Below you’ll find a description of each advertising program with pros and cons.

 

The Skinny: People go to Google to search for products, services, information and other content. When someone does a search there are 10 results delivered up. Google sells advertising slots to businesses that want to appear in the margins featured at the top and around Google’s search results. Google sells the top positions to the highest bidder who is willing to pay the most amount of money when their link is clicked on. Advertisers can set a budget limit or none at all and will remain in the top position as long as they have the highest bid ‘per click’ as well as have money in their account. Advertisers are removed when their budget is exhausted or they are outbid by a competitor.

Pros:

  • Most people use Google.  It’s the #1 search engine with the most traffic.
  • Easy to track, analyze and monetize results.
  • It’s instantaneous. Pay enough money and you’re at the top fast.

Cons:

  • Only 15-20% of people click the sponsored links versus about 80% in the search results.
  • Can be expensive to get to and remain in the top position.  Some businesses pay over $10K a month.
  • People tend to trust the paid links less than the search results.
  • You have to pay for clicks that could be competitors and people who aren’t prospects (PPC Fraud)>
  • Your ads are only on Google.
  • Limited Reach: You have to pay for each click and separately for each keyword.

Cost (Small Campaign): $200-300 a month
Fixed Price: No
Price Limit: None
Method: Pay Per Click Advertising
Advertising Space: Google Sponsored Links

 

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The Skinny: Reach Local is an advertising agency that helps run your pay per click advertising accounts, like Google Adwords. They receive a portion of your advertising budget to manage your campaigns.

Pros:

  • You have a company to maintain your pay per click campaigns for you, freeing up your time.
  • Easy to track, analyze and monetize results.
  • It’s instantaneous. Pay enough money and you’re at the top fast.
  • They can put your ads on multiple search engines and websites.

Cons:

  • You’re paying extra for the same advertising. The cost of the ads plus fees to manage them.
  • Can be expensive to get to and remain in the top position. Some businesses pay over $10K a month.
  • People tend to trust the paid links less than the search results.
  • You have to pay for clicks that could be competitors and people who aren’t prospects (PPC Fraud).
  • Only 15-20% of people click the sponsored links versus about 80% in the search results.
  • Limited Reach: You have to pay for each click and separately for each keyword.

Cost (Small Campaign): $200-300 a month
Fixed Price: No
Price Limit: None
Method: Pay Per Click Advertising
Advertising Space: Sponsored Links

 

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The Skinny: Yellow Pages sells positions on their website to local businesses. When people go to yellowpages.com to search for a local business they are given results of businesses that are close to them.  Advertisers pay to be listed as one of their results or featured sponsors at the top.

Pros:

  • Easy to track, analyze and monetize.
  • It’s instantaneous. Pay money and you’re a listed advertiser on their site.

Cons:

  • You’re relying on poeple to go to yellowpages.com, when most people use a search engine.
  • If people go to yellowpages.com they can still choose another local business, a competitor.
  • Can be expensive ($200 a month and up).
  • Usually you have to sign a contract for 1 year or longer.

Cost (Small Campaign): $200-300 a month
Fixed Price: No
Price Limit: None
Method: Pay Per Click Advertising, Paid Listing
Advertising Space: YellowPages.com

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The Skinny: Social media advertisements are sponsored links that are placed on various social media websites like facebook. When your link is clicked on you pay a fee.  You also have the option of creating a free profile and building a network to whom you can market your business.

Pros:

  • Can connect with wide variety of people.
  • Can work great for consumer based products and services.
  • Easy to track, analyze and monetize.

Cons:

  • Lower coversion rates than search engines that have qualified traffic that searched for something.
  • Sponsored links on social networks are often ignored.
  • Can be expensive.  Low conversion rates require more ads to get the same amount of leads.
  • Not very effective for small businesses who reply on local traffic.
  • Most B2B (business to business) companies do not do well on most social networks.
  • Can require a lot of time to build profiles and make connections.
  • Repeatedly sending out (spamming) your company marketing info can lose freinds.

Cost (Small Campaign): $200-300 a month
Fixed Price: No
Price Limit: None
Method: Pay Per Click Advertising
Advertising Space: Sponsorship Positions on Social Networks

 

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The Skinny: CityScoop is a blogging website that positions you on the 1st page of the search engines in the organic search results for a flat monthly fee. By writing articles you appear under new search phrases which builds triaffc and leads over time.

