Pay-Per-Click Advertising - The Basics

Search engine optimization can take a long time to showresults. The Google sandbox alone can delay optimization results by 6to 8 months. So, what can you do to get traffic while you wait?Pay-per-click ["PPC"] campaigns fill the time gap. This articlediscusses the basics of PPC advertising.

What Is A PPC?

APPC search engine allows you to bid for placement in search results.Search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL and most others bolstertheir organic search results with sponsor advertisements. If you searchon Google, links in blue across the top and the little ads down theright side of the search results are PPC listings. In one form oranother, similar listings appear on every major search engine.

How Does It Work?

Whenyou use a PPC, you will bid for placement in the search results underparticular keywords. Instead of optimizing your site to appear high inthe listings, you simple pay for the position. While this may soundgreat, keep in mind you are paying for the listing and have to watchthe return on investment closely.

To get started, you must openan account with the PPC in question. The two biggest PPCs are GoogleAdwords and Overture. You will need to register with the PPC, provide acredit card number and, depending on the PPC, deposit money into theaccount. Next, create ads with a title, body text and link to thelanding page of your site. The title of each ad should correspond to aparticular keyword you want to promote. If at all possible, include thekeyword in the actual title. Finally, you will be asked to bid onplacement in the search results.

Bidding for placement is not assimple as it my sound. Ideally, your ad should be in the top 3, butnever below the 10th position. This has to be balanced, however, by thereturn on investment of the campaign. If you sell a product thatproduces a $10 dollar profit per sale, you probably can't afford to pay$.90 per click. If your site converts 1 visitor out of every 100 into asale, you will spend $90 for every sale. Obviously, that is going towork out very well. The one caveat to this situation is a business withreoccurring revenue.

If you site charges clients a reoccurringmonthly fee, you can bid in excess of your immediate profit margin. Todo this safely, you must determine how long the average customer willstay on your site. For example, if you make a $10 profit per month andthe average customer pays for 5 months, the total profit is $50. Inthis situation, you can spend $20 or $30 to obtain a customer and stillturn a profit. To properly manage a PPC campaign for a reoccurringcharge site, you must recalculate the profit per customer ever week toprotect yourself.

PPC Cons

Why not just use a PPCcampaign instead of pursuing search engine optimization? There are anumber of reasons. First, you are paying for each click with a PPC,which requires a budget and may impact your cash flow. Second, PPCbidding is competitive and that translates into higher costs, so muchso that a profit may be hard to make. Third, many people simply do notclick on PPC ads with the figure being as high as 20 percent. Fourth,you run the risk of having people click on your ads with no intentionof buying, whether they are just browsing or are trying to exhaust youradvertising budget.

PPCs definitely have a place in the onlinemarketing field. Manage your campaigns with an eye for detail and youshould fine.

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Internet technology offers vast opportunities to promote your business with virtually no advertising borders, and you can find countless sources online directing you towards budget marketing via pay-per-click search engines for maximum effectiveness in the information age.
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