What exactly is Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising? PPC advertising is when search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing allow businesses to buy listings in their search results that will appear along with the organic, non-paid search results. These paid listings will show on the right side of the search page and also at the very top of the search page in a shaded box.
To get your ad to appear in these coveted spots, you have to participate in a keyword auction. This keyword auction allows you to bid on keywords or phrases that you would like your advertisement to appear in search results for. If you bid more for a search term than your competitors, your ad will appear above theirs in the sponsored results. Whenever someone clicks on your ad, you are charged the amount you bid for that keyword. You will only be charged for how many clicks your ads generate.
Quality is more important than quantity when it comes to PPC ads. You want your ads to be targeted towards searchers that are looking for exactly what you are advertising and are likely to return to your website again. Quality traffic will bring you a higher level of success with your PPC ads, since you are only paying for actual clicks.
You can also target your PPC ads to run at a specific time of day, if you know when your target audience is more likely to be online. You can also select specific zip codes that you want your ad to display in.
One major benefit of PPC ads is that your ads can generate traffic for you right away. If you have bid enough, whenever people search for the key phases that you have bid on, your ads will be what they see first. If your ad is well written, compelling and addresses their needs, there is a good chance that they will click on it and be taken to your website.
Another plus of PPC advertising is if you are having a short term special, PPC ads can be a great way to generate buzz for it. Your PPC ad campaign can start almost instantly, and it is easy to change the text of your ad during the campaign. When your special is done, you can easily stop the advertisement from running.
Even if someone sees your ad but decides not to click on it, the presence of your ad is making a free impression on them. These impressions can help build brand recognition and could increase the chance that they might visit your website in the future.
The goal of PPC ads is to reach people who are searching specifically for what you have to offer. To accomplish this, you need to complete thorough keyword research. Once you have done this and know what keywords you want to bid on, here are a few tips to create a compelling PPC ad that generates traffic to your website:
- You ad needs to reflect the keyword that you are bidding on and has to be compelling enough to get your target audience to click on it. It should also be very clear what you’re offering the searcher, so they will know why they need to click on your ad.
- Make sure the page you are sending traffic to, the landing page, is very specific to your ad and offers what the searchers are looking for. Do not just send everyone to your homepage. You may need to change the landing page for each keyword that you are bidding on to better reflect what your target audience is looking for.
- Your landing page should also include a call to action item, such as an email sign up or buy it now button. This makes it easy for the people who have clicked on your ad to buy your product right away or for you to get their contact information to continue marketing to them.
Now that you know the basics of PPC ads, give it a try for yourself! Faster Solutions would be happy to assist you in setting up a PPC ad campaign.
