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PPC Advertising
By Kimberly Bock | February 19, 2008
PPC advertising is when you pay a search engine every time someone clicks on one of you advertisements. The letters PPC stand for Pay Per Click.
image compliments of CorporateSearch Optimization
Paying for extra exposure can be a well needed addition especially if your SEO efforts are in it’s first stages. Organic (also known as natural or free search) typically doesn’t show immediate positive results, so a PPC campaign might just be what the doctor ordered to boost your traffic and hopefully conversions to follow.
Below are examples of what PPC advertisements looks like in Yahoo! and in Google. Notice that Yahoo! lists the ads as “Sponsor Results” whereas Google lists them as “Sponsored Links”
I am not an expert with Gimp, so these look a little bit blurry I’m afraid. But as you (hopefully) can see, The areas beneath the search box highlighted in blue (Yahoo!) and in yellow (Google) as well as the sidebar in each, are PPC ads. (Yahoo! actually offers the PPC ads above BELOW and in the sidebar of the search results) And of course, the other search results you’re seeing are the organic search results.
In order to place a PPC ad you’ll sign up for a program of your choice, (Yahoo! Small Business, Google Adwords, MIVA, Microsoft AdCenter, LookSmart AdCenter, Kanoodle) write a brief summary..I’m thinking the average ad should be 25 characters for the first line of text (which is hyperlinked and takes the reader to your chosen landing page) 50 characters, (including spaces) which will be your description of your product &/or services and beneath it all will be your homepage URL (not hyperlinked).
Make certain you sound as appealing as is possible. Before any of this happens though, you’ll need to do your homework to best utilize the keywords that you choose to bid on, deciding beforehand how much you are willing to spend each time someone clicks on your ad.
Yes, it’s true…the higher your bid, the greater the chance that your ad will be placed above your competitors ads.
PPC advertising can be a very lucrative endeavor in the long run if you use it strategically and offer something on your landing page that the reader just can’t resist. (or a second page that the landing page may take them to. Usually their attention needs to be utilized in first or second page. They typically don’t want to hang out longer than that to get to the punchline)
Be sure to have integrated your optimized (organic) content making certain that your copy is written sensibly and with an appealing flow…leading the horse to water so to speak, and provide a loyal follow through once you’ve (hopefully) secured the reader in your suggested call-to-action (conversion). This will optimize the possibility of Word of Mouth (WOM) advertising that’s sure to follow their satisfaction.
Follow these guidelines in your PPC advertising, and it is likely to be a worthwhile risk.
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Topics: Search Marketing |