Pay-Per-Click Advertising for Newbies

Pay-per-click advertising is considered one of the most used digi-marketing methods available to marketers worldwide. It services a wide range of clients including small and medium sized businesses to Fortune 500 companies. If you are still starting your digital marketing campaigns or if you just want to know what Pay-per-click advertising (or PPC) is then here is a short overview.

What is PPC?

In a nutshell, PPC is a strategy wherein advertisers strategically place ads on websites or search engines. In order for PPC to work, you must practice some strategies and techniques. For PPC advertising using search engines for example, you must generate the right keywords for your business. These keywords (as the name implies) will be the key to the success of your strategy.

How does it work?

If you look at traditional (and some modern) advertising methods companies pay a flat timed fee for a certain advertisement. For PPC, advertisers just pay for every person who clicks on their link on search engines. This just means that you can cut your advertising costs significantly with PPC. You basically "bid" on keywords that are related to your website/business and the cost varies depending on the keyword itself and a ton of other factors.

Why PPC?

There are quite a number of advantages with using PPC. Here is a simple list of the reasons why some companies favor PPC over other digital marketing methods.

• Total Control - PPC allows advertisers total control over the campaign. You will be given power to monitor and make changes on the cost, placement and creation of every ad campaign.


• Cost - PPC works for companies with ample budget but can also be used by people who have a very tight budget. You will only pay for the traffic that you receive through the campaign so you will never have to worry about paying for nothing ever again.


• Speed - Setting up a PPC campaign takes less than a few minutes to an hour. You will immediately see results from your campaigns within minutes of it going live.


• Focus - PPC provides you a feature where you can position your ad so as to reach your target audience with pinpoint accuracy. Compared to other forms of advertisement, it is a much focused strategy.


• Tracking - You can easily track everything on your PPC campaign. From raw data, cost and other metrics, you can rest assured that data will be available on-demand for those changes.

PPC Tips for Starters

• Always install Google Analytics on your websites. People sometimes disregard this considering it is unnecessary or its too much work. Believe me, it is worth every single second you spent installing it and more. Google Analytics is a good way for you to track and record visitors on your site. It will also give you an idea on the behavior of your visitors. If you pair it with Google AdWords, you can create a powerful campaign that will surely fit your needs.


• In order to maximize your PPC campaign, make sure you can find that "unique thing" that separates you from your competition. Remember that PPC is all about keywords and the ad itself.


• If you think PPC is too much for you then get somebody who does it for a living. I know that this may be a bit unnecessary to some but having a pro is sometimes the difference between success and failure. You can always try your luck in PPC but if everything else fails, call in the big guns and you will never regret it.

Hi, My name is Joseph Segatto Jr and I am a mentor and coach to online business entrepreneurs. I see myself as a solution solver. I am a husband and small business owner. I work on helping people of all walks of life to succeed in their own online business, achieving their goals and dreams in life. I have a special interest in social media marketing and personal branding. Should you need assistance or guidance in how to get your business off the ground please do not hesitate to contact me and let's talk. I can be reached at josephsegattojr@gmail.com or contact form at JosephStyleSuccess.com

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4 Steps to PPC Ads That Generate Clicks

Your PPC ads are small in comparison to the content and elements on your landing pages-but they're arguably more important. If your ads aren't enticing enough to generate those clicks, users are never going to have the chance to be swayed by your compelling landing page copy. So start off the relationship right and put your impressions-to-clicks ratio on even ground. Follow these four steps to refine your PPC campaign and create ads that work.

1. Ditch Your Low-Performing Ads

If you've been struggling with low click-through-rates, it's time to dig into Google Analytics. Identify your top-performing ad (the most clicks per impressions) and ditch the rest. Don't throw them out the window just yet, though, because they're good for analyzing what works vs. what doesn't.

2. What Are Your Low-Performers Lacking?

Take a good, hard look at your lowest-performing ads. What are they lacking that your top-performer has? Do your low-performers make use of buzzwords that might be turning users off? Sometimes, a savvy target audience views an overuse of buzzwords as tacky or desperate-if you find that these ads aren't performing, tone down the buzz lingo.

3. Check Out Your Competition

There are some software tools that show you your competitors' ads, keywords, bid prices and other data, but a cursory evaluation using your own experimental searches can also be useful. Does your competition use multiple ad variations? Do they have snappy headlines that immediately capture your attention? Take a few cues from your competition by identifying elements that work and incorporating those same ideas into your own campaign.

4. Build Off Your Top-Performing Ad to Create Variations

After you've disabled all your ads but the top-performer, use that as your control ad. You've gathered data based on your own ad experiments, identified elements that aren't working, and gotten a few ideas from your competitors. Use all this data to create variations of your top-performing ad. Run A/B tests to narrow down which ads work better-then slowly work your way down to a few ads that incorporate these killer elements that work.

Tips for Click-Generating Ads

You can be a rockstar at keyword research and still have a lackluster PPC campaign if you're not writing ad copy that generates clicks. Premier placement and optimized keywords are only part of the equation that lands actual visitors on your website. You don't have to be a highly trained advertising copywriter to write effective PPC ads (although it certainly helps), but you can write more effective ad copy by using some expert tactics.

• Use keywords in your headline. Your audience is using keywords to get search results-they're not likely to notice, let alone click on, an ad that doesn't contain the keyword they searched for. That's why it's important to target your ads closely to each keyword campaign.

• Create a hook. Your ad has to draw attention, but you also must use the copy to create a hook, or somehow convince visitors to click. That means you essentially have to tease them with the perfect solution to their problem-which can be theirs with a simple click.

• Include your USP. What's your unique selling proposition (USP)? You know, that one "it" factor that sets you apart from your competitors? If you can convey your USP within your ad copy, you'll successfully differentiate your company from the crowd.

• Be truthful. Sure, you want to make your ad copy so fantastic that users can't help but click. That's the whole point. But don't be dishonest. Untruthful and non-relevant ads will accomplish nothing other than exhausting your PPC budget with zero ROI. That's because visitors won't convert when they reach your landing page and realize it's not at all what they thought it was.

• Call them to action. The call-to-action is one of the most important elements of your ad. Tell them to click, and tell them what they're going to get when they do so.

• Don't waste space repeating your company name. PPC ads must be concise. Your company name will likely be displayed in the URL-and if you have some off-the-wall URL, they'll figure it out when they get to your landing page. Unless you're running a brand awareness campaign, use your limited space for keyword-rich, compelling copy instead of using valuable space to include your brand name.

Your ads are the cornerstone of your PPC campaign, and the catalyst that kicks off the relationship between your business and potential customers. The most compelling ads leave a lasting impression that sets visitors up for a possible purchase before they ever hit your landing page. Creating rockstar ads leaves less work up to your landing page, and increases your ROI simply by increasing the number of visitors that reach your landing page. Refining your PPC ads might take time, but the process of testing and eliminating non-performers is relatively simple.

For more information on generating clicks for your PPC ads please visit http://www.reciprocalconsulting.com/pay-per-click.php

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nicholas_Silver

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