Our marketing manager is suggesting we include something called Google Adwords in our search marketing budget. Is it really necessary to pay for search engine traffic?

Adwords,
Portland, OR

A: Dear Adwords,

Hey, is it really necessary to pay for parking tickets? You might be ok if you ignore them. On the other hand, you might end up spending the night in jail.

Google is currently the most popular search engine on the Internet. You’ll simply get better rankings, more qualified traffic and faster results when you include an Adwords campaign in your search marketing spend. You only pay when someone actually clicks on your ad, and you control the maximum amount you’re willing to spend on any given day.

If you’re already using email as a marketing tool, investing in an Adwords campaign is also a smart way to address some of the challenges anticipated by Gmail, Google’s free email service.

Aunt May

I had the opportunity to speak at an emarketing conference in Toronto last week. Getting Up To Speed, hosted by Direct Marketing News.

It was a privelege to share the stage with speakers representing the forefront of our industry. Every session offered valuable gems from the likes of Advertising.com, Overture, Google, 24/7, ThinData and more. The quality of information offered up was impressive. As was the opportunity for some good, in depth conversation with colleagues in Eastern Canada.

What struck me most was the similarity between East and West. Our industry faces the same challenges, opportunities and threats regardless of geography.

I made a point of attending as many sessions as I could outside my core area of expertise; learning a great deal about the evolving SEM industry and adding a few new ideas to our media planning toolkit.

Aside from the technical knowledge and the opportunity to share ideas with some evolutionary thinkers, I came home with increased respect for skill level represented by our West Coast emarketing industry. More than one person jokingly referred to recruiting their talent from “out West”.