The Internet has presented us with a new way to attract qualified prospects to our company and the products and services we provide – the purchasing of key words on search engines.

As opposed to all of our other choices for spending our marketing dollars (advertising in magazines, direct mail, telemarketing, trade shows), instead of buying an entire audience for a specified CPM, key word purchases limit the exposure of our message to only the people interested in finding information about the key word searched. This is a powerful tool in target marketing and can provide more highly qualified leads than simply listing your site at a directory.

Some search engines such as HotBot will sell you key words for as little as $1,000 per month. When a person searches for your key word, your banner ad will appear at the top of the site. Each time your banner appears, you will be charged for an "impression" and your monthly rate depends on the number of impressions made during the month. Buying keywords at this engine does not guarantee your placement in the search results since HotBot does not alter the results based on advertisers.

Another search engine works differently. GoTo.com has a very different strategy for advertisers and one that is even more economical for smaller companies. For as little as $25.00, you can purchase key words at this search engine and manage your account on a daily basis, if you like. When you purchase a key word at this site, you are able to write a headline and a brief description of your services and products. When a person searches on your key word, your "advertisement" is placed at the top of the search results.

But even more interestingly, you purchase your key words based on other company's purchases since these words are not sold on an exclusive basis but on the basis of which company is willing to pay more (or less) for the word. The companies paying the most are listed first.

We thought we'd check this service out for marketing the seminars offered by Internet Monitor and after researching a variety of potential words, we settled on "marketing seminars". When we searched the term, we found that 7 companies had purchased this term ranging from 6 cents to 1 cent (the minimum). By bidding 2 cents, we were guaranteed to be listed in the top 5 sites. And, we didn't want just anyone attracted to our ad, so we narrowly wrote our headline to specify schools and library marketers.

Each time someone "clicks" through to our web site from searching GoTo.com, our account is charged 2 cents. To me, this is a better buy since I don't pay for "impressions" and I consider paying 2 cents for a qualified lead extremely inexpensive. How many of those leads turn into sales, we'll see but since I can cancel at any time, I feel this is well worth testing.

So, when comparing different options for buying key words, here are some things to ask:

1) What am I paying for – impressions or click-throughs.

2) Is my word exclusive or is my banner ad "rotated" with other companies.

3) How can I manage my account? Can I cancel at any time or do I have to pay for x number of impressions for a month, two months, etc.

4) How can I limit my exposure if I buy a word exclusively for a month and I could potentially get "unlimited" impressions.

Buying key words is an effective way to generate visits to your home page but just remember, you still need to capture the visitor with quality content and compelling offers!