We don’t doubt a fair few would have heard of PPC, and there’s a reason for this. It’s a very efficient method across the internet to advertise, gain exposure, drive traffic and more.
What is PPC?
Before understanding how effective PPC is, it is first important to understand what it is. PPC stands for ‘Pay Per Click’, it is an advertising model, where your ads show at the top and bottom of search engines such as Bing and Google. Simply put, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, hence the name ‘Pay Per Click’. This is a form of digital marketing used across the internet.
PPC is one of the most successful forms of online advertising. There are a few reasons why this is the case. A study found that ‘Unlike traditional paid advertising, PPC gives extreme levels of control: businesses can boost ad spend for areas/demographics/ queries that work, and reduce ad spend in areas that don’t work – meaning that the importance of PPC is in its ability to squeeze every penny of budget for better return-on-ad-spend’. You are able to utilise your budget to be more effective and increase enquiries, sales and quality site traffic to the website.
This article will highlight why you should use PPC to advertise your business and offer insight into the many advantages of using PPC.
Types of PPC campaigns
There is a range of ad campaigns you can run with PPC, each which have a variety of differences, to list a few:
Search Campaign
This is one of the most popular types of PPC Ad campaigns. Search campaigns are done by choosing specific keywords that your ad will show for. After which, when someone searches for a relevant keyword your ad has the chance to appear.
The advertiser can choose the amount they are willing to pay per click. Where your ad gets ranked, however, will depend on a few other factors such as ad quality and page relevance to the keyword.
Display Campaign
Display ads campaigns are also commonly used; however, they are used differently to search campaigns. Advertisements will appear to users who have expressed interest in your product or service or have indicated an interest and will display as banner ads on a variety of websites across the web.
Video campaign
If you have used YouTube, you will likely have seen a video ad campaign. The adverts that appear before, during or after the video are video ads. You can use these to market your product or service (business) to increase your brand awareness to people who may not have heard of you otherwise.
Shopping
Much like search ads, shopping campaigns will show ads similarly to that of a search campaign (in the search results). The main difference, however, is that shopping ads contain a picture of the product, the price, title and description. PPC shopping campaigns can be very profitable due to their high conversion rates because they serve as a shortcut to your products and display the information the searcher wants to see up front.
Benefits of PPC
Below are some of the many benefits of using PPC.
Increase in sales and conversion rates
When it comes to ads, you want a high conversion and sales rate, PPC is great for this. A study found that ‘Three-fourths of people (75%) say that search ads make it easier to find the information they are looking for.’ This means that ignoring PPC would be ignoring a large majority of internet shoppers, and therefore potential clients. .
One of the reasons PPC is so good at gaining higher conversion rates is how fast it can go live. These ads can create results almost instantaneously due to how fast they go live. Ads are usually reviewed within one working day. That’s not to say that there won’t be some ads that require a more complex review, and will therefore take longer to go live; but most ads will be up and running within a few working days.
Furthermore, you can personalise your ads to suit your business needs. These campaigns can be catered towards your goals. As an example, if your goal is to generate sales or increase website traffic. This can be done by utilising specific keywords that relate to the goal. All of which will drive traffic to your website!
PPC compliments SEO strategies.
Although both PPC and SEO are different strategies, it is important to note that they can complement each other as they are two sides of the same coin, and so there is a high possibility that using PPC will benefit your SEO strategies.
One of the ways that PPC can improve your SEO is by creating exposure. In SEO, visibility is very important, and PPC is a great way to gain exposure. After all, the first few results in a Google search are often PPC ads that might link back to your website. In addition to Google search visibility, your Google Ads can also appear across Google partnered networks, this includes YouTube and Yahoo.
One of the biggest parts of both SEO and PPC are keywords. Using PPC you can create different ad groups that appear for different keywords, you can then use the data from these ads to refine your keywords and see which ones users search more often. Using this information you can apply these data-analysed keywords to your SEO to rank and gain website visits, and to refine your digital marketing strategies.
Overall, using both PPC and SEO is a great strategy due to their similarities and how much they compliment the other strategy.
Final thoughts
Google Ads pay per click is a great-recommended method for businesses to use. Regardless of your business goals, PPC will compliment your business goals and marketing strategies. It is a great way to drive traffic and turn clicks into sales.
