Pay-Per-Click or PPC is one of the most effective online advertising and marketing strategies to drive customers to your business.  Among the providers of PPC advertising, Google’s AdWords is the most widely used platform.  If used properly, PPC could bring in a significant number of highly targeted leads that convert into paying customers.

What is Pay-Per-Click?

Essentially, pay-per-click or PPC, is a way of buying traffic or visits to a website. One of the most popular forms of PPC is search advertising provided by Google AdWords in which the advertiser pays a fee whenever an ad is clicked.

In search advertising, PPC ads appear above the organic search results. The ads appear on relevant search results. So if a PPC ad is for “baby clothing”, for example, it would show in search results for the same or related keywords.

A PPC ad copy includes a short title, a description, and a link to a landing page. Some PPC ads may also have extensions. These are especially useful features that make your ad more relevant to the searcher.

According to Search Engine Watch, businesses make an average of $2 in revenue for every $1 they spend on Adwords.  This is likely due to the fact that more and more people are using mobile devices, and mobile search now accounts for 52 percent of paid search clicks.

Organic Search vs. Pay-Per-Click

Optimizing your business for organic search is key to long-term success online. But trying to dominate a keyword in a competitive industry isn’t exactly a walk in the park, and it could take a few months to see significant results. But with PPC, you have a better chance of getting more clicks by leapfrogging ahead of the competition attempting to rank high in organic search.

Organic SEO campaigns take time.  They require the help of a savvy digital marketing agency in order optimize your site so that you’ll start showing up in the organic listings.  PPC is a quicker way to get awareness online.  Think of organic SEO campaigns as a marathon, and a PPC campaign like a sprint.  With PPC you need to pay every time someone clicks your ad.  Google asks each advertiser to set a maximum cost per click they are willing to spend on each keyword (for each click).

If you have the budget and you need to get in front of as many customers as fast as possible, PPC can do that for you. Organic SEO, on the other hand, sets you up for long-term success online.

Now, let’s get right down to business. If you’re looking to explore PPC, the following are the five must-haves of a successful pay per click campaign:

The right set of keywords

Like organic SEO, PPC requires that you research and select a certain set of keywords. Keywords are the primary key to driving success to your PPC campaign. Be sure to use the proper set of keywords that exactly describe your business.  Avoid using keywords with a high competition (high numbers of other advertisers targeting the same keyword). You need to use those with high search volume, but with low competition. Such keywords usually cost low.

The best free tool to use for your keyword research is Google’s very own AdWords Keyword Planner. It provides you with insights on keywords, competition, cost, and location targeting.

Ask us today about how we can help you dig deeper for keywords using our proprietary keyword software.

Emphasis on clicks

When running a PPC ad, you should focus mainly on the number of clicks (your CTR or click through rate), not on the number of impressions (the number of times your ad appears). This is because your PPC campaign’s costs are based on the number of times your ads have been clicked. Which is why you need to be sure that your ads have the most relevant or targeted keywords for maximum clicks and conversion.  It is crucial to keep your ad on the first page with a strong bid, because 62% of search engine users click on a search result within the first results page (28% click on 2nd or 3rd page).

Intelligence: keeping an eye on the competition

If the competition seems to be outperforming your PPC ads, there’s probably a good reason. The best way to find out what they might be doing right is to use keyword software that ‘spys’ on them (this is totally legal, ethical and part of a comprehensive PPC strategy). Study your competition’s ad copy and make a shortlist of the highest peforming ads.

Ad Extensions

PPC ad extensions are excellent tools that compel customers to click on an ad. Extensions provide more information that potential customers may be looking for, such as your business’ phone number, customer rating, links to your webpages, and mailing address.

Below are some of the ad extensions in Google AdWords:

• Sitelink Extensions – It displays additional links in your standard text ad
• Call Extensions – It lets you add a phone number in your standard text ad
• Callout Extensions – It shows additional descriptive text in your standard text ad
• Location Extensions – It allows you to display location information in your standard text ads
• Review Extensions – A review extension that displays an accurate, current, credible, non-duplicative third-party review of your business. Like the rest of your ad text, your review extensions must comply with all AdWords policies.

Use these extensions to give more reason for customers to click on your ads. They are great tools to increase your click-through rate and improve your conversion.

Performance tracking

Unfortunately, this is one area that many advertisers tend to take for granted. Performance tracking is essential for understanding how well your PPC ads and campaign are working. By taking a look at the performance of your ads, you would be able to make the necessary adjustments for improved performance. You’ll discover which set of keywords are driving more traffic and resulting in conversions, as well as which are performing poorly and should be eliminated.

The online marketing space is getting more and more crowded everyday. But with the right strategy in search advertising, you’ll be able to corner a portion of your market that your competition might not have tapped into yet. With the right PPC strategy, you would be able to pull in more visits and see improved revenue.

For more information on getting more customers with Pay-Per-Click, contact Search Engine Pros today.