Pay Per Click, commonly known as PPC, is an essential tool for online businesses looking for success and is a strategy that should not be overlooked in favour of SEO and social media marketing. While these can be effective ways to market your business when used as part of a larger strategy, there’s no denying that PPC is becoming more prominent and can no longer be ignored if you’re looking to generate more leads, sales and traffic.
The PPC platform changes periodically, with changes taking place to reporting, metrics, adaptations of ad units, new ways to target audiences and even changes to how we bid. These changes allow businesses and marketers to adapt their campaigns in line with the ongoing shift in how audiences are searching online.
But how does PPC work?
While it might sound like an expensive tool, pay per click advertising is a way of displaying ads within search results and social media pages, where you pay each time an ad is clicked, rather than paying for the ad itself.
You get to set your own budget and if your ad isn’t getting any clicks it means that you don’t have to spend any of your budget as you’re paying for the click only. Given that most smaller businesses also have small budgets, PPC allows businesses to help increase awareness of their products and services in a way that suits them.
A lot goes into building a PPC campaign, from keyword research and organising campaigns, through to setting up landing pages that are optimised for conversions. It’s important that your campaigns are built ready to target the best audience for you, meaning you’re less likely to waste clicks and ultimately waste your budget.
The Benefits Of A PPC Campaign
PPC can benefit businesses in a number of different ways and are a great way to compliment your other marketing efforts. Most of the advantages of PPC focus on the amount of control you have over your marketing and on how visible you want your marketing attempts to be. This directness allows businesses and marketers a chance to sit in the driver’s seat and build a campaign that works.
Here’s how PPC can benefit your business;
Quickly Generate Qualified Leads
Unlike with SEO, which can take weeks to perform, pay per click advertising allows you to bring in targeted traffic to your site, almost straight away. If the most relevant keywords have been used then it’s likely your campaign will generate much more qualified leads, targeting those who are going to be interested in your products and services, helping you appeal to an audience that really matters.
Targeted Traffic
Most PPC platforms have ways of targeting certain demographics, letting you reach audiences based on gender, age, interests and even location. These targeting options allow you to target not only much more specific keywords but also let you increase the quality of your website traffic, helping attract much more valuable leads and visitors.
PPC Is Measurable
A major benefit of PPC advertising is that it’s often simple to measure and track, especially with tools like AdWords and Google Analytics. By measuring your ads you get to see details such as impressions, clicks, conversations, audiences and in some cases even where your ads are displayed, helping you optimise your campaigns to reach even more success.
Many underestimate the complexity of a successful PPC campaign, often thinking that once a campaign is created it can be left to perform and beat the competition. However the reality is that PPC requires a concentrated effort, it needs constant monitoring and updating in order to keep generating leads and sales. As well as a huge amount of data to help optimise each element of the campaign for success.
With an agency, businesses can leave their campaigns in the hands of those who have the additional knowledge, expertise and technology to help their campaign stand out.
When PPC is carried out correctly, it’s a huge investment for your business, which can have a number of returns. So why not consider integrating PPC into your marketing strategy, ensure you capture your potential perfect customer at the right time and gain those important results!
