Chicago, IL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 11/13/2008 -- At a recent Speaker Event hosted by Presidents Advisory Committee (PAC), a diverse group of Chicagoland small business presidents, CEOs and owners learned how low-cost search engine marketing can promote and grow their businesses.

PAC member Mike Montgomery, President of liQuidprint (http://liquidprint.com), a leading Web design and consulting firm, explained the power of Internet marketing. “People who are running businesses are trying to find your product or service,” he told his peer executives. “Potential customers – the businesses you want to meet – use search engines to find a solution to their problems.”

Mr. Montgomery described two approaches to search engine marketing. First, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which helps search engines find your Web site because it is “optimized” for select key word searches. This approach helps prospects find your site with no cost to you.

The second is Pay per Click advertising (PPC), where your business pays only when a visitor actually clicks on an ad appearing as part of the search engine’s search results and visits your Web site. Good PPC ads reflect the search term, have a clear call to action and direct the visitor to the exact Web page that will meet the need he or she is looking for.

Search engine marketing can benefit small business marketing programs and results can be measured, unlike with traditional marketing techniques. A company can track the number of visitors, measure how many pages they read (and when they leave before acting) and count the number of actions tied to specific search terms.

Also, costs can be managed. Given the ease of fielding PPC campaigns and tools to self-publish Web content, a small business can run small experiments and continually improve its search engine marketing for as little as several hundred dollars.

Jay Kelly, senior consultant with human resources services and outsourcing firm Administaff (http://administaff.com) said, “Successful marketing requires not only an efficient Web site but the discipline to update your site often, even weekly. It is so important to constantly monitor what works, continually tweaking to improve your content.”

How can business owners use search engine marketing to promote and grow their business? Experts at PAC suggest beginning with these steps:

• Analyze what your competitors do. Even if you don’t believe you will get sales from your Web site, you can learn from your competitors’ approaches to Internet marketing.
• Define the business purpose of your Web site. Is it to sell product? Gather leads? Validate your existence? This will inform both your spending decisions and your results measurement.
• Take steps to help search engines put you on the first page. Emphasize relevant content tied to search terms used by your prospects, periodically “freshen up” your content and maintain a blog highlighting your expertise.
• Launch or improve a Pay per Click advertising program. Run multiple ads, measure results, drop what doesn’t work and emphasize what does.

Nick Arvis, Founder of PAC, says that members are continually looking for ways to reach high-potential business prospects. “Many of our members have learned to use Internet marketing to find new customers efficiently and economically,” says Mr. Arvis.

About Presidents Advisory Committee
Presidents Advisory Committee groups are roundtables of small business presidents, CEOs and owners who meet monthly as a peer advisory board. PAC members provide objective feedback to each other in a safe and trusting environment. Members apply simple, but effective Tools for Success™ to analyze growth areas, set long-term goals and prioritize issues. These tools are especially powerful when working with other business owners, presidents and CEOs dedicated to each others’ business success.