Using Paid Search to Motivate Maryland Business Professionals

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What is Paid Search? 

With paid search, companies pay a fee to Google or another search engine company to appear in a prominent position on results pages for a specific search term. Search terms include one or multiple words. For example, keywords relevant to business professionals might search for “Maryland executives” or “Maryland business.” 

Search engines charge advertisers on a “cost-per-click” (CPC) basis – a fee is charged each time a searcher clicks on ad. Strong protections are in place to limit fraud. The price charged for each audience click is based on the number of companies that bid for that term. If more advertisers are interested in reaching searchers for a specific term, the price per click tends to be higher. Using a CPC model can help ensure better ROI from your ad spend. Paid search ads are often leveraged to drive website traffic and leads, but they can also increase brand awareness. 

Why Paid Search is Effective for Reaching Business Professionals 

• 89% of Traffic from Paid Ads is Net New Traffic (1) 
• 79% of marketers say paid search is “hugely beneficial” to their businesses (2) 
• 27% of all web traffic comes from paid search ads (3) 
• The average ROI from Google Search is $8:1 (4) 

Most Common Ways Business Professionals Search for Products and Services 

Here’s how business professionals usually search for opportunities: 

• By Business Name 
• By Type of Business (e.g., law firm, accounting firm, healthcare organization, educational institution, etc.) 
• By Location (e.g., Baltimore, Annapolis, Western Maryland) 
• By Size (e.g., small to medium size law firms) 
• Using keywords that suggest interest in business (e.g., b2b, partner with, work with) 

Why Paid Search is a High-Performing Tactic to Reach Maryland Businesses  

Maryland decision-makers look for opportunities to grow their businesses every day. Your ads reach them just as they are seeking information! Effective paid search starts with figuring out the right keyword combination to go after. You need to find search terms that: 

• Appeal to the type, size, and location of business that you wish to reach 
• Have enough search volume to ensure there will be results 

 Characteristics of Effective Paid Search Programs 

You can buy paid search ads using self-service tools on Google and Bing. But unless you have a lot of experience, it’s better to get professional help. With Paid Search, spending money is easy, but getting great results is tougher. Finding an expert helps safeguard your marketing resources. 

To get the best results, find a search program leader who knows the business industry. They will have an advantage in finding the correct terms for your brand and will be best at focusing on terms that attract true business opportunities. 

Paid Search Tips and Tricks for Business Professionals: 

Today’s search ads give you many opportunities to capture attention while Maryland decision-makers are searching: 

• Explore Optimization Options: Google can automatically set your campaign and optimize performance to drive the most clicks and website visits, the most leads, the most purchases (if you have an e-commerce site), and the lowest cost per action. 
• Include Phone Numbers: Include phone numbers in your ads to drive calls from people who would rather connect now than wander on your site. 
• Try Responsive Ads: Instead of writing a few complete search ads, you can submit lots of brief statements and messages, and their algorithms will test thousands of combinations until they find the mix of headlines, copy, and links that is most effective. 
• Include Extensions: Google lets you add more text and links to your ads. You can include these “extensions” to specific sections on your website, special items, customer reviews, and more. Extensions increase both the number and quality of clicks you receive. 

Remember also that 6 out of 10 searches on Google are made on mobile phones. Take the time to develop great ads for small as well as large screens. 

Get in Touch 

At The Daily Record, our mission is to help companies do more business and grow the industry. If you’d like more ideas and insights on making Paid Search work for your business, get in touch with one of our business marketing experts by filling out the form below.  

(1) Wordstream 2021
(2) Hennepin, 2019
(3) SearchEngineLand 2019
(4) Google 2021