What is PPC Marketing? – Basics of Pay-Per-Click Marketing

Business as an entity always co-existed with marketing. There are many ways people opt to promote their business to attract the audience, from PPC marketing to building big billboards and handing pamphlets door to door, business persons have engaged in many creative ideas to showcase their brands. Advertising can boost the business by directly engaging with the audience, and helping them know about the products and services a company/business is offering.

As the digital world is increasing exponentially, many companies have come up with a new method of advertising through digital media and named it ‘Digital marketing‘. One of the strategies in digital marketing is PPC Marketing, where business entities can save money in marketing practice.

In this article, we are going to discuss PPC Marketing, various tools required to be effectively involved, and much more.

What is PPC Marketing?

PPC (Pay-Per-Click) is a marketing model where advertisers pay only when their link is clicked and the user visits their website, application, or any other specified webpage. By this model, advertisers need not pay for the mere placement of their links but will pay when users click the link provided and visit the landing page.

Search Engine Advertising, a model in PPC, is where advertisers have to select a specific word, called a keyword, and bid for it. Hence, every time a user searches for that keyword, an ad will be displayed. For example, if a clothing company bids for the word ‘linen shirts’, every time a user searches for that word, an ad will appear at the top of the results displaying the company.

Benefits of using PPC Marketing

Here are some benefits of using PPC marketing over organic marketing:

1. Tracking the Marketing

PPC Ads can be easily measured and traced. Performance stats are available where the advertisers can see impressions, number of clicks, conversations, etc. This can be used to understand the traffic and help in isolating the PPC campaign efforts. Also, this data can be used in long-term SEO marketing.

2. Variable Budget Allocation

Advertisers can change the amount of advertising at any point of time. As the advertiser has to pay only when the link is clicked rather than mere placement of the ad, the advertising amount can be fixed and it won’t cross the limit.

3. Irrespective of Algorithms

SEO and content-driven marketing are liable to search engine algorithms. However, PPC marketing is reliable as it rarely undergoes any changes because of algorithms. Also, even though there is a low SEO rating for the website, PPC ads will work efficiently without being affected.

Platforms Offering PPC Marketing

Various platforms offer PPC Marketing to make use of their heavy traffic. Each of them consists of millions of users worldwide and can help advertisers reach their target audience.

1. Google Ads

Google Ads is the biggest PPC platform, with nearly 28% of the market share. The ads appear in Google search, AdSense websites, YouTube, and various other partners. It has an average CPC (cost-per-click) of $2-4 for search ads.

2. Bing Ads

Bing Ads (Microsoft Ads) is another popular ad platform, mainly among PC and laptop users. Ads appear on Microsoft search engine and Yahoo, with an average CPC of $1.5.

3. Facebook Ads

As a large section of mobile users has Facebook accounts, advertisers having such a target audience can go for this. Ads will appear on Facebook and its partner websites/apps. It has an average pricing of $0.95 per click.

How does PPC marketing Work?

PPC Marketing has a simple process, which can be easily understood. Here are the steps to show how it works:

• Select the specific platform you want to campaign, for example, Google Ads or Bing Ads, and sign up for their advertising platforms.

• Select the keyword. Choose this wisely as most of your marketing experience will largely depend on the keyword you are bidding on.

• Decide your target demographics, such as area, age, gender, etc., the price you are willing to pay per click, and over all budget.

• Select the images and videos that you want to show in your ads.

• Send the bidding.

• The auction will decide the advertiser and the place where the ads will be shown.

• Pay as per the clicks your ad has received.

This is a generalized process to make a PPC ad in Ad platforms. Various platforms have different structures and an advertiser is free to investigate the same and advertise accordingly.

Tools for PPC marketing

PPC tools are software applications that can assist and manage PPC marketing campaigns. These are essential in understanding and designing profitable advertisements. PPC tools can streamline tasks by automated bidding, improve the return on investment, and save a lot of time.

Here are some tips you can follow in choosing a better PPC tool for your campaign:

1. Understand the Need

One must have a clear idea of the type and range of PPC campaigns they are going to choose, and it must be based on various demographics. As many of the tools are priced, one must evaluate the required features before going for tools.

2. Integration

PPC programs should be easily integrated with other software tools used for ad campaigns. For example, a given PPC tool must be integrated with existing SEO campaign tools for better advertising.

3. Ease of Use and Pricing

The given tool must be user-friendly and quick to learn. After understanding the features needed, check for the tools that are offered at a lower cost. It must be compatible with the PPC campaign budget and aid for the same.

4. Tools Required for PPC Marketing

There are a wide range of tools available online to manage the PPC marketing. However, one must select the tools based on the requirements.

• PPC Management Tools

• Call Tracking Tools

• Landing Page Tools

• Keyword tools

• PPC Analytics and Automation Tools and many more.

Some of the popular tools for PPC Marketing are:

• Google Ads Editor

• Microsoft Advertising Editor

• SEMrush

• SpyFU

Conclusion

PPC can be very efficient in having successful ad campaigning because of its precise targeting and cost control. Various large companies rely on PPC marketing to have better results and understand competition. Also, startups can step into PPC to reach the target audience, improve leads, and increase the website visit count.

A main feature of PPC is the data availability via PPC tools, and the value of this information doesn’t just go for PPC campaigns. This data can be utilized to understand the entire digital marketing strategies and make enough efforts to improve the very. PPC directly provides brand visibility and exposure, hence, the success of advertising campaigns.

FAQs – PPC Marketing

Q1: How many people click on PPC ads?

Stats suggest that more than 45% of ads have page clicks that appear on search ads. Also, PPC has a high return on investment (ROI) compared to other digital marketing strategies. For instance, the average ROI of Google Ads is $8 for every dollar invested.

Q2: How much should one pay per click?

Cost per click (CPC) varies depending on various factors including scale of bidding and demographics. Also, it depends on the platform you are opting to campaign. An average, the CPC in Google Ads is $3, Bing Ads is $1.5 and Facebook Ads is $0.95.

Q3: How much time will it take to launch a PPC campaign?

PPC works on short-term strategy and hence, a minimum of 3 months is required to launch successful PPC campaigns. This time can be utilized to explore keywords, create better bidding strategies, budget management, etc.

Q4: Which is better PPC or SEO?

PPC and SEO are two different methods with a common goal of reaching the target audience. However, these must be employed for different situations, for example, PPC can be useful for short-term marketing and SEO can be used for long-term marketing.