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What are the Benefits and Disadvantages of Paid Advertising? |
[Need help writing ads? How to write a text ad that works.]
Let's look at the most common paid advertising model, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads, such as Google AdWords.

Because PPC ads are deployed almost immediately, they are the fastest way to drive traffic to a new site, and a great way to test how well different headlines and page designs convert visitors into buyers (split testing).
There is no question PPC ads work. They pull in visitors, and should arguably be part of the promotion mix for many online businesses. This is especially true for local businesses who can buy relatively cheap local keywords like "Gettysburg Lasik Surgery" instead of the broad and expensive keyword "Lasik Surgery"
But there are also drawbacks and costs to consider. Here are the key problems and some ways to offset them:

White (background) areas get little attention. Gray represents areas of somewhat more attention. Orange and especially, red, are areas of high attention. With the exception of the first text ad in the right column, you can see that most of the focus is on the "Golden Triangle" in the upper left hand corner—THAT is where you would like your link to appear.
All the more reason to build pages around the "long-tail" of secondary keywords. Doing so will you give the highest probability of arriving in the Golden Triangle at minimal cost. Of course, you can arrive in the happy Golden Triangle by buying your way into the "sponsored listings" (if any) at the top of the page.
Invest in paid advertising if it can be purchased profitably, or to test the conversion rate of new designs in the short term.With all paid ads, you must have proper tracking software in place, and just as important, people to monitor the results. As certain keyword / network combinations prove profitable, increase the budget for those keywords accordingly. Drop keywords that don't make the grade.
What are the alternatives to paid ads?
Sorry, this section is being updated. Please check back later.
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