Why Bidding On Your Own Brand is Good Business

By AdStation | March 21st, 2013 | Categories: SEO & SEM
Bidding Brand

Paying money to promote your own brand online when it is already a top contender seems a little counterintuitive, doesn’t it? Why throw money at paid-search marketing when your brand already ranking No. 1 in an organic search? In times of tight budgets, it just doesn’t seem to make good business sense. But, these are also times of intense competition, and bidding on your own brand can be a smart move.

When a shopper searches specifically for your brand terms, that’s a clear indication that he is interested in what you have to offer. It also signifies that he is closer to making a purchase than those shoppers who are using generic keywords. Bidding on your brand terms doubles your visibility. Not only are you the top organic result, but your paid ad appears first in the search results. High brand visibility solidifies your presence as a niche leader and exponentially increases the likelihood that the shopper will go with your brand when he is ready to purchase.

Additionally, you can’t assume that just because you rank at the top of the organic search results shoppers will automatically purchase from your site. Your competitors are also bidding on your brand terms, and they are doing everything they can to get consumers to come to their site instead of yours. Again, a paid ad reinforces your position as a leader in the niche. You may be the top retailer, but you still have to work to convince shoppers to buy from you.

Finally, paid-search marketing gives you the opportunity to provide more information about your products or services than you can with your organic listing. Paid ads offer marketing features that can help you attract people to your site such as including quick links to daily deals, exclusive online sales, store hours and locations. Use those features to your full advantage. The more clickable information shoppers have at their fingertips, the more likely they are to visit your site.

According to a recent Google study, advertisers who paused their paid-search ads saw 85% of their click traffic disappear, and it wasn’t replaced by organic clicks. But don’t take my word for it. If you still aren’t convinced that investing in your own brand terms makes sense, I encourage you to test the concept.  Run without paid ads for six weeks, and then turn on the paid search for another six weeks. Compile the data from both runs and analyze the visits and conversions. You will notice increased traffic and a hike in revenue during the period in which you ran the paid ads.