PPC stands for Pay Per Click - a popular advertising technique on the Internet. Found on websites, advertising networks, and especially on search engines, PPC advertising involves sponsored links that are typically in the form of text ads. These are usually placed close to search results, where an advertiser pays a particular amount to visitors who click on these links or banners and land on the advertisers web page.
In essence, PPC advertising is all about bidding for the top or leading position on search engine results and listings. Advertisers do this by buying or bidding on keyword phrases that are relevant to their products or services - the higher the bid, the higher the spot on the search results, the more the people will find the ad (and click on it) to go to their websites (this is why some people call it keyword auctioning). Advertisers would then pay the bidding price every time a visitor clicks through the website.
PPC advertising is also known under the following names/variations:
Pay per placement
Pay per performance
Pay per ranking
Pay per position
Cost per click (CPC)
PPC advertising is usually done with the following standard procedures:
1. Setting up an account and/or deposit funds.
2. Creating a keyword list.
3. Choosing (and setting up) an account with a PPC search engine.
4. Bidding on the ad placement, including the search result words or phrases.
5. Writing out an ad copy.
6. Setting up the landing pages for your ads.
7. Placing the advertisement in the search engine.
There are many benefits to Pay Per Click advertising, making it an effective way of promoting a business online. Some of them are listed below:
Get launched immediately. PPC advertisements are implemented very quickly - they can go online within an hour after winning the bid and paying for it.
Obtain specific, pre-qualified, and quality traffic. PPC provides you with a quality or a well-targeted traffic. Visitors are narrowed down into qualified people who are actually looking for specific products and/or services that you offer - those who are more likely to become a lead (a convert) and complete a transaction (either by buying your product or subscribing to the service that you are offering.
Widen your reach. PPC advertising provides additional traffic to your site, aside from the natural or organic search engines.
Track your investment. PPC advertising makes use of a tracking system that will determine exactly who comes to the website and what they do once they arrive - the length of their stay on the site and the number of pages (including the actual pages) that they view. These are valuable tools in determining statistics such as return on investment (ROI), acquisition cost-per-visitor, and conversion rates (the percentage of visitors who are converted into customers or leads).
Below are some important things to consider when planning on a pay per click campaign:
1. Know your product. Take an inventory of the product and/or services that you have to offer (before anything else).
2. Stay within the budget. Determine your daily or monthly budget; and stay with it. This means keeping your budget in mind, avoiding bidding wars if possible.
3. Bid just right. Know how to bid right - a bid that is too high can exhaust all of your money, while a bid that is too low can make you lose that spot.
4. Watch the bottom line. Measure your profit margin against your spending or expenses. Know when to stop and terminate your PPC program - if you spend more on advertising but have little or no sales at all.
5. Find the right keywords. Decide which keyword phrases to opt and bid for. Do some keyword research, either by actually looking at existing search terms or with the use of online keyword suggestion tools, to know which terms are mostly used when searching for items that are related to your business. Focus on specific keywords, not on general ones.
6. Write effective ads. A good PPC ad is that which can persuade and move a searcher. There are several approaches to this:
Discount offers
Testimonials
Celebrity/famous endorsers
Money-back guarantees
Free trials or sample offers
Freebies
Reverse psychology
Major benefits (Lose weight)
Direct instructions (Click here)
7. Maintain a professional-looking site. Your web content should be regularly updated and checked for spelling and grammatical errors. There should be no broken links or images. The website should be simple - designed in such a way that it will be easy for visitors to navigate and load. Include contact details to create a good impression among potential customers.
Done properly, PPC advertising can be an effective marketing tool that will maximize the return on your investment.
Regimantas Kaminskasdirect marketer who specializes in developing new ideas and methods on Website Marketing & Home Business Secrets.
Advertising is an attempt to disseminate information in order to promote products, services or ideas and affect a buyer-seller transaction. There are various mediums of advertisements and each medium has its own attributes. The advent of Internet and its growing penetration has enabled this medium to emerge as an important platform for advertisement. Since Internet users are well educated with higher levels of income, they are becoming a desired target for advertisers. Moreover, studies suggest that three-quarters of PC users are giving up some television time and that works in favour to the companies that are opting for this medium.The various channels of Internet advertisements include Internet communities, chat rooms, e-mail, newsgroups, and kiosks. Television advertisements could broadly be channelised through cable and broadcast mediums. One of the basic differences between these two mediums of advertisement is that the Internet advertisements could be specifically targeted to a certain group. Television, in all respects has the advantage of reaching a broader audience and is the favourite medium for the prominent companies. Other differences between the two mediums as platforms for advertisement is that the Internet advertisements are frequently cheaper, could be updated any time with a minimum cost and these can use efficiently text, audio, graphics, and animation in comparison to television. The boom in high-speed Internet service has fuelled the growth of rich media or multimedia advertisements that incorporate motion and sound. They include full-page screen stealer ads you cannot avoid, banner ads that expand when you slide your mouse over them, and tiny icons that zip from nowhere across your screen. The rich media ads are fuelling a recovery in the online advertising market, and may reflect a major step for the Internet in joining the mainstream media. The ads are now becoming more like those on television.
The advertisements of the two media provide in-depth, detailed information that suits their users, such as infomercials on cable television and click-through ads provided by the Internet. It happens that for most consumers, enough information for a product is a motive for trusting and buying a product. Both the media - television and the Internet offer instant information services and customers get a chance to not be bothered by a salesman as they walk into Best Buy looking for a commodity or consumer good. The basic difference between the two media on this point is that cable television advertisements are still under the control of cable television institution and advertisers for how much information they would like to offer due to the limited time arranged for each commercial. However, Internet users can take their time as long as they need to collect information if they are willing to pay for getting online.
But, it must be remembered that the effectiveness of advertisements of the two media depends on consumers needs and desires to buy. The selling of products on these two media becomes entertainment for people, not responsibility, such as cable televisions pay-per-view programming and home shopping channels. For the Internet there are the web sites that sell books, computer and CDs. It is not like the other media that force people to be exposed in a specific advertisement and buy a product they dont even need.Finally, the Internet advertisements, packed in funny or an enjoyable game could be displayed through the web but there is a possibility that it would never be showcased on television because of censors. For example, Mazda UK recently made an internet-only ad, called Parking, which it screened on its mazda2.co.uk site. This advertisement could not find its way on the television screen because it was against the censorship rule that states, Vehicles should not be depicted in dangerous or unwise situations in a way that would encourage irresponsible driving.
Banner advertisement is the most commonly used form of advertising on the Internet. These are graphical images that could be static, animated or rich media. These form of advertisements are very popular on the World Wide Web because through these advertisements, huge chunk of online traffic could be channellised to the advertisers web page. One of the other advantages of using banner advertisements is the convenience of getting them customized. Apart from increasing traffic to a web site and sales of the product or service, banner advertisement persuades people to remember the name of the advertised product or service. Banner advertisement can inform the prospective clients about the product or service.
Tim Johnson Junior is a freelance writer, CRWA certified resume writer and career coach. Has written over 2000 articles and essays on the subject of Social Issues. Has worked for from 2003 to 2005. Currently, Tim is busy helping professionals and executives optimize their careers at a .