Pros:

  • Low Cost – only $29.99 a month ($200 setup fee).
  • No limit to how many times your links can be clicked.
  • No limit to number of keywords/search phrases.
  • Guaranteed 1st page results (or full refund).
  • Most poeple click organic search results (approx. 80%).
  • 1st page results are trusted – “Google says you’re #1″
  • Not instant, but fast results – 1-2 weeks to see initial 1st page rankings.
  • Traffic continues to build over time. Typically 100-200 unique visitors monthly in the first year.
  • Rank on nearly every search engine (Google, Bing, AOL, Yahoo, etc).
  • Easy to track, analyze and monetize.
  • Hightened credibility as an ‘expert blogger’ on a 3rd party website.

Cons:

  • Time requirement of 1-2 hours a month for writing blog articles (optinal article writing service available).

Cost: $29.99 a Month ($200 setup fee – optional writing service at $150 a month)
Fixed Price: Yes
Method: Organic Search Engine Rankings
Advertising Space: 1st Page Search Engine Results

 

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  • ORGANIC vs PAY PER CLICK – CityScoop ranks you in the organic search results where roughly 80% of people click, versus 15-20% of people who click a sponsored link.
  • UNLIMITED vs LIMITED – With CityScoop there is no limit on clicks or keywords like there is with pay per click. You can rank for 1000s of searches without paying every time anyone clicks your links. Most clients rank for 1000s of search combinations in just the first year which can translate to a lot of new business leads.
  • GUARANTEE vs NO GUARANTEE – CityScoop guarantees that you will rank on the first page of the search engines. With pay per click you bid to get the top position with no guarantee that you will be able to outbid your competitors.
  • TOP RESULT vs ADVERTISER – Just like a newspaper that has news and advertisments, the search engines have results (news) and advertisements. CityScoop places your business in the ‘news’ section as a top result as opposed to being an advertiser in the margins, where roughly only 15-20% of people click. As a top result your business is often considered more trustworthy or better.
  • ALL ACCESS PASS vs ‘PAY BY THE UNIT’ – CityScoop charges a monthly subscription fee for access to their blogging platform, which guarantees to rank you in the first page search results. The Competition’s model is to bid your way to the top and pay for your traffic ‘by the unit’, every time you get clicked.
  • COST – CityScoop is less than $30 a month compared to $100-200 minimum a month. Some businesses report spending upwards of $10,000 a month on sponsored links.

 

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Summary:  CityScoop places businesses in the most deserable area on the Internet for less than $30 a month.  That’s about 10% of what the competition charges.  Not only do you get better positioning and more traffic by being at the top of the organic results, you also get a prospect that is easier to close and that trusts you becuase of your credibility as a top result on mulitple search engines.  Don’t spend a lot of money paying per click.  Get unlimited rankings, keywords and clicks with the organic search engine ranking service from CityScoop.

CityScoop does require you to provide content about the projects you’re working on and the clients that you’ve helped in the past.  Results take a little time to kick into full gear but if you’re diligent and post regularly with our methods, you can build a very large Internet presence with a steady stream of new prospects.  Most people go to Google or another search engine when the need a local prodcut or service, and about 80% of those people are clicking in the organic results. CityScoop can put you there fast and keep you ahead of your competition.

Depending on the market size some clients report anywhere from a moderate increase in sales and leads to some cases where all of their new business leads are being generated by CityScoop.

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Client Testimonials

“CityScoop has been great!  We regularly get new requests for bids and we find that 50% of these leads convert to new business.  The results have been much better than YellowPages.com.”

- Julia Brazina, Pacific Security Systems

“It’s working! No other explanation. My Google Adwords are at zero dollars a month!”

- Shay Wilson, Texas Sign & Fabrication 

“CityScoop has been a tremendous sales tool for our company! Our leads have gone up by 500%.  Virtually everyone who finds us online signs up for our services! Thanks CityScoop!”

- Sharon Heibing, The Pool Doctor

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BOTTOM LINE: Even if you’re already on the 1st page and have good rankings, we can add a whole lot of bang for less than 30 bucks a month. For those that already have rankings, CityScoop adds another link on the first page, pushes your website up further towards the top, ranks you for new searches and adds extra strenght to your website with powerful links to keep you in front of your competition. If you aren’t on the first page of the search engines you’re missing out! If you’re paying more than $30 a month you don’t need to! Check out our comparison page below.

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