Pay per Click (PPC)

About Pay Per Click

Pay per click (PPC) is about setting up advertising campaigns online. It is one of a number of online marketing techniques.
The adverts in theses campaigns are displayed as search results on search engine pages as well as other web pages such as blogs and websites.
The most well known and widespread PPC providers are Google Adwords,  MS Small Businss Center, and Yahoo! Search Marketing.

Establishing and running an effective PPC ad campaign is time consuming and requires a significant amount of research. If one has the time and inclination to setup and manage a PPC campaign, all the tools required are available online.
If one does not have enough time to set aside to optimise a PPC ad campaign, then the services of a PPC professional may be the best option.

How does Pay per Click work?

The first decision to be made is which search engine you would like your ads to be displayed in. You then need to do the following:

  • Sign up for an account with the Search Engine
  • Research your keywords
  • Create your ad campaigns (keywords, groups of ads, bid prices etc)
  • Go live online with the campaign
  • Track and tune your campaign regularly.
Advantages of PPC advertising

PPC advertising campaigns target a market that is already actively looking for your products and likely to purchase should they find what they want. The adverts, if researched and set up correctly, are only displayed to people who enter keywords that you specified.
Other benefits include:

  • Take control; you do not have to work with a third-party, it is possible to set-up and research your campaign yourself, and get it live as soon as you are ready. You also have control to tweak, pause, resume or cancel your campaign whenever you choose.
  • Cost-effective; you only pay when your ad is clicked on, and traffic is driven to your site. The amount you pay is established during the set up process and depends on the keywords chosen. Essentially your adverts are displayed for free, the cost comes when your ad is clicked on.
  • Stats; You will know which ads were clicked, which keywords are proving popular and which are not, and gain more of an insight into your target market through stats provided by the search engine you are running your campaign with.