Use Google’s Site Targeting

Google advertisers, rejoice! If you ever wished you could pick and choose which sites across Google AdSense network your ads will appear, now you can!

In a recent development, Google AdWords introduced a new advertising model called Site Targeting, which gives you the ability to target your ads to specific content sites within the Google network.

In a nutshell, the biggest flaw of a pay-per-click advertising model is that you can only go after people that know what they need and are actively looking for it. This means that you’re leaving out the potential market share that are either not aware of your product or simply don’t know they need it yet.

You can reach those prospects by advertising on sites they are likely to be visiting. Google even offers a tool that allows you to find related websites participating in the program.

Unlike Google’s standard CPC (“Cost Per Click”), program with Site Targeting you pay on a CPM basis (per thousand impressions) with the minimum cost of $1 per 1,000 impressions. For example, if you pay $1 for 1,000 impressions and get 1 percent clickthrough rate, you will wind up paying at least 10¢ per click. This can be a double-edged sword since the rates and conversions can vary significantly based on your industry and your competition.

On the upside, Site Targeting encourages advertisers to use creativity and efficiency in creating and fine-tuning their ads, as opposed to relying solely on technology. It also permits use of more advanced ads, such as animated GIFs, flash content, and possibly even videos in the near future.

Overall, Google Site Targeting is an efficient way to get your company in front of a large audience who may have not found you otherwise.