What is Pay-Per-Click (PPC) marketing? Learn the basics and become good at it
PPC is an acronym for Pay-Per-Click, where advertisers literally pay the advertisement platforms only when their ad is clicked. Pay per click is an online advertising strategy employed by online advertisers and businesses to improve their ad campaigns.
Instead of impressions, which has been the usual advertisement model for years (and is still common in many online advertising platforms), pay-per-click works on actionable results. Useful for generating sales and creating leads, pay-per-click is used to create an online presence for your brand.
Simply put, PPC works by combining several factors that are predetermined by an ad network. Any online advertiser must curate their advertisement plan according to the relevance of their target audience. It is an auction system where each advertiser bids for a position on a search engine.
Since search engines are all about relevancy algorithms, the advertisers are basically bidding on keywords. Search engine advertisement in itself is a form of PPC marketing.
How Does PPC Work?
The bidding system varies from platform to platform. However, all platforms have some basic ground principles that they use to manipulate their bidding algorithms. As there are a lot of businesses grappling to get the optimal spot, several factors need to be considered while practicing PPC:
- The keyword relevancy of your ad’s campaign
- It's historic standing
- An artfully written and SEO optimized AdText
- A compelling landing page
All these factors determine which ad will occupy the most prominent place in the display of search results.
Within this auction, the amount you are willing to pay largely depends on your market and your product. For example, if you are a lawyer, you might charge hundreds of dollars to reach more and more people for your ad campaign. This is because a single click might come from a very interested client that might profit you marginally compared to what you invested in your ad campaign.
- On the other hand, if you run a home decor business, charging hundreds of dollars might be absurd. A couple of bucks would be good enough to get you started. There is a high possibility that every single click may not necessarily lead to a transaction. Most customers use eCommerce website stores to browse casually.
How do I get started with my PPC campaign?
To get started with your ad campaign, you must first do some homework to decide which platform most suits your audience. After all, it is all about reaching the right people at the right time to make them feel that your product will solve their problems and improve their lives. Google, Bing, and Facebook are the most widely used platforms.
- You might even use multiple platforms to direct traffic to your landing page. Just set up your basic information after creating your account and add payment information as well. These platforms provide online businesses with their own administrative panel where they can observe and track their performance using reporting tools.
Regularly test and optimize your campaign to fit your business model while keeping an eye out on your competitors. It's always good to seek some inspiration.
Conclusion
The key takeaway from this article would be to not go head-on in developing your own PPC campaign. You will feel like a deer in headlights as things are not as simplistic as they seem. We recommend you to take an online course called The Local Marketing Vault. It will teach you the basics of PPC and help you pull off a successful PPC campaign.
We guarantee that LMV will not waste your time or money, try it out today.
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