Pay Per Click ADVERTISING:
HOW TO MAKE YOUR BUSINESS “CLICK”
PPC stands for Pay Per Click – a popular advertising technique on the Internet. Found on websites, advertising networks, and especially on search engines, Pay per click advertising involves sponsored links that are typically in the form of text ads. These are usually placed close to search results, where an advertiser pays a particular amount to visitors who click on these links or banners and land on the advertiser’s web page.
In essence, Pay per click advertising is all about bidding for the top or leading position on search engine results and listings. Advertisers do this by buying or bidding on keyword phrases that are relevant to their products or services – the higher the bid, the higher the spot on the search results, the more the people will find the ad (and click on it) to go to their websites (this is why some people call it “keyword auctioning”). Advertisers would then pay the bidding price every time a visitor clicks through the website.
Pay per click advertising is also known under the following names/variations:
· Pay per placement
· Pay per performance
· Pay per ranking
· Pay per position
· Cost per click (CPC)
Pay per click advertising is usually done with the following standard procedures:
1. Setting up an account and/or deposit funds.
2. Creating a keyword list.
3. Choosing (and setting up) an account with a PPC search engine.
4. Bidding on the ad placement, including the search result words or phrases.
5. Writing out an ad copy.
6. Setting up the ‘landing pages’ for your ads.
7. Placing the advertisement in the search engine.
There are many benefits to Pay Per Click advertising, making it an effective way of promoting a business ‘online’. Some of them are listed below:
· Get launched immediately. PPC advertisements are implemented very quickly – they can go ‘online’ within an hour after winning the bid and paying for it.
· Obtain specific, pre-qualified, and quality traffic. PPC provides you with a quality or a well-targeted traffic. Visitors are narrowed down into ‘qualified’ people who are actually looking for specific products and/or services that you offer – those who are more likely to become a ‘lead’ (a convert) and complete a transaction (either by buying your product or subscribing to the service that you are offering.
· Widen your reach. Pay per click advertising provides additional traffic to your site, aside from the natural or “organic” search engines.
· Track your investment. Pay per click advertising makes use of a tracking system that will determine exactly who comes to the website and what they do once they arrive – the length of their stay on the site and the number of pages (including the actual pages) that they view. These are valuable tools in determining statistics such as return on investment (ROI), acquisition cost-per-visitor, and conversion rates (the percentage of visitors who are converted into customers or leads).
Below are some important things to consider when planning on a pay per click campaign:
1. Know your product. Take an inventory of the product and/or services that you have to offer (before anything else).
2. Stay within the budget. Determine your daily or monthly budget; and stay with it. This means keeping your budget in mind, avoiding bidding wars if possible.
3. Bid just right. Know how to bid right – a bid that is too high can exhaust all of your money, while a bid that is too low can make you lose that spot.
4. Watch the bottom line. Measure your profit margin against your spending or expenses. Know when to stop and terminate your Pay per click program – if you spend more on advertising but have little or no sales at all.
5. Find the right keywords. Decide which keyword phrases to opt and bid for. Do some keyword research, either by actually looking at existing search terms or with the use of online keyword suggestion tools, to know which terms are mostly used when searching for items that are related to your business. Focus on specific keywords, not on general ones.
6. Write effective ads. A good Pay per click ad is that which can persuade and move a searcher. There are several approaches to this:
· Discount offers
· Testimonials
· Celebrity/famous endorsers
· Money-back guarantees
· Free trials or sample offers
· Freebies
· Reverse psychology
· Major benefits (“Lose weight”)
· Direct instructions (“Click here”)
7. Maintain a professional-looking site. Your web content should be regularly updated and checked for spelling and grammatical errors. There should be no broken links or images. The website should be simple – designed in such a way that it will be easy for visitors to navigate and load. Include contact details to create a good impression among potential customers.
Done properly, PPC advertising can be an effective marketing tool that will maximize the return on your investment.
Affordable PPC search engine advertising
PPC search engine advertising is by far the most affordable form of advertising available. PPC search engine advertising is a flourishing business that by 2008 is expected to reach $ 8 billion. PPC search engine advertising is about producing leads. Creating leads will help potential buyers find the specific website that will provide them with the product or service they need.
However, PPC search engine advertising does not end there. It is important to understand that although PPC search engine advertising generates leads, it is also important for users to find relevant information at the website they are directed to. Information is a valuable asset in PPC search engine advertising that is often left unchecked by many websites. Keep in mind that users are more likely to purchase products or services from a company that provided them with the necessary information they needed in the first place.
Qualified traffic with PPC search engine advertising
One of the benefits of PPC search engine advertising is that it provides qualified traffic to a specific website. Users that click on a PPC ad are those in search of a particular product or service. This helps eliminate unnecessary clicks from non-prospective buyers that only produce expenditures not profits. PPC search engine advertising is also the fastest way to get a reasonable return on investment.
A bidding process is used to establish the price of a specific keyword. In general, the budget for PPC search engine advertising may be a $100 to $100,000 depending on the number of keywords used. These prices can skyrocket in just minutes as more and more sites bid for the same keyword thus causing the prices to jack up.
PPC ads are placed alongside search engine results to which they are relevant. The highest bids for a specific keyword or phrase gets top billing on the search engine results page. Getting top placement provides greater odds for a PPC ad to get clicked by a qualified searcher.
Elements of Pay Per Click search engine advertising
Pay Per Click search engine advertising involves three basic elements; constant monitoring, response analysis and refinement as the essential factors involved in Pay Per Click search engine advertising. Proper management of PPC search engine advertising can result in big profits for a website.
Pay Per Click search engine advertising makes it possible for sites to monitor the productivity of each PPC ad they place. This gives a site the opportunity to turn off any Pay Per Click ad that is not performing at its best. PPC search engine advertising provides the most economical way for a site to advertise on the World Wide Web.
The cost entailed in PPC search engine advertising is dictated by the clicks made on a particular Pay Per Click ad. The number of clicks made on a PPC ad is subtracted from the initial amount paid by the business to a search engine company. To minimize cost and maximize return on investment, a business will have to regularly monitor its PPC search engine advertising campaign.
How to use Pay Per Click search engine advertising
Many businesses are unable to get the most out of their PPC search engine advertising campaign. Pay Per Click search engine advertising involves a lot more than just bidding on the highest keywords. Information is a main concern of many online users.
Providing online users with relevant information they need will help bring about a more long-term relationship with an online user that will more likely result in a sale.
Information provided to online users may be in the form of a newsletter or e-zine that online users would likely sign up for. Sign-ups may be enough to cover the expenses of a Pay Per Click search engine advertising campaign.
Sign-ups also help generate leads for websites as they build opt in list from qualified online searchers who clicked their PPC ad. Getting personal information from qualified online searchers can be done in a variety of ways such as offering freebies for surveys or signing up for newsletters.
PPC search engine advertising is a continuous process that requires hands on supervision and a thorough understanding of PPC search engines. Businesses may opt to hire the services of a professional or do PPC search engine advertising with in-house experts. Whatever course of action is selected, a business is sure to get a huge return on investment with Pay Per Click search engine advertising.