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To Pay Per Click or not to Pay Per Click

A simple definition of Pay Per Click (PPC) is the placement of an ad on a search engine results page or web page that appears for specified keywords or key phrases.

The advertiser pays a pre-determined price (or bid amount) whenever a visitor who lands on that page clicks on your ad. That’s why they are termed “pay per click” because you only pay when the visitor clicks on your ad.

• A PPC ad usually consists of a heading, a short summary and the URL which is the landing page you have selected. In some cases, once you have devised your PPC ad, decided on the amount you are willing to bid and lodged your application with the PPC search engine, your ad will appear within minutes, other PPC search engines may take a couple of days for your ad to appear. So unlike organic SEO, PPC marketing can generally give you immediate results. 

 

Which Search Engines Allow Pay Per Click Advertising?

Generally, the larger the pay per click search engine, the more you will have to bid to get to the top for your keywords. This is why it is worth investigating different search engines to find what it would cost to bid on your keywords and how much traffic they draw.

The largest companies in the pay per click industry are Google and Yahoo! Google is not a pay per click search engine, but it does provide pay per click advertising in text ad boxes to the right of search results it delivers. It also delivers pay per click ads to other content sites.

Important Considerations

A very important point to keep in mind with pay per click is you must test, test, and test some more. Don't start off with a major investment. Start with the minimum and see how the search engine performs in terms of the traffic it delivers and how well that traffic converts into paying customers.

An essential part of your testing is having a method in place that allows you to track your return on money invested. For example, if your goal is to bring in new subscribers to your newsletter, you could direct visitors arriving from your pay per click link to a subscription form set up just for them. You can then monitor how many clicks actually result in a new subscription. As such, you will know how much you are paying for each new subscriber.

Before spending any money with a pay per click search engine, be sure they can answer the following questions:

How many searches a month are performed at the search engine?

• What major search partners or affiliates does the search engine have?
• How many searches are generated each month by the search partners or affiliates?
• Is it possible to opt out of having your listing appear in the results of the affiliate sites?
• What fraud prevention mechanisms are in place?
• What is the procedure for filing a "fraudulent clicks" report?
• Will an account be credited for fraudulent clicks discovered?
• Is it possible to opt out of having a listing appear for searches originating from specific countries?
• Is there a posted terms of service for search partners or affiliates. Look for search engines that have very strict guidelines for dealing with their search affiliates. This is important because you want to be sure the search engine is working hard to prevent fraud among its affiliates.

How to Set Up A PPC Campaign

Your most important considerations in putting together a PPC campaign are how much you intend spending and what keywords you plan on targeting.

Obviously, the larger PPC search engines like Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and MSN have the widest coverage, so the cost for bidding on their keywords is going to be more expensive than if you try the smaller, niche PPC search engines.

Google and Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) provide a free tool that not only provides you with a wide range of keywords, but also a tool which indicates the current bidding price for those keywords. This tool will help you determine how many and which keywords you should plan on using in your campaign.

If you are new to the industry, it’s advisable to take it slowly to begin with. Set yourself a small budget and choose keywords that are well searched for and as cheap as possible.

• When choosing your keywords, choose wisely (the more focused and targeted the better) and keep bids within your budget. Just because a keyword has the most searches does not necessarily mean it will be the most profitable.
  
  For example: the keyword “batteries” might have a large number of searches, but it is too general. How do you know if the visitor wants the batteries your site is going to sell? More targeted keywords and phrases, even with fewer searches can be profitable. Example:  the keyword “buy rechargeable AA batteries” is much more focused and more likely to result in a sale.
• Tip: Do not target only keywords with the highest number of searches, especially if you are just starting out. These will be the most sought after keywords and phrases for PPC and they will cost you more to bid on them. Don't be afraid to use keywords from the middle, and even lower end on the list. Fewer click-throughs that convert to sales are much better than paying for a lot of click-throughs and fewer sales. Remember, you want quality targeted traffic. 
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• The next step is to design and implement your ad. This will depend on the PPC search engine you have chosen. Incorporate your keyword or key phrase into the title and if possible, either the main keyword or a secondary keyphrase into the description.

Create a number of versions of your ad so you can split-test them to see which one works most effectively. PPC Marketing requires a good deal of tweaking – especially when you are starting out – so tweak, test and monitor until you find the right word combinations that not only draw you visitors but make the sale.

Running a Profitable PPC Campaign

Your main consideration in running a successful PPC campaign is your return on investment (ROI). The ROI is calculated by working out how much you are making on the click-throughs (and purchases) from your PPC visitors minus the amount you are spending on advertising. If your ROI is low or worse still, negative, you have to tweak your ads to increase traffic or opt for less expensive keywords. 

• If you have chosen particularly competitive keywords and paid a premium for those words, you may have to consider keywords that are less competitive. 
• Your position in the search engine listings is determined by the bid price you have paid. Obviously, the more you are willing to pay “per click” the higher up in the search engine rankings you’ll be. The trade-off is that you need to have a high ROI to make the cost of your keyword bids worth it.
• Most PPC search engines automate the bidding process so you only pay the maximum amount required to get you to the top of the search engine listings. However, it is imperative that you follow your own PPC campaigns to ensure you aren’t being out-bid or that the PPC search engine has declined your ad. (This can happen if your original maximum bid price becomes uncompetitive).

Once you have mastered the basics of running a PPC campaign and have discovered the various tools and software available to help you run a profitable campaign, you will be in a position to fine tune your campaigns.

Although PPC marketing is an effective and instantaneous way of generating targeted traffic to your site, it doesn’t work for everyone. Factors like the competition in your market, the cost per bid, the number of actual click-throughs you are getting and your return on investment (ROI) must all be factored into your results.

But when you consider that the only alternative is to wait for your site to be organcially listed and ranked by the major search engines, which could take anywhere from one day to three months or more, running a PPC campaign is certainly a more viable option

Pay per click advertising is a way of advertising on the Internet, without having to pay a fixed amount to have an ad placed on a web page. With pay per click advertising, the advertiser only pays when someone clicks on their ad and is taken to a specified page on their website.

From an advertiser's point of view it is an excellent way to get cheap targeted traffic.

Our Pay Per Click experts are certified Google Advertising Professionals. Don't let just anyone manage your PPC campaign, make sure they are Google certified.

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