Having a webpage in today’s modern world of technology is an important asset. For many businesses, it is essential because it allows a company to branch out and reach new audiences that may never before have been touched by traditional marketing schematics. For instance, the internet connects virtually everyone from around the world, as well as members of a local community, all under one proverbial roof. A webpage placed online, then, has the potential to reach out and connect these individuals to a business and potentially drive traffic to them, resulting in increased brand awareness and potential profits. But, how and what is the best way to drive this traffic to a site?
Just as with the traditional marketing plans of the past, advertising is an important part of online promotions and website awareness. Businesses rely on marketing materials to reach out and recruit new business partners, clients, or donors to their causes and organizations. When it comes to advertising on the web or via the internet, this is still the case in a technological way, of course.
There are several different ways and strategies that can be used to market a business or webpage online. From messaging, to social media, to SEO content and more, these methods can be as diversified and different as the brand itself. Among the most popular of methods for online advertising is Pay-Per-Click (PPC). Chances are that you have seen PPC advertising campaigns and maybe even clicked on them without ever realizing it. This begs the question of just what is PPC and how can you best apply it to your online marketing plan?
To get you started in marketing your online websites and webpages, it is important to understand the concepts and strategies that can impact your online presence positively. Therefore, this article discusses more about the pay-per-click approach, as well as identifies ten quick tips about PPC you need to remember when utilizing this method in your marketing campaign. Because this concept can be difficult to understand for those not well versed in the area of online marketing or even for those who market but not daily, this article begins with an explanation of just what PPC and where it is popularly utilized. Chances are that you know more than you thought you did, without even realizing it.
What Is PPC?
As aforementioned, PPC is a shortened and commonly utilized term for the process of pay-per-click. This is a marketing strategy that is unique to online promotions where a business or website administrator pays a fee to garner traffic to their site. It is, essentially, a means of purchasing visits for a particular site.
This process of gaining traffic is different than organic methods of attracting visitors. That is to say that it stands in contrast to the casual click or free acquisition of some web users who just happen to stumble upon a page. There is a clear and defined goal of attracting traffic and this is achieved through paying for it.
So, who does an individual pay to garner this web traffic? It depends on where the advertisement is going to be placed. For instance, one of the most popular methods of PPC strategies is achieved through placing an advertisement on an online search engine. In this case, the search engine advertising services would be paid for placement of the advertisement. Also in this instance, the advertisement is linked to keywords of relevance to the product, service, or organization’s promoted goals. For example, if a business that sells socks were to place a PPC advertisement on Google, the advertisement would pop up when a user searched for phrases and words like “where to buy socks?” or “need new socks.” This is a targeted plan devised to ensure that the advertisement is relevant to the user and increases the likelihood that the advertisement will be clicked. This form of PPC is among the most popular used today.
Honing the Focus
As noted in the previous paragraph, search engines are among the most popular and elaborate schematics for PPC opportunities. From Google to Bing, all have their own method of deciding how PPC works. Because Google and their AdWords PPC advertising system is still among the most popular, most of the focus on the ten quick tips about PPC discussed below will focus on this platform’s PPC schematic.
1. Pace Yourself
One of the most important of the ten quick tips about PPC that you can know and take the time to understand is to pace yourself. When you are working to unveil or break into new marketing schematics like PPC or work to adjust your current strategy, the actions you take should be calculated not fast. You want to ensure that you are doing it right and that you are getting the most for your advertising investments. Therefore, take your time and market slowly. You will find that any internet strategy is a marathon and not a sprint.
2. Encourage Reviews
You will notice that when some advertisements come during a Google or other search engine query that they have stars next to the business or organizational name. More stars equate to a better reputation of a business while less stars denotes the opposite. These stars that appear next to a PPC advertisement are based upon reviews given by consumers and clients. Therefore, they should be encouraged by companies as part of their overall marketing strategy. The more stars next to an advertisement, the more likely it is to be clicked. Consider encouraging of Google or other search engine reviews as an important one of the ten quick tips about PPC.
3. Negativity Matters
You may think that a PPC strategy on search engines is all based upon the positive search queries to which you want your advertisement to be linked. But, keywords to drive traffic are not the only ones of importance to PPC. There are are also items called negative keywords as well. Negative keywords are phrases or words that, when searched for, actually prevent your advertisement from popping up. They are gatekeeping words of sorts that prevent unwanted traffic from coming to your site. This helps to target the traffic and avoids your site seeing individuals visit that are not interested in what you have to offer. Remember this on your list of ten quick tips about PPC.
