GOOGLE MARKETING EMERGES AS EFFECTIVE MEDIA FOR SHOWROOMS
By Dave Clark; Clark Communications Group

Google has been getting a lot of press as one of the current hottest stock offerings – and for good reason. Google has gained a reputation as a selling machine, and many analysts say that advertising will never be the same. The tech gurus project that, in ten years, everything you watch will be high-definition, interactive, and brought to you via the internet. But the future has already arrived for the many lighting showrooms using Google Regional Ad Link Sponsorships to drive traffic to their web sites.

The key to Google’s success is two-fold: #1, they were the first to achieve name recognition as a search engine. “I’ll Google that” has become an expression for “I’ll get the details on that subject”. As a result, Google handles far more search requests than any other search engine. And #2, Google has developed an ingenious pricing structure for their ads that is based on an auction concept.

Google Ad Link Sponsorships are the text ads that show up on the right-hand column of nearly any search word that you request through Google. The deciding factor about who shows up at the top of the column is determined by how much the advertiser bids. The advertiser agrees to pay that amount every time someone clicks on the ad and goes to his web site.

Clark Communications Group charges a flat rate of $1 per click for Google Ad Link Sponsorships, and has found that clicks on Google Ad Link Sponsorships cost three to four times less than what most newspapers charge. Newspapers charge a cost-per-thousand for “impressions” – which seems cheap, but be careful – it sometimes takes 500 impressions to get one click!

To cover the local angle, Google allows advertisers to serve internet users with internet service providers in specific geographic areas. Google allows advertisers to define a local market area by radius or by plotting latitudes and longitudes to create a market area of any shape and size.

A good example of Clark Communication Group’s success with Google comes from Erich Adalbert, owner of Lyman Lighting and Accessories in Kalamazoo. “We developed a database-driven web site with Clark Communications Group early in 2005. Initially, traffic counts of low unique visitors – the total number of unique individuals who came to visit our web site in one month – totaled fewer than 200 people. We drew an 80 mile radius around Kalamazoo and created ads and keywords for the categories of lighting that Lyman Lighting and Accessories sells. By September of 2005, Lyman Lighting had over 1,500 monthly unique visitors. I couldn’t be happier with the result.”

Other lighting showrooms using Google Regional Ad Link Sponsorships with Clark Communications Group include Connecticut Lighting in Hartford, Phillips Lighting in Modesto, Lights Fantastic in Dallas, Lights on Broadway in Minneapolis, Charleston Lighting & Interiors in Charleston, Dorman’s Lighthouse in Baltimore, LAM Lighting Showroom in the Hudson Valley area of New York, and Royalite Lighting in Buffalo.

Success with Google Ad Link Sponsorships has a lot to do with how well your web site inspires the visitor. In today’s world, the upscale lighting customer is savvy. She is looking for information about lighting, presented in a stylish way. And she expects to see lots of products. If you don’t yet have a database-driven web site, you can at least offer lots of photos of your best selling products, along with printable discount coupons, on your existing web site.

Fortune Magazine reports that, for the past three to four years, traditional ad spending has been just keeping pace with inflation while internet advertising has been ratcheting up at a rate of 20% to 30% per year. Internet advertising is expected to attract close to $8 billion in revenue from national advertisers in 2005. No wonder Google’s stock is doing so well!

For more information on Google Regional Ad Link Sponsorships and database-driven web sites, contact Dave Clark at 800-886-2522 or email dave@lightads.com.