Pay per click advertising, technically, simply refers to a payment model in which advertisers pay based on how many clicks their ads receive online, rather than on how many times their ads are displayed or viewed. But in most cases, the term is used to refer to garnering pay per click traffic via a specific type of website: search engines.
When you’ve searched something on Google or Bing, you’ve probably noticed the paid results that pop up above and beside the organic ones. But what you may not know is that those ads can be an incredibly successful tool when it comes to bringing traffic to your business’ website and, ultimately, getting more leads.
The Mechanics of Pay Per Click Advertising
Just like organic searches, PPC ads are based on keywords, or certain words and phrases that people search for online. Advertisers can go through platforms (AdWords being the biggest, since it governs PPC ads on Google) to bid on those keywords. The advertiser who bids the highest gets their ads to appear when searchers use that keyword. The more competitive a market is, the more people will generally be willing to pay per click in order to have their ads appear. So if you’re a personal injury lawyer or an insurance agent, you might pay $50, $100, or even more for a single click. But for most industries, you’re more likely to spend a couple dollars at most.
Making Pay Per Click Work for Your Business
Since the mechanics and pricing of paid search advertising depend on keywords, it should come as no surprise to you that PPC keyword research is the most important part of establishing a successful PPC campaign. But even once you’ve chosen keywords that are relevant to your business, you (or the PPC agency you hire to oversee your campaigns) will need to closely monitor them in order to determine which ones are performing well and which ones aren’t bringing in enough leads to be worth their cost.
The Appeal of PPC Advertising Management
If the process of choosing keywords, bidding on them, and then continuously monitoring them sounds daunting to you, know that it should. PPC campaigns are time-intensive and tech-intensive endeavors, not something that you can just set and forget. For that reason, it’s highly recommended you outsource PPC advertising management to true PPC experts. Not only does this allow you to maximize benefit from PPC ads, it also protects you from losing thousands of dollars based on overlooking a single setting — something that is, sadly, very easy to do. PPC doesn’t lend itself to testing the water or putting out feelers; once you decide you want a campaign, your best choice is to hire an agency to manage it and go for maximum success straight away.
Do you have any recommendations on PPC advertising management, or anything else related to paid search? Share your thoughts in the comments.
