"How
To Use PPC Advertising To Gain Maximum Online Promotion
"
Pay
Per Click (PPC) advertising offers
many benefits to your business, however if your PPC campaign
is not managed properly the financial cost can be detrimental
to you. PPC can be viewed as an alternative to Search
Engine Optimisation (SEO). Unlike SEO, PPC results in
instant targeted traffic to your site. One of the greatest
benefits of PPC is that it allows you to test a new business
idea or product at a low cost. When executed correctly
it can result in hundreds of dollars in saving on product
creation and marketing cost. When compared to traditional
advertising such as print, radio and television PPC is
relatively cheap.
One of the major drawbacks
of PPC advertising is that your marketing
campaign ends when the money in your account drops to
nil. This is one of the major
differences between Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and
pay per click (PPC).
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In addition to Google,
Yahoo and MSN, there are a number of smaller search engines,
such as GoClick, Miva and Enhance that can generate qualified
traffic at a fraction of the cost of the major search
engines.
How Does Pay Per Click Work
Pay Per Click uses a bidding
system, where marketers bid on terms relevant to their
web site. Recently, the search engines (Google and MSN),
have introduced a new element called a Quality Score.
This is an automated tool that the search engines use
to calculate actual cost per click (CPC). The Quality
Score takes into consideration four factors; keyword relevance,
ad copy relevance, landing page and click through rate
(CTR).
Unlike MSN which uses
direct relationship to determine ad relevance, Google
uses both direct and in direct relationships. In other
words MSN requires that the keyword being bided on appears
on the page. This means that if the keyword does not appear
on the landing page you risk your ad being rejected on
charged a higher CTR.
With PPC advertising you
are in complete control of your advertising. You decide
your keyword phrase, your ad placement or rank, how much
you are willing to bid to gain your position and can the
geographic location or sites on which your ads are shown.
You can start, pause or completely stop your PPC campaign
anytime.
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When compared to other forms
on advertising PPC offers many advantages, including:
-
It is easy to set up and manage
-
-
Positioning is determined by you
and not the search engines
-
It is a very effective tool for
AB split testing which allows one to test variations
of a product for example different versions of a
web site or headline
-
Provides you with instant exposure.
This is important for new sites or time sensitive
products and services
Although it offers many
benefits, there are many disadvantages of using PPC advertising:
-
Advertising stops when the funds
in your account expire
-
Fraudulent or wasteful clicks from
competitors and content marketers trying to increase
their revenue can cost you money.
-
It can be quite costly if it is
not managed properly
-
Requires constant monitoring if
you are to maximize your return on investment (ROI)
Why is PPC effective as a
marketing tool?
Traffic from PPC is more
commonly referred to as targeted traffic, qualified traffic
or a lead because persons clicking on the PPC ads are
looking for specific information. If your site provides
the solution to their problem they are more likely to
complete a transaction on your site whether it is signing
for new subscription, emailing list or buying a product.
Unlike Search Engine Optimisation
(SEO) PPC can drive instant traffic to your site and this
is very important for new sites or sites selling time
sensitive products, that may want instant exposure.
How To Maximise
Conversion and ROI With Your Bidding Strategy
-
An effective bidding strategy goes
beyond paying the cost for the highest position.
-
An effective bidding strategy takes
into consideration quality score, ad position and
ROI.
-
An effective bidding strategy requires
understanding your customers and what influences
their buying.
-
Studying and dissect your competitors
PPC ad copy
-
Refining your ad groups to increase
the relevance between your key word phrase and your
ad copy
-
Refining your ad copy to through
testing to benefit from the search engines computed
relevance ads and targeted landing page
-
Refining you landing page to ensure
relevance between landing page and ad copy.
-
Do not be afraid to make radical
changes to your landing page and for that matter
your design.
-
Do not be afraid to use negative
keywords and use them if there is even a remote
connection to your product
-
Create a sense of urgency in your
offer
-
Above all monitor you campaign
-
Above all monitor your campaign
(it’s that important, that’s why I said
it twice)
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