Beginning a pay per click advertising campaign, or PPC, requires a thorough understanding of the PPC process. PPC ads are the paid results that run down the right side of search engine results pages. PPC advertisements are designed to show up when certain keywords are searched, enticing the searcher to click through to the advertiser’s site. The advertiser is then charged for those clicks. Properly directed PPC advertising requires research, online tools, and perpetual adjustment to deliver the maximum result for the advertiser.
What is PPC marketing? Basically, PPC advertising involves a marketer paying a set price for an advertisement to show up on the search engine results front page whenever specific keywords are used by a searcher. These paid ads are located to the right of the general results. There are two general pricing structures for these ads. The marketer may place a bid for an ad and that price will determine the position where the ad is placed. Optionally, there may be a set price that will cause an ad to show up when specific keywords are used in the searching process. PPC marketing stands for pay per click because the marketer pays money every time that an ad is clicked.
PPC-friendly search engines offer web-based tools to assist marketers as they start out in pay per click advertising. There is a traffic estimator tool on Google that allows marketers to locate highly searched niche-related keywords. Once a company is able to narrow down the list of keywords that can lure a potential customer to a site, the advertising campaign is designed around the specific keywords. Companies also use the keywords gleaned from their research in developing the wording of their ads. An eye-catching ad containing the keywords used during the search will more likely attract the attention of surfers.
In order to guarantee the most productive outcome, the landing page linked to the ad should also bear as much relevance to the keywords as possible. An offer that proves too tempting to resist will also help in keeping the potential customer glued to the site. Offer free monthly subscriptions or discount offers as bait to get the the surfer to register at the site.
There are many online tools that help marketers analyze the success of their PPC campaigns. Marketers can benefit by knowing which keywords generate the highest hits or knowing the marketing cost for each confirmed sale. The online tools help them understand these statistics. Web optimization tools are essential in learning where the weakest parts of a PPC plan are so they can be strengthened to improve results. These programs allow marketers to adjust their landing pages by using only the keywords with the best outcomes. In the same vein, marketers can also choose different keywords and link them with several different landing pages.
Based on the information these PPC programs can provide, certain website owners have even started to use them as they begin to conceptualize a new business. This way they are able to better guarantee the long term success of their site when it is launched.
PPC advertising is not an overnight rags to riches tale. It requires keyword research, strategic content writing, and re-evaluation and honing of the campaign. If it is used correctly, PPC can rapidly propel a website to a visible position. Who doesn’t want that?