A Second-Place Winner

One side note about SEM is worth mentioning. SEM is one of the few areas where finishing second place or even third place can be just as beneficial as finishing first. For example, say you have an SEM ad on Google, and you’ve bid a PPC rate of $2.50 for it. After a week, your average ad position is 2.3. This means your ad is consistently showing up in search results in second or third position when somebody searches for the search keywords you used. Google advises you that, to gain first position for your SEM ad, you need to bid a $6.00 PPC rate. This will put your ad ahead of the top bidder’s SEM ad, which is normally appearing in first position in search results.

However, you may not want to spend extra money just to gain that top spot. The fact is, search engine users will often consider clicking on the second- or third-position ads in search results just as seriously as they would consider the first-position ads. Often, an SEM ad works on the basis of how well the ad is written, or how good the offer or call-to-action is to the potential customer who is looking for that type of product or service. If you have a good SEM ad or a great offer, you can often save money by bidding for second or third position and still get a great result.

Look at your average CTR. A rate of 2.1% is a very good rate. (Two out of every 100 customers who see your ad in search results will click on it.) You may be getting some quality leads from this SEM ad, enough to eventually provide you with a significant ROMI. Therefore, you might not want to bid a higher PPC rate to obtain first position in the search results. You may get just as many leads if your ad appears in second or third position, without having to spend additional money.