Winning the keyword ad game.

Q: A smaller bank in our region has just started a keyword marketing campaign. To compete effectively we need to get one going--and fast--what do we need to know to get started?

A: Keyword marketing has exploded from a trend to a marketing mainstay over the last 18 months. By the end of 2004, Jupiter Research projects that 63 percent of the population will be Internet users. By comparison, cable TV penetration is approximately 66 percent.

It all starts with a search

The first destination for most Internet users--whether it's for a new office printer or a mortgage--is a search engine. Search is the number-two application on the Internet, behind e-mail, with approximately 84 percent of Web suffers accessing Internet content via a search engine.

In most cams, search engine marketing, specifically keyword sponsorships, makes a solid foundation for any marketing campaign. Nearly 35 percent of online ad spending is keyword search marketing.

Google and Overture

Whether the goal is to increase deposits or drive inquiries for specific products, banks should seek to sponsor as many keywords as possible that are relevant to their products and services. So, start with two of the largest search engine marketing companies, Google and Overture. Google sells keywords that run above, and adjacent to, search engine results.

With Google, advertisers pay nothing unless the searcher clicks on the link, providing maximum budget control and allowing you to set a maximum per-day spend. Google also places the top three AdWord listings on other search engines, including AOL, Ask Jeeves and Earthlink.

Several variables can affect the average click-through rate as well as the total number of clicks for a campaign:

* Creative text and relevance to the search terms.

* Current cost of each keyword, which can change hourly.

* How often the ad results in a click.

Overture has a similar system, although its rankings are based exclusively on the bid cost. The highest bid gets the top listing. Overture sponsors keyword listings on Yahoo!, MSN and others.

It's important, especially during the beginning of your campaign, to test different creative copy for the listings to maximize click-through rates. You can make adjustments to the buy in real time, adding new keywords, removing ineffective keywords or changing the creative. This testing helps ensure maximum return on investment.

cary Hatch is president and CEO of MDB Communications, a full-service advertising, marketing and public relations firm in Washington, D.C., telephone: [phone]; e-mail: [e-mail]