What is SEM?
SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing and refers to paid advertising for your business on search engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo!. As an advertiser, you can choose to have your ads appear when consumers search for your specific products or services and only pay when those consumers search, see your ads, and are interested enough to click through to your website.

What is the difference between Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
SEM consists of placing paid ads in the Paid or Sponsored Links sections of the search engines.
SEO consists of optimizing your website (title text, meta tags, content, links to other sites, etc.) which will affect your ranking in the Organic (Free) listings section of the search engine. SEM has clear financial metrics -- you pay for the ad and you can see how many new customers you convert. SEO can have tremendous benefits, but is much less predictable in its results

Why should I advertise online?
In recent years, you may have noticed a small decline in the response you get from your traditional advertising efforts. It is likely because the audience for your local advertising is moving online.
In 2008 online media measurement group comScore reported that people are conducting 800 million local commerce-driven searches on the web per month. That means consumers are searching their local towns and cities for places to shop or services to hire. If they do not find you there, they will probably find one of your competitors.

How do you guarantee the traffic?
Through our experience in managing SEM campaigns for local businesses, we are able to implement proven methods to find a guaranteed number of people who are looking for a business like yours. We constantly monitor the progress of your campaign and make the necessary editorial and campaign changes to ensure we fulfill 100% of the contracted clicks within the contract term.

How do you make sure I don't receive all of my clicks in a short period of time?
Our proven system monitors your account to minimize underperformance or performance spikes. When your account is underperforming, we review your ad copy and keywords to ensure optimal performance. In addition, we place your ad more frequently on the search engines in higher priority positions to drive traffic (clicks) to your site. When your campaign is over-performing, we turn down the dial to minimize traffic spikes and even out the delivery of visitors.

Who generates the keywords?
Our editors and copywriters do. Through both historical performance data and a comprehensive review of your business, they discern the best keywords possible to drive qualified potential customers searching for the products and services you offer.

Can I choose which search engines my campaigns run on?
Our technology distributes ads for our small business customers across a comprehensive online network, and places them where consumers are searching, from Google and Yahoo! to wireless devices, online community forums, and popular blogs. Our ad network includes over 30 search engines including Google, Yahoo!, Ask, MSN, AOL, LookSmart, Excite, iWon, Altavista, Infospace, WebCrawler, Dogpile, Earthlink, Netscape, About, Myspace, Local, ePilot, Cnet, and more.

I currently buy clicks from Google, Yahoo!, etc. Can I still buy from you?
The search engines do not allow multiple campaigns to be run against the same website URL, unless the site has a distinct sub-page that is dedicated to a different product or service than the main page.

I currently buy clicks from Google for a lower price per click than your offer. Why should I buy from you instead?
You may be able to buy clicks on search engines for less, but are you buying the right ones? Also, how valuable is your time? Duke City Search is a full-service, turn-key program that automates delivery of clicks for you. We do all the work for you -- our pros select the keywords, write the ad copy, submit to the search engines, monitor your progress, etc. -- to allow you to focus on what you do best, running your business and securing new customers.

How often can I change my keywords?
After we work with you to initially select your keywords, we suggest you let them run for 30-60 days to assess their performance. At that time, if there are keyword changes you'd like to make, we'll make them for you. In addition, you may change your geographic targeting (city/county names used to help pinpoint qualified traffic) at any time based on your business needs.

What would it cost for me to run a SEM campaign myself?
The costs and time associated with running a campaign directly with the search engines will vary considerably. Factors that influence it are:
• The number of search engines you use
• The keywords being bid on, the business category, and how generic/specific it is
• The time, and therefore expense, of effectively managing a campaign directly with the search engines can be considerable. Getting started can take up to 40 hours and most estimates range from 15-20 hours per month, just for managing a campaign on 1 search engine.

I'm not happy with my current website or the results I get from it. Or, I don't have a website. How can this program help me?
With each package, we build you a customized web presence (Landing Page) that will provide customers with detailed information about your business. The Landing Page is focused on the key information that consumers want before contacting you (moving toward becoming a customer). The Landing Page includes a map, contact information, an overview of your business, the products and services you offer, any specials offers you want to make, links to your current website, etc. All the elements are trackable -- meaning, when someone performs an activity on your Landing Page (prints the map, clicks your email address, places a phone call to your customized phone number), we track their information and provide it to you in regular reports.

I only get my customers from about a 5-10 mile radius. The Internet is too broad to help me.
The size of the Internet can be overwhelming. Our system will initially set up your account to target your city or DMA. We then attach geographic terms (city/county names) to your keywords (e.g. "Rio Rancho plumber" instead of "plumber") for all of the smaller, local communities within your target area.

I've tried online marketing, and it doesn't work.
There are many types of online advertising, and you must take care to choose the type of advertising that is right for your business. SEM works for buyers who know exactly what they want. These buyers are looking for a specific product or service that is relevant to you. That's why they're searching for your keywords, and why they click on your ad.

What prevents someone from clicking multiple times on my ad?
This phenomenon -- known as 'click fraud' -- is actively monitored and tracked by the search engines. While the methods that each search engine employs to deal with this vary, they each have effective measures in place to ensure that advertisers are only charged for a 'click' when the individual clicking on the ad has a valid interest in the product/service being marketed. In the event that an ad is clicked more than once within a 24 hour period by the same computer, only one click will be counted toward your campaign total.

How do I know you are really delivering the clicks?
All of the search engines are audited to confirm the numbers they give us are correct. In addition, we provide 24/7 access to our Merchant Center so that you can monitor the results yourself. We'll also send you regular reports so that you can analyze the success of your campaign.

It sounds good but I don't have any money in my budget for Search Engine Marketing right now.
Actually, you can't afford NOT to be spending part of your budget on SEM. SEM allows you to precisely target Internet searchers who are only looking for your type of business in your local area. In addition, many times SEM advertising costs less (per customer acquisition) than many other forms of advertising. While certain forms of media are experiencing a decline in usage, search engine use continues to experience strong growth.

How will I know when my campaign is live on the search engines?
The timeframe is generally 7 business days after we receive the order in our software system, unless you specify a later date. You will receive a Welcome e-mail when the campaign goes live.

Why can't I find my ad?
Your ad will not appear on every search engine and every search that occurs. Unlike banner advertising, your ad is not in a set rotation to appear on the search engines a specific number of times. However, your ad will appear with enough frequency to deliver you the guaranteed number of clicks you purchased. The more clicks you buy, the more likely your ad is to appear when you search for it.

Do you have testimonials?
Yes, we have testimonials that speak to the quality and results of the product.