. Are you really going to search each one for the best deal? Naturally I either go with the top paid ad, or the top results from the non-paid ads. My time is limited and I am too busy to spend hours looking for the ideal vendor. I just want to look at the product, and order right away.
If you did your homework, and make sure your business advertises its products with the keywords that your customers are looking for, then you will be found! If you don’t understand internet keywords, and are not sure how to use them, you might have a great site, but users will never find you because you are not talking their ‘language’. So making sure you can use keywords effectively is hugely important in your website content. If you can’t, then working with a business who does understand them and can assist you is very beneficial.
The other option is going with online advertising. Here, you still are making sure you use the most popular keywords for your desired search results, but you are not just using them in your site, you are paying for the rights to deliver YOUR content to users who type in terms that match your product. But note, prices for paid ads can vary depending on the amount of competition is willing to pay for those same keywords.
So you decided to purchase ad words, the most common paid advertisement is cost-per-click (CPC). CPC bids determine the amount you’re willing to pay for each time someone clicks on your ad when it shows up on the search results. In general, a higher CPC bid can allow your ad to show at a higher position on the page. Your bid amount is combined with your Quality Score to determine your ad’s position on the page. Learn more below.
The other frequently used online advertisement is cost-per-impression (CPM). Which is when each time someone searches for your keyword and your advertisement loads in the search results, the search engines counts that loading as one impression.
Most companies like Google or Yahoo! sell keywords based on user clicking on ads using specific term in a paid search result. So you know that the very customer you are trying to connect with is actually looking for you!
So with that said, BP purchasing ad words, the links are, in all fairness, labeled as “sponsored” but we’re pretty interested to know your take. Do you think it will help or hurt their current PR situation?
