What is PPC Advertising?
Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) is a form of digital advertising where you, the advertiser, publish an ad on a given online platform, but rather than pay a flat rate for the posting, you pay for each real click on the ad. The most popular networks for PPC are Google Ads and Bing Ads. Facebook Ads are also a network available for PPC on social channels.
Is PPC right for you?
If you are trying to gain more traffic to your website, Pay Per Click advertising is extremely targeted. You can choose who you show your ads to based on location, age, gender, keywords, language, device, and a variety of other demographics. Your money will carry a higher Return on Investment (ROI) with PPC rather than mass marketing because your products will be pushed to those who would be most interested. You are only charged when a user clicks on your ad, this way you can see how much you are spending in a day while tracking how each of your campaigns is doing.
What are the Elements of PPC?
- The Campaign – The campaign is at the top of your hierarchy; this is what you are wishing to promote using PPC. This could be an everyday push for your product or a seasonal type of ad.
- The Ad Group – The ad group is consists of specific ads you have created to relate to the current campaign you wish to run. These are often a subcategory of your business such as a semiannual sale your business plans to run in the middle of the year, a specific product, or one of your store locations
- Keywords – Your keywords are what trigger the ad. Think of it as a cause and effect or an if-then. For example, if someone searches for “sneakers” then show them my Nike Ad.
- Ad Text – In your actual ad text you would want to have some sort of eye-catching, catchy text to make people want to click on it. The closer your ad text relates to the search query they just made, the more likely that user is to think your site will have the answer they are looking for.
- Landing Page – The landing page is where consumers would “land” after clicking on your ad. The landing page needs to be relevant to your keywords. This should have a clear call to action and relevant information such as the sales page on your website.
How Do You Start PPC Advertising?
- Have a website or app you want to promote
- Pick your PPC Network i.e. Google Ads, Bing Ads, Facebook Ads
- Create landing pages for the campaign on your website
- Sign up with your website or ad and payment information
- Begin Creating Campaign
- Test and optimize your campaigns and figure out what works for your different campaigns
Want some extra information on how to get started? Check out this video!
How much does PPC cost?
The cost of PPC depends on the reach you are hoping for. First of all, PPC campaigns are based on keywords. Some keywords cost more than others; for example, “shopping” will cost more than using your specific brand name as a keyword. This is because more people are going to bid on the work “shopping” more than the specific brand. A plus side to PPC is most PPC networks will allow you to set a budget per day so you can ensure you do not go over budget on a particular campaign. Some agencies can help you manage your campaigns and the performance of each ad. An agency can fine-tune your campaigns and help save money and gain more clicks. Here at Code & Color, we offer these services to help assist you and ensure your campaigns are running to their full potential.
How does the Auction work?
Google Ads will determine where your ad will go on your page based on your ad rank, not by how much you are willing to pay. Additional factors to help determine where your ad will appear to the user include, your expected click rate, landing experience, ad relevance, ad format, and your bidding all take into account how Google calculates your ad rank. This video “Pay Per Click Management” gives an overview with examples of how the Ad Rank formula works.
Understanding your ROI
ROI stands for Return on Investment. Your return is the revenue generated as a result of a specific action or campaign. Your investment is the cost associated with gaining that income. The formula to calculate your ROI is sales divided by the cost. This is shown as a percentage.
How do you track your ROI you might ask? First, you will need to measure conversions, these are the actions from your engagements that are considered to be valuable. These include webpage visits, email signups, new leads, etc. Google Ads has a conversion tracking tool, and your web developer can use Google Analytics to help capture conversions by source. This tool is valuable in identifying how many clicks turned into conversions. Your results for a positive PPC campaign should show you are making more money on a click than spending to get the click.
Pay Per Click Summed Up
PPC is a great tool to be able to grow your business through increased website traffic, while only paying when the advertisement is successful. When using PPC you have to go through a trial and error phase with all of your different campaigns to maximize their results and see what will work best for your advertising needs. A great way to ensure your campaign is maximized is by hiring an agency, like Code & Color, to manage and take care of all your PPC campaigns. Leave it to the professionals to can ensure your campaign is fine-tuned and maximizing your ROI. PPC is a great way to advertise without breaking the bank.
Want to read more about GoogleAd Words? Check this Blog out!
Blog by Molly Tipton, Marketing Intern