PPC marketing is a method by which companies pay a search engine or website each time someone clicks on their advertisement. This principle is closely connected with that of affiliate marketing.
Pay per Click Marketing on Search engines - We are all familiar with the so-called ‘sponsored links’ or ‘sponsored advertisement’ we see when we carry out a search. These are actually paid advertisements whereby the advertisement is shown when it contains a keyword or phrase which has been entered in the search. This is a very powerful form of advertising because the potential customer is being targeted through their search criteria. It is a way of buying an improved position on the search engine results pages. It is no coincidence that the largest providers of Pay Per Click are also the large search engine companies. They operate on a kind of auction whereby companies bid for particular keywords and phrases. They also bid for position and pay an agreed sum of money to the search engine each time it is clicked on. It has to be cost effective, i.e. the financial benefit of getting the customer to your website has to outweigh the cost. There is a great advantage to holding a prominent position within a search engine; high visibility means that you are more likely to receive visitors to your site. Obviously it is also your responsibility to ensure that your sit is of sufficient quality to keep the customer there and to move them into making a purchase. Search engines have contracts with other sites whereby they can display your adverts to someone who is visiting a related or complementary website. This is known as content matching and can give a business high quality leads. With good careful investment it is possible to maximise your profits and return. Many businesses choose to employ the services of specialist companies to help them manage their PPC investments to ensure maximum exposure and profitability.
PPC Marketing for Comparison Websites - One of the major PPC marketing is to be found in comparison websites where users looking for a particular product or service are shown a range of offers which they can then compare for value, reliability, and quality etc. There are advantages and disadvantages to PPC on these kinds of sites. On the upside you are investing in reaching people who are already showing an interest in your product or service. However, on the downside there can be a misleading result in that there are many companies competing for attention in a very small space and that the number of clicks may not always translate into purchases. Payment for a place on these sites is usually by a published flat rate.
When considering pay per click marketing it is important to look at your keywords. Consider both positive and negative, i.e. those words most likely to get people to your site who are going to make a purchase and those words you want to reject in order to avoid your advert being misplaced. Decide on your cost per click, i.e. how much you are prepared to spend. Your Click through rate (CTR) will guide you as to how effective your advert is. Businesses often prefer to choose an agency to monitor and manage their PPC activities.
