SEO Freelancer home // Understanding PPC Search Engines
Understanding PPC Search Engines
After you’ve done the work optimizing
your site, or if you just want to branch out into new ways of
advertising, one of the first places to start is Pay Per Click
advertising, or PPC as it is usually called. There are numerous
PPC search engines that are currently offering ad placement for
just about any company. There are several benefits to using PPC
marketing, but you will need to utilize a few tips to improve it’s
overall effectiveness. First, let’s look at why PPC advertising
works and then we’ll go into some tips to help you maximize your
first campaign.
PPC
Benefits
PPC advertising has become increasingly popular because it has
leveled the playing field for small companies. Traditionally, only
large companies could take advantage of global marketing techniques
that could reach millions of people. The costs were simply too high
for smaller companies to compete. Now, with the advent of this type
of advertising, your ad can display right next to competitors that
are ten times your size.
One of the main reasons that pay per click ads are so popular is due
to the fact that you are only actually paying for people who visit
your site. When internet advertising was first getting started,
banner ads were the most commonly utilized method of reaching out to
consumers. Although they were initially effective, they were quite
costly since they were charged on a basis of pay per impression.
With pay per impression, companies had to purchase a set amount of
views and were charged ahead of time. They had no control over how
many people would actually click on the ad and although it was
effective for many companies who wanted to improve their branding,
it simply was not an advertising method that offered a strong ROI.
For the quality sites with large amounts of visitors, it could
easily cost tens of thousands of dollars just to display one ad.
Then, pay per click advertising debuted with the unique premise of
only paying for the people who were actually interested in learning
more about your service or site. In addition, companies were able to
defer payment with most search engines until the end of a thirty-day
billing period. By combining this kind of targeting with a more
flexible way to spend your advertising dollar, PPC marketing quickly
moved to the top.
The key to successful internet advertising is targeting your
customer base. This is the third reason that PPC ads became so
popular. With the use of keywords, ads display only when a search
engine user looked for that particular keyword. This resulted in
incredibly targeted customers for companies and had the added
benefit of helping the end-user find exactly what they wanted. This
type of advertising is typically deemed as the first true happy
marriage between advertisers and consumers.
When you put all of these points together, you have a recipe for
success. Small businesses can afford to use this advertising since
they are only paying for actual visits. In addition, most PPC search
engines will allow you to set a spend cap so that you can control
your costs. Add in deferred billing and targeted results and you
have a method of advertising that truly works for you.
PPC
Tips
Now that we’ve gone over the benefits of what PPC advertising can do
for you, let’s discuss some tips that will improve your ROI and make
your campaigns a success.
1. Make sure you research your keywords. Some keywords are very
popular and as such, they are more expensive. If you’re willing to
go the extra mile and pay more, then these may work for you. You can
also focus on similar keywords that will cost less money if you are
on a budget. You may also want to consider adding a few long tail,
or less popular keywords, since these can actually be more effective
over time.
2. Create a landing page. This is very important if you have a more
complicated website or if you have several products. Pick a range of
products that you want to advertise with your PPC ad and then create
a special landing page for that particular ad. Only feature those
products on that page to make it easier for the visitor to find what
they are looking for. This is a very effective technique that can
work for just about any advertiser.
3. Track your ad campaign well. If you are using Google AdWords, we
highly recommend using the option that includes their free
analytics. This will help you track your clickthroughs with more
accuracy and can give you an idea of what is or what is not
capturing your audience’s attention. You can use these to fine-tune
your campaigns, no matter how long they have been running. If you
aren’t using Google, we recommend installing a PPC search engine
management tool to keep track of your conversions.
4. Diversify your keywords. Don’t focus on just one keyword when you
are using PPC advertising. Try to find at least two or three that
will fit into your campaign and test them all. This will help you
find the keywords that are working better for you. In fact, you may
be surprised at how effective some keywords that are less popular
can be.
5. Stay on top of seasonal changes. The holiday seasons are great
ways to make use of PPC advertising campaigns. You’ll want to start
a few weeks in advance if you are planning a holiday campaign. This
will help you take advantage of early birds and you can cement your
position.
6. Stay on top of your campaign. The single best way to get a good ROI from pay per click search engine advertising is to keep
monitoring and tweaking your campaign. Don’t let it run on if it
isn’t working. Try new keywords and new techniques. By staying on
top of your campaign you can ensure that you will be reaching your
target audience more effectively.