4. Do Not Forget SEO
PPC should be part of any online marketing campaign. However, it should be a part of a bigger puzzle. More organic efforts and those that rely on SEO, for example, should not be thrown out the window if you start utilizing PPC. They should be enhanced and added to the PPC plan. This provides businesses with several different avenues to attract traffic. It also protects a business if one aspect of an online marketing plan fails.
5. Track Your Calls
If you are using PPC to garner phone calls, this is a viable and real strategy that can have a great deal of benefits to your business. It can get people talking, and it can get you into a dialogue with your potential consumer. But, too often these PPC results are not tracked. This sounds like a simple and unimportant thing for a business to concern itself with. The truth is, though, that it is very important for understanding the financials of a business and the investment that was placed in marketing. To understand the ROI for a phone call-linked online marketing campaign, be sure to track the calls that are initiated from your online paid advertising strategies. This will help you to calculate your PPC and understand the cost versus results. This an important and often overlooked of the ten quick tips about PPC.
6. Quality Matters
Number six on the list of ten quick tips about PPC relates to quality. Google, for example, does not just place an advertisement on the website because keywords were searched. The page has to be quality and, more specifically, the landing page does. If your landing page is not optimized or if you are lacking in the way of relevant content, then, your advertisement will not be given a high quality score. This will impact how often and when your advertisement is displayed to consumers. Remember that quality matters as much as the advertisement itself and plan accordingly.
7. Advertisement Extensions
Chances are that you have searched something in Google that has resulted in a PPC advertisement appearing at the top of the list. What you may not have noticed, though, is that there can be extensions at the bottom of this advertisement that are links to other pages within a particular website. These advertisement extensions essentially breakdown the page for those that are viewing the PPC ad and give them more options in where they can go on your site. This is a great way to highlight the depth of a business or webpage and should be utilized as often as possible. Therefore, remembering to focus on ad extensions has to be on the list of ten quick tips about PPC.
8. Review Regularly
A PPC campaign, like any marketing campaign, is not something that should be established and then left to sit. You cannot simply place an advertisement and expect it to work out well for your company. Though this may happen, it is much more likely to occur when you are actually reviewing the results of the PPC campaign. This is done by continually reviewing the numbers and the results, as well as the profits associated with this type of campaign—when applicable of course.
If you are paying a third party to handle this type of account or campaign for you, there is an additional need for reviewing. There is assured to be an investment in the company that is running your PPC advertisement account. If this is the case, you want to ensure that you are seeing the results promised. If you are not keeping track and reviewing your PPC campaign regularly, you will never really know if they are delivering on this service. Therefore, be sure to follow number eight on the list of ten quick tips about PPC and review your PPC campaign regularly.
9. Track Everything
As noted prior, tracking phone calls or other non-internet based communications is important to understanding your ROI for phone advertisement PPC campaigns. However, this is not the only thing that should be tracked. For a comprehensive and evaluated marketing campaign, you need to ensure that you are tracking everything related to online marketing. Whether it is the amount of traffic driven to your sites, the keywords that are working to drive traffic, the words that are not, and other tangible results, you can better understand more than just your marketing plan’s effectiveness—though this is important. You can also better understand your website’s traffic and the human behaviors that ultimately lead individuals to your site.
10. Invest in Your PPC Campaign
Most importantly, when it comes, to starting a new PPC campaign or altering an established one, you need to be willing to invest. Your campaign is important and can reap dividends in both profits and reputation for your business. But, these advertisements come at a financial cost. Therefore, you need to ensure that you are budgeting for an investment in this area.
It is also vital to invest smartly. You do not want to simply throw money at the campaign with no plan or with no oversight. Therefore, make sure that—as suggested above—you are tracking every dollar spent into the campaign as well as the click rate and PPC effectiveness. This will give you an idea of where your traffic is coming from, where you want it to go, and how much you are spending for customer or viewer acquisition. Further, it will allow you to know where you can make cuts and where you need to increase your resources in the future. An effective campaign can more than pay for itself and, therefore, should be invested into in the right way and with an understanding of any and all results.
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