Measureable results from online advertising

Web marketer, Jonathan Dyer, says Clickatell's spend is online because their focus is on global coverage: "We've take a three-pronged approach to our online ads - we do some pay per click advertising and have placed banner ads on industry related sites, mainly for brand exposure because the returns are not that great.

"But it's really our web optimization that's worked the best for us, with Google and the Google network of sites getting us our biggest returns."

Dyer used extensive research to uncover which terms, phrases and words worked best for them on pay per click and then used these same phrases to optimize the Clickatell site.

Leon Lategan, CEO of Purple Cow Communications, which specializes in optimization, explains the concept: "We work on the coding of a website to make it more search engine friendly. The surfer on a search engine will type in keywords relevant to their needs. By optimizing we make our clients' websites relevant for that specific query.

"In this way, we assist our clients to get as high a ranking as possible on Google or any other search engine; we assist in getting more traffic to your website via search engines specifically.

"The sites pulled up on the first page of results of a search are called organic/natural results. A company cannot pay to be there - the position has to be earned through fulfilling the variables criteria; the more variables a search engine recognizes in a webpage, the higher the ranking on the search engine."

Dyer's advice is to spend time and money getting online advertising right: "You have to get really granular with it and funnel it back into your optimization efforts or it's money wasted.

"You've got to have a good tracking system to work with for a start. We know how much money we're making from each ad and we track each key word. We even know how much revenue each key word brings in."

Their tracking system also tracks clicks and records the conversion from clicks to registration and from those who register, how many convert to become buyers.

"The more specific and measurable, the better," is Dyer's motto.

He says Clickatell plans to increase its online spend because it sees the best return of all of their advertising and offers measurable results.

Clickatell primarily uses search ads (90% text), website ads, and strategic mailers launched upon specific triggers. They also run specific promotional campaigns: "The more relevant the page or website is to your business the more likely you are to get returns. Run of site ads can work, but paying per impression is often costly. We prefer a pay per click model or monthly fixed ROS price.

"For me there's only one measure of a successful advertising campaign and that's cash in the bank."