Pay-Per Click Advertising – Advantages and Disadvantages

Pay-Per-Click Advertising or PPC is an online marketing technique that allows advertisers or business owners to place their ads on a website in exchange for a fee each time a user clicks on the ad. Quality score and the bid made on the keyword used will also influence the cost.

Just like any online marketing practice, PPC has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, and these are essential to understand if you’re considering including PPC as part of your strategy. Let’s look at each of them along with some tips on how you can maximize PPC to reach your goals.

Advantages

+ PPC is simple and can generate traffic quickly. PPC campaigns can generate traffic to your website as soon as the ad goes live, which makes it appealing especially if you want to see results fast. More so, the concept of putting up an ad and paying for the number of clicks it gets is easy to grasp and understand, which adds to the appeal of PPC.

+ PPC campaign results are easy to measure. Unlike Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the results of your efforts on a PPC campaign can be easily measured.

Most PPC networks have metrics that allow advertisers to see if their ads are generating conversions and profit. These metrics are designed to show the number of viewers who saw the ad, number of clicks, and if viewers reacted to the ad as you expect them to.

There are also conversion pixels, which are codes present in PPC services such as AdWords. They allow you to see which keywords, ad messages, and landing pages are generating conversions.

+ PPC allows you full control. In a PPC campaign, you have complete say on what will appear on your ad, where will it be published, and which audience it will reach. You can also control what keyword searches it will appear for. Because of that, you can optimize user experience, filter unnecessary traffic, and reach your target markets whether locally or internationally.

+ PPC Ads can be adjusted easily. While other search engine marketing techniques may take weeks or months to adapt to current market behavior, PPC campaigns can be easily revised in order to meet the latest trends and developments in the field.

+ PPC Ads are cost-effective. The cost of placing an ad for a particular keyword can cost for as low as $.10 per click. If that click led a user to buy your product or avail of your service worth $100, you easily made considerable profit.

Disadvantages

– PPC can cost a lot if you can’t manage the campaign properly. We mentioned that PPC is appealing because it can generate exposure and conversion for a low cost, but it can backfire on your budget if you’re not careful.

One of the ways that you can overspend on a PPC campaign is when you get caught in a bidding war over keywords with your competitors. While it’s your goal to get the top spot on ad listings, you shouldn’t let it make you spend more than what you initially intended to. Instead of competing for a widely searched term, focus on specific keywords that cost less but are more targeted to your desired market. Doing so will help you stick to your budget.

– PPC can generate junk traffic. There are times when some business owners will deliberately click on their competitor’s ads just to rack up the latter’s expenses. The volume of the clicks may appear good in terms of statistics and figures, but it’s going to be bad for your finances and goals.

Remember, search engines or website owners don’t take into account whether the clicks generated profit for you or not. As long as the ad is clicked on, you will get charged. That’s why you need to manage your PPC campaign closely so that you’ll know if your ads are generating conversions and reaching the right audience.

– PPC campaigns are not always successful. Holding a PPC campaign doesn’t necessarily equate to an increase in conversions or in your sales. It’s not just about setting up ads and expecting them to generate traffic and dollars to your business. A PPC campaign will only be successful at helping you attain your marketing goals if you know how to manage it properly.

How to Get the Best out of PPC Advertising

PPC advertising can help you reach your goals and generate good profit for your business if you know how to handle a campaign. Here are some quick to tips to help you get started:

‣ Focus. You need to have a clear picture of why you want to do PPC advertising. If you don’t know its purpose from the get-go, you will have a hard time managing it later on. Remember that while PPC advertising has many advantages, it can be counter-productive if you’re not careful.

Having a clear understanding of what you want the campaign to attain will help you stay on track, choose the right keywords, create ad messages that are on-point, and ultimately, increase your conversions.

‣Set a budget and stick to it. You need to know how much you’re willing to spend. Ideally, the cost of each click should be less than the profit it would make.

‣Choose specific keywords. The broadest key search terms may seem to be your best bet. However, you need to understand that they may not work well in terms of your budget.

Broad keywords cost higher per click, so it’s advisable to bid on more focused keywords. So instead of trying to get the term “bicycles”, go for more specific keywords like “cross-country mountain bikes in Arizona”. More so, broad keywords may generate a huge number of clicks that will not result to conversions.

‣ Write ad messages that are clear and on-point. If you want to persuade people to check what you have to offer, you need to write your ads well. Let users know what’s in it for them. Just like choosing keywords, you need to be specific and direct in writing your PPC ads.

‣Always be willing to adjust. Stay on the lookout for changes in market behavior—your audience and other competitors’ bid for a specific keyword. Learn to adapt to these changes so that you can make adjustments accordingly.

‣Work with the right professionals. Starting a PPC campaign may seem simple, but managing it can be complicated. In the long run, it can be challenging to keep up with your progress, stay abreast with market trends, and analyze the factors that affect your campaign. That’s why it’s best to work with a PPC service provider. PrimeView can help you with that.

PPC advertising can be very effective depending on the way you perform the process. We at PrimeView have a dedicated PPC team that will safeguard you against common PPC mistakes; provided their insight and expertise. Our company has created various PPC packages at different price points so you can choose the one that best fits your company’s needs and maximize your PPC campaign.