Imagine spending all of your time on digital marketing only to get a few, if any, sales. If you’re willing to spend some money, you should consider using PPC advertising.
Not only can it help you get more results in less time, but you may find the money is worth it for the profit you receive.
Read on to learn how PPC ads work and why they matter.
Overview of PPC
Using PPC, or pay-per-click, ads can help you get more clicks and views through search engines. You’ll bid on different keywords, and you will only pay if someone clicks on your ad.
When comparing PPC vs SEO, PPC can get you results much faster than SEO. With SEO, you don’t pay money, but you do pay with your time because it can take a while for your website to rank highly in search results.
If you’re willing to spend a bit of money for a click, you can rank at the top of results on Google. Then, you can make sales more quickly, and you can make a profit on what you spend on advertising.
How It Works
When you use PPC marketing, you’ll need to create ads with good ad copy to help with conversions. Next, you need to choose the right keywords to connect to your ad.
Google will use those keywords to determine when to put your ad up for an ad auction. Make sure you select keywords that make sense for your business, or you might get a lot of clicks from people who will never buy from you.
You also need to determine how much you want to spend per click. Paying more may help you rank closer to the top, but other factors also affect your rank.
Each ad you create will receive a quality score with some number out of 10. Advertisements with high click-through rates and relevance will receive the highest quality scores, and they can rank higher than ads with bigger budgets.
How Google Sets Ad Prices
Google will use your ad budget and quality score to help set the price per click if it chooses to show your ad. Multiplying your ad budget by your quality score will give you your ad rank.
The search engine will use this formula for all other advertisers, and this helps determine the rank of the advertiser right below you. Google will then take that advertiser’s rank and divide it by your quality score.
If the advertiser below you has a rank of 12, and your quality score is 4, you can divide that to get 3. Add one cent to get the total per click of $3.01.
The advertiser with the lowest rank in an auction will pay the maximum bid based on their budget. Because of this, making your ads relevant and useful can help you get more clicks while saving money.
Choosing Keywords
One of the benefits of PPC is that you can rank high for certain keywords in a shorter period than with SEO. However, that means keyword research is just as vital for PPC marketing.
You need to select keywords that are relevant to your business and that people might search for to find a business like yours. If you sell cosmetics, it wouldn’t make sense to advertise for searches related to office supplies, for example.
Look for both short tail and long tail keywords within your industry or niche. Short tail keywords get more searches but can be more competitive, while long tail keywords allow you to target the best possible search terms for your business.
How to Manage Your PPC Campaigns
Once you set up your PPC campaign, you shouldn’t leave it alone. You should actively review your campaign performance and look for ways to improve the campaign.
Consider what you can do to make sure your PPC campaign is getting you the best possible results.
Add Keywords
You should do keyword research regularly, especially if you’re working on a new product or service. If you come across a new keyword you want to advertise on, add it to your Google AdWords account.
Put yourself in the shoes of your ideal customer and think about the search terms they might use. Then, look at how expensive and competitive those keywords are and if they’re worth adding to your list.
Another type of keyword you can add to your account is a negative keyword. Once you start running pay-per-click ads, you may find that some terms don’t lead to conversions.
You can add those keywords to your account as negative keywords. Then, you won’t have to spend your ad budget on search terms that won’t result in sales.
Remove Keywords
Along with using negative keywords, you take keywords off your list of terms to bid on for advertising space. Maybe your business is shifting in a different direction, so cosmetics isn’t your main niche anymore.
Or perhaps a few of your keywords aren’t performing horribly, but they aren’t giving you the results you want. You might want to remove them from your list of keywords.
Then, you can maximize your ad budget and focus on keywords that will get you conversions. Be sure to revisit your keyword list regularly to catch any underperforming keywords.
Adjust Your Budget
Over time, you might also need to adjust your advertising budget. As your business grows, you may be able to give more of your business budget to advertising since it’s worth the cost to make sales.
You might also decide to increase your budget to help rank higher in an ad auction. After a while, your quality score might increase enough that you can lower your budget per click.
Either way, think about how much money you want to spend to maximize sales and profit. Your budget will probably change over time, so don’t be afraid to make those adjustments in your advertising account.
Will You Use PPC Ads?
If you find that SEO isn’t working quickly enough, you may want to consider PPC ads. By paying per click, you don’t have to spend as much money advertising your business.
As long as you select relevant keywords and create useful advertisements, you can show up at the top of search results. Then, you can get the clicks and sales you need to grow your company.
Do you need help with your PPC campaign? Check out our internet advertising services to learn how we can help you.
