Whether you’ve come across Pay-Per-Click advertising before or whether you’re a newbie in the field it, it never hurts to know a little bit more about it or to use this digital marketing channel to advertise your business.
Before that can happen, you need to understand the basics of Pay-per-click advertising, and whether you think you have a grasp of these basics or not, there’s always something new to learn about it. So, set some time aside to delve into all things PPC below!
What is Pay-Per-Click Advertising?
Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns are a form of online marketing that allows advertisers the chance to only ever pay for their advertising when one of their ads is clicked on. It is a form of buying online clicks and visits to your site rather than attempting to ‘earn’ them yourself. It is for this reason that paid search is proving to be such a popular form of advertising — the organic, do-it-yourself route always has the potential to be a waste of time and effort, and neither can be afforded in the business world of today.
That’s not to say PPC is a sure-fire way to advertise without wasting money. The problem most people face when seeking to implement Pay-Per-Click advertising in their business is that they obsess over a few things that they really shouldn’t be obsessing over. What’s more, they spend thousands, sometimes even millions, on trying to unlock the potential of PPC, without even scratching the surface with it.
The only thing you should be seriously considering when it comes to Pay-Per-Click advertising, however, is all the ways it can be tailored and devised to work for you. Each person and each business are different and, therefore, the way each uses PPC is different. So, you need to choose the form of Pay-Per-Click advertising that is sure to work for you if you don’t want to waste your advertising spend on it.
The Stats
To help you understand PPC a bit better before you decide the avenue you wish to go down with it, look at the stats behind it. Google AdWords, the powerhouse behind Pay-Per-Click advertising, allows users the chance to get back double everything they put in, as well as a 65% chance of having their clicks be found and then clicked upon, a percentage that sits in stark comparison to the 35% chance organic clicks have of being found and then clicked.
Other percentages that might turn your head include Pay-Per-Click advertising visitors being a whopping 50% more likely to purchase something than their organic counterparts are, and that search ads created through PPC can boost brand awareness by 80%.
How To Use it
It is search engine advertising that you should be focusing on if you are new to Pay-Per-Click advertising and want to get off to the best, most comfortable start with it. This form of Pay-Per-Click advertising allows potential advertisers the chance to enter the bidding process when a place in a search engine’s sponsored links becomes available. What is bid on is a keyword, and you would be bidding on one that encapsulates your business. Having such a lucrative spot would do your business, and its advertisement shows up every time the keyword you bought is searched for, putting you right at the front of the queue when a customer is searching in your market.
Then, every time your advert in the sponsored links is clicked, and a visitor is then catapulted to your site; you pay the search engine a fee for the work they did in getting you the traffic. And, fear not, because this fee isn’t bank-breaking, and it’s even more trivial when you’re using Pay-Per-Click advertising correctly and getting profits from doing so.
Google AdWords
As mentioned, the powerhouse in the world of Pay-Per-Click advertising is Google AdWords. It is the go-to place for all those seeking to indulge in PPC, both those who are a novice and those somewhat professional in the field it. Where does its popularity stem from? From the fact that it links directly to the godfather of all search engines, Google.
Many people opt for Google as their go-to search network, meaning that advertisements placed there are far more likely to be seen and then clicked upon. In that respect, Google AdWords is the PPC powerhouse that you should be seeking to advertise through.
What AdWords does specifically, once users have bid on and captured their keyword, is delve around the pool of advertisers that it hosts to find the ones that it deems to be ‘winners,’ who then go on to appear in its highly lucrative ad spaces. ‘Winners’ are advertisers that show themselves to hold quality and relevance in regard to their keywords, their ad campaigns, and their advertising bids. So, if you want to have AdWords work at its absolute optimum capacity for your advertising campaign, you need to make sure the keyword you choose is as good as can be.
Boosting your Ad Rank
There is a name for the process of becoming an AdWords ‘winner’, and that is to boost your Ad Rank. This specifically formulated rank is a metric of two factors — CPC and Quality Score. CPC is the absolute most an advertiser is willing to spend on their keyword and ad campaign, and Quality Score is a value based on the quality of the landing page matched with the relevance of the keyword.
AdWords measures these two factors to find the best position possible for an advertiser. So, if you want to boost your Ad Rank, you must be very astute when it comes to knowing how much you’re willing to spend. More to the point, you should refrain from starting your PPC venture with AdWords if you’re not willing to spend a lot if your goal is to be at the very top of every search.
What you should also do is work on the quality of your landing page, which means making it easy to navigate, quick to use, stimulating to look at, persuasive to the most casual of viewer, full of calls-to-action and further, optimised to specific searches; you should also make sure that your keyword says everything you want it to say, and that it is as relevant as it can be.
Why Choose HC Media Group?
The PPC Experts at HC Media Group have industry-leading knowledge that will assist the digital growth of your website and search engine rankings using Pay-Per-Click advertising and SEO. It is recommended that you book in for a FREE marketing consultation with HC Media Group if you are looking to upgrade your website but have no idea where to begin.
Our specialist team will sit down with you to understand your visions and goals, and from here, we create a plan that will transform your brand’s online presence, including blog posts, PPC, optimisation and lots more. Companies that blog tend to have twice as much website traffic compared to websites that don’t. So book your free marketing consultation today!