What is PPC?

If you’ve heard about PPC but you’re unsure about the details, you’ve come to the right place. The page you’re reading right now will give you the lowdown and explain all the ins and outs. Business owners and individuals can benefit significantly from this form of marketing.

So, it’s vital that everyone begins to grasp the concept if they want to succeed online. As you will learn, PPC advertising is one of the best methods for reaching the right audience and creating conversions. Of course, it’s never as simple as it sounds, and most people will need the assistance of professionals to get the best results.

PPC is an abbreviation for pay-per-click, and it’s one of the most fruitful promotional methods for online marketers. Advertisers run their campaigns and target their audiences using PPC tools like Google AdWords. They only pay when someone decides to click their graphic, and that means it can display thousands of times for free. It’s a reliable and trustworthy strategy for driving more relevant traffic to any website. Best of all? It’s often cheaper than advertising using alternatives when you get the targeting options right. However, it’s still possible to waste money if you push the ads towards an inappropriate audience. That is why so many people decide to employ the services of experts.

Take some time to check your Adwords campaigns now. There are many different types of PPC advertising, but search engine promotion is one of the most popular. That’s where the business owner can pay to appear above search results for particular keywords. It saves them having to build backlinks to reach the top of Google’s results. Advertisers bid for placements and the one who offers the most cash wins. Every time an internet user clicks the link and travels to the website, the owner will pay a small fee. If everything is set up correctly, that payment shouldn’t get larger than a few cents.

WHAT IS THE BEST PPC PLATFORM?

As we have already mentioned, Google AdWords is by far the most used PPC tool. Indeed, it’s one of the most popular advertising systems on the planet, raising more revenue than any other. Users feel safe spending their budgets using that platform because it’s run by the most respected internet company in the world. Every time someone searches for keywords, Google will place sponsored links above the organic results. The advertisers pay when someone decides to click their link instead of one of the top natural websites that appear within the listings.

One of the most attractive things about Google AdWords is that clients don’t have to commit to a minimum spend. Anyone can try the system out with only a few dollars, but the company usually offers excellent introductory deals. When selecting which ads appear for which people, Google uses a range of different factors. Firstly, it looks at the most relevant advertisements it could place near those search terms. After that, it considers the size of bids placed by marketers. The ones who are willing to pay more will get selected more frequently.

Ad Rank also plays a role when it comes to determining which ads display at the top of the page. That’s a metric Google calculates using a couple of pieces of information. That includes Quality Score and CPC Bid. We’ve already spoken about the bidding, so let’s take a look at the Quality Score. Google works that out by looking at the click-through rate, relevance, and landing page standards. It’s a system designed to ensure that only the most respectable advertisers get a lot of screen space.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD PPC CAMPAIGN?

Good question! There are three things on which all advertisers must focus their efforts for the best outcomes. Failure to concentrate on this issues could mean the client never achieves their ambitions. So, let’s take a look at each and discuss why they’re so important.

1 – KEYWORD RELEVANCE

All users must try to build relevant PPC keyword lists using terms that associate to their operations. For instance, a web design company looking for new customers might like to target keywords like:

• Web development
• Web design
• Online presence, etc.

Thankfully, there are many free tools that people can use to discover the best search terms for their industry. So, there’s no need to spend hours brainstorming in the modern world. Just search online for suitable apps and programs that can help to speed the process.

2 – LANDING PAGE QUALITY

Google doesn’t like the idea of sending users to websites that seem dodgy or unprofessional. They don’t want to run the risk of infecting people’s computers with viruses or malware either. So, all landing pages must meet certain criteria for the best outcomes.

Those measures include:

• Clear calls to action
• Relevant text
• No threatening scripts or malicious software

3 – QUALITY SCORE

We’ve spoken about this already, but Quality Score is Google’s way of sorting the wheat from the chaff. Advertisers who never use underhand tactics or send people to less than honest websites always get better deals. In most instances, they can achieve more ad clicks for less investment.

Google determines the advertiser’s Quality Score by looking at:

• Keywords
• Landing pages
• The entire PPC campaign

So, it’s nearly always possible to improve your standing by making some small adjustments to your strategy. The main thing you need to remember is that you should never try to trick anyone into clicking your ads. Don’t use a picture of a half-naked woman to drive people towards your golf supplies website – it’s not going to work.

WHAT ARE SOME PPC BEST PRACTICES?

When you start a campaign, the hard work has only just begun. You must adjust and improve your approach to ensure it remains valid. Here are some excellent ideas for the best ways to encourage consistently positive results:

• Add more keywords

It’s possible to expand the campaign and reach more people if you add extra keywords that associate with your ad.

• Split ad groups into smaller targeted campaigns

You can improve your click-through rate by sectioning your ad groups. That helps you to create better-targeted ad text and more conversions.

• Review success rates for each keyword and remove if necessary

Never let your ads run for a long time without checking the success of each keyword. You might discover that some phrases perform much better than others. If that happens, you should focus on those phrases that encourage the most conversions for the lowest prices.

• Improve landing pages

We’ve already discussed the importance of relevant landing pages. However, there are always ways to modify what you have for better results. Adding new calls to action and adjusting the pages to suit better your search queries could help you to achieve more favorable outcomes.

DO I NEED EXPERT HELP TO WIN AT PPC?

While you don’t have to employ experts to help with your PPC campaign, most people do for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Google AdWords can seem like somewhat of a minefield if you’re just starting out. It promises a lot but will fail to deliver if the user doesn’t get their keyword and targeting options right. Secondly, it can take a long time to manage campaigns and refine the strategies used. So, it’s often much easier to outsource the task to people who work in that field all day long. They will always get better results than an amateur, and they’ll do it much faster.

So, you don’t have to use PPC professionals to launch a campaign. However, those who want to succeed will encounter many benefits if they do.