Pay Per Click Marketing (PPC) is an extremely effective tool that business owners can leverage to drive new visitors to their websites. When prospective customers search for your product or service online, they are in need at that moment. And, if your company shows up on the front page of search engine results through paid ads or search engine optimization (SEO), your odds of getting that sale go up dramatically.
It’s a fact that every business using its website to boost sales wants to be found on the front page of Google search results, but that can take a substantial amount of time and work. We are big proponents of search engine optimization (SEO), but it can take several months to generate measurable results. In the early stages of a website marketing campaign, PPC makes it possible to compete with your well-established opponents and obtain front page placement in short order.
Overnight Results
With pay per click marketing, results are very fast. With proper setup and budget, a website can literally jump to the front page within 24 hours. The dominating force in PPC, Google AdWords, will start displaying your ads immediately, which means you have the ability to generate results out of the gate. The combination of speed and laser-focused targeting enables your website to attract relevant visitors and drive sales now. Choosing AdWords as a complementary strategy to a new SEO campaign will launch your visibility without the wait!
Total Control of Budget
The budget is always a concern for any company and no business owner wants to risk a lot of money to test out a new marketing idea. The good news is, with a PPC campaign you have total control over costs and can start with a very minimal commitment. In fact, there are no required minimums. You control the bids placed for each individual ad- essentially how much you are willing to “pay-per-click” to have your ad shown and generate a visitor. You make the decision on how much you are willing to spend on a daily and monthly basis, so you will never exceed the budget. Budgets can be adjusted at any time, and campaigns can be turned off, paused, and turned back on at your discretion.
Laser Focused Targeting
In any PPC campaign, it all starts with keywords. When your clients are searching for you, what terms are they using? Where do your competitors show up? The great news is you have total flexibility to choose the search terms or keyword phrases where your ads are shown. You can also target specific cities or regions (geo-targeting) and can exclude locations you do not want your ads shown. There is also the ability (through “negative keywords”) to filter out certain terms like “free” if you are selling something so those types of visitors do not click on your ad and waste your budget.
Measurable Results
Have you ever had trouble measuring the results of a billboard campaign or a radio ad? That will not be the case with PPC. The Google AdWords platform has tools that provide you with detailed reporting on your ad campaign to show where your visitors are clicking the most, what the most profitable ads and keyword combinations are, and where you are wasting money. You can also setup goals and track them based on target campaign ROI, website conversions (a sale, completed contact form, a phone call, etc.), overall website traffic, and the best keyword phrases. A tremendous amount of data will be at your disposal based on the clicks, keywords, bids, daily budget, where your ads are showing, etc. It’s up to you or the person/agency managing your campaign to analyze the data and make adjustments to make your campaign more effective.
Jumpstart Your Traffic
If you don’t have time to wait, PPC is a great strategy to jumpstart your website traffic and drive new sales. With Google AdWords, you can have your business on the front page within hours. Bottom line… PPC search ads get your business in front of your prospects exactly when they need your product or service, so the timing could not be better.
In the upcoming weeks, I will continue to dive deeper into the subject of pay-per-click marketing and specific strategies. This article just scratched the surface, so feel free to reach out to me and the team at Relevance Digital Marketing if you have any questions or we can be of assistance.
Until Next Time,
Ty Henderson
Chief Strategist, Relevance Digital Marketing