Searching – Google, Bing and other search engines are the places where consumers go looking for a business.  (The traditional media equivalent: phone books.)

Surfing – News, entertainment and lifestyle sties are grabbing more and more consumer media time (Magazines and newspapers.)

Socializing – Facebook and Twitter are the two main places where people connect with friends, family and followers online.  (Word-of-mouth)

Take a look at this slide presentation with 75 eye-popping stats regarding consumer behavior online. Know more about your customers… to get more customers!

But let’s try to tackle this question on its own… Should I bid on my own business name?

You already know that consumers are looking for your business online. Many are searching for yourbusiness by name because they are researching your company or looking for your contact info.  After all, the easiest way for consumers to run a free “background check” on your business is by looking for you on one of the three major search engines:  Google, Yahoo! or Bing.  But what shows up for those searches, known as your online reputation, can convince a consumer whether to purchase your product or service, or buy from one of your competitors.

When it comes to search engine marketing, bidding on business category keywords (ex: “Dallas spa”) is a must if you want your business to show up in a paid ad when someone is looking for your kind of products or services. But it’s just as important to bid on your business name keywords (ex: “Sally’s Swanky Spa”).  Here are some reasons why:

The Competition

It’s your business name – so why pay for it? Because your competitors are! According to Performics, leading brands only receive 87% of traffic from their business name keyword searches. The remaining 13% are “poached” by competitors!* That’s because they know that when your customers search for your business, they have an opportunity to snatch the sale straight out of your hands with a well-worded sponsored ad.  Don’t give them the chance.

Dominate the Page

Instead, dominate the search results page when someone searches with your business name keywords.  Efforts you’ve made to manage your reputation will help you dominate the organic listings, but bidding on your business name will ensure you dominate the sponsored ad listings on the search engine results page.

Control the Message

Controlling what appears in natural (or “organic”) listings is difficult and happens slowly. But you can control the message using a paid ad quickly and easily! Highlight seasonal specials, new inventory, a rewards program or unique features and convert an interested consumer into a paying customer. Plus, a paid ad for your business name keywords lets you control the click-through destination to a special landing page featuring a promotion or product.

It’s Inexpensive

More businesses like yours are bidding on the same business category keywords because many businesses may offer the types of products or services you do. That makes category keywords more costly. But although a few sneaky competitors may bid on your name, it’s yours which means the search engines will typically give you the best placement at the best price.

Strategic Defense

Bidding on your own business name keywords lets you seed the page with more positive results to actively “counter-attack” any negative links on the page. A negative review looks more serious when there are lots of them, but when the bulk of the results on the page are positive it looks more isolated and rare.

Big Brands Know Why

Still not convinced? Then consider this: big, well-established brands like Apple, Verizon or Walmart bid on their own keywords. These brands have enough global recognition, local presence and customer loyalty that most customers know to go to them directly. Yet they still run television ads and understand the value of locking out competitors by dominating the search engine results page. So take a page out of their multi-million dollar marketing playbook and be sure to bid on your business name keywords!

By the way, your brand name or business name may qualify as being “trademarked” by some search engines.  That will protect you from competitors who might want to bid on your business name keywords! Check the link below to see if our business name is eligible on Google.  http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.