The Basics of Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising

The vast majority of web surfers use search engines to find their way around the web and these days nearly everyone uses the web to buy things. Whether you are looking to attract consumers or business customers, Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising and marketing can be a highly effective way to quickly and cost-effectively increase traffic to your web site as part of any Search Engine Marketing (SEM) campaign.

If you are a new business, have recently launched a new web site. or are in a highly competitive market, you might not have the luxury of a top organic search ranking. Pay Per Click marketing offers you an immediate way to get your web site seen on the first page of all the major search engines. Not only that, but a smartly designed and maintained paid ad campaign can net you higher rankings than your competitors at a lower cost per click!

An added bonus is that people searching online have intent. Search is the modern day equivalent of the yellow pages of yesteryear (by the way - if you are still advertising "in the book" and not online, we need to talk - NOW!). Whether you advertise online or not, your buyers are searching the web for your product or service and if you are not listed (multiple) times on the first few pages for keywords relevant to your product or service, you are losing business.

Is Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising the same thing as Paid Search, CPC, Click and Pay, Paid Placement, etc.?

Yes - all of these terms refer to the same thing. If a company calls you and says that they specialize in Search Engine Results Placement or Paid Placement, they are going to put you on a Pay Per Click platform and bid to put your ad at the top of the search engine(s).

With Google - which is without question the top search engine - there are no special partnerships or perks given to advertisers that spend more money. Recently, Ad Age Magazine ran an article about how some in Procter and Gamble's marketing department were a bit miffed at why they could not receive discounted clicks given that they spend so much on search advertising. Google's policies of NOT offer discounts or having special partnerships insure that the ads in their listings are the MOST relevant for their end-users - the searchers.

Any one that suggests that they can get clicks more cheaply than you can due to a relationship they have with Google is misleading you (read: lying).

Why Choose PPC over SEO?

Ideally, you should be actively engaged in Pay Per Click advertising and in some type of SEO activity - even if it is just maintaining your current search engine ranking(s). Broadly speaking, the sites that rank highest in the organic listings are recognized by the search engine as being an authority given the subject matter, geographic location, etc. Usual you do not become an authority overnight and even if you are an authority, but have never had a web site, it is going to take some time for your online reputation to "catch up" with your offline reality.

If you are a new business, you may not have time to wait to see yourself in the organic rankings. Paid Search allows you to gain visibility on the first page of a search engine almost immediately. At the same time, it will allow you to quickly identify the keywords and phrases that generate the best traffic for your site. One you have these, you can begin working on your SEO efforts in a more strategic and targeted manner.

While each click of your organic listing may not cost you anything, there can be a tremendous cost in terms of the time required to get that organic listing. For this reason, you want to hire a company like Blue Corona SEARCH.

We use our tools, technology and expertise to accomplish your SEO goals far more quickly and cost-effectively than an in-house team can. Click here to set up a free consultation.

How do you know where your listings will rank?

The position of Pay Per Click ads is based on a variety of factors, but the amount you are willing to pay for each click is still one of the major determinants - particularly in the beginning of a new campaign. But, recognize that Google rewards paid advertisers offering a relevant product or service to the keyword on which they are bidding. Why is this? Think about it - Googel wants to create a win-win-win situation. It generates the most money for them and makes them more popular with searchers and advertisers alike! If the web sites that come up as a result of your search are not what you were looking for, there's a chance you will try to find another search engine. If you abandon Google, the universe of potential customers shrinks which means companies paying for ads on Google may see less response and may leave to find greener advertising pastures elsewhere.

What is the cost of a Paid Search Campaign?

You can set your Pay Per Click budget at any amount. Most of the major search engines have the budget set up as a daily budget. If you set your budget for $30 per day, your ads will stop showing once that budget level is reached. Sometimes a budget is set based on financial constraints. For example, if you are a new business and you have allocated $1,500 per month for marketing, you wouldn't set a budget for Pay Per Click of $100 per day!

At the same time, it can be very limiting for a big business to set up and launch a Paid Search campaign with an overly restrictive budget. If you are new to Search Engine Marketing, drop us a line and we'll help you create a budget that makes sense given your business size and your goals.

Why Hire a Pay Per Click (PPC) Management Company?

It is no secret that anyone can open his or her own Internet advertising account with Google, Yahoo, MSN and others and run the campaign themselves. There are a couple of things to consider. First, time is money. If you own and operate a small business or work in marketing for one, you probably have limited resources. It is critical to think of your time as money. You need to spend it wisely. While anyone can set up a PPC account in a matter of minutes, it usually takes exponentially longer to set one up correctly. You also lack the advanced tools that professionals like Blue Corona SEARCH use.

Here's a real example:

We had a client spending a lot of money on PPC advertising. They used Google's free keyword tool and their own intuition to select their keywords. We were brought in after several years of advertising. The first thing that we noticed was that they had "paused" a particular keyword. We asked why and they responded that it was too expensive. For a particular time period, it had costed them $100 and they only saw 4 conversions as a result. They argued that $25 per conversion was far too expensive to justify continuing to bid on this term.

We took over managing the account and implemented our proprietary PPC tracking software. We also turned the "expensive" keyword back on to "active." After one month, we noticed what they had also noticed - about $110 for 4 online conversions. BUT, our software also tracks the calls generated by each keyword. Our client was receiving, on average, 9 calls for every 1 online conversion! This keyword was not generating 4 conversions, but over 30! The keyword once considered "too expensive" was now their top performer.

Just think of the lost opportunities between when they paused this keyword to when they hired us... and things like this happen all the time. Try us for 120-days. So far, no one has gone back to doing it on their own!