What is PPC? Here’s What You Should Know

If you’ve been looking for new ways to market your business on the internet, you’ve probably been told that you should give PPC a try. If you’re like lots of other business owners, you may be wondering what PPC is and how it can help you make more money.

If you have a website dedicated to your business and would like to learn how to attract visitors online and turn them into sales then this blog is for you. Today, we’ll talk about PPC, how it works, and how it can help drive sales from online traffic. Let’s get started!

What Is PPC?

So what is PPC exactly? It stands for pay-per-click and it is a digital marketing technique that can help improve your conversion metrics by attracting more people to your site. It is anchored on the idea that people use search engines when looking for products and services to solve their problems.

Typically, advertisers bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market and pay whenever somebody clicks on their ad. The price can either be bidding-based or fixed depending on where a PPC ad appears.

One of the biggest benefits of PPC is that it offers a precise level of targeting. This means you can serve your ads in front of people who fit your target demographic.

PPCs typically run on big search engines like Google and Bing but there are other platforms you can use to place your PPC ads. This includes Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Twitter Ads, PPC networks like Bidvertiser and RevContent, as well as retargeting networks like AdRoll.

The wide range of platforms on which you can place PPC helps fine tune your campaigns for better conversion rates.

How Does PPC Work?

Regardless of the platform and ad format, PPC generally works through a simple 6-step process. This includes:

Step 1. Sign up to an advertising account within a PPC network or platform.

Step 2. Create ads based on your targeted keywords and/or audience.

Step 3. Set a maximum cost you’re willing to pay for each click.

Step 4. The PPC platform puts your ad together with other advertisers who are bidding for the same keywords.

Step 5. An auction happens to determine the subsequent order in which eligible ads appear on the page.

Step 6. You pay whenever someone clicks your ad.

Note that ad placement is often determined by two factors: your bid or (Max CPC) and your ad’s relevance to search engine users (Quality Score). If you’re using Google as your CPC platform, this is called Ad Rank.

How PPC Can Help Your Business Make More Money

Many businesses rely on PPC as a reliable and profitable channel for driving quality traffic to their website and improving their conversion rates. Here are 6 ways PPC campaigns can help your business make more money:

It Helps You Reach Your Business and Marketing Goals

Whether your goal is to increase brand awareness, generate more hot leads, or improve sales on your e-commerce platforms, PPC is the way to go. It’s a powerful tool that can nurture and serve your target audience no matter where they are in their buying journey.

It Helps You Measure and Track Your Ads

Many high-level PPC platforms like Google help you track the performance of your ads. You can learn about impressions, clicks, and conversions. This way, you can focus your time and resources on what works.

You Can Get Your Campaigns Up and Running In No Time

Even if you’re new to the PPC advertising world, you can get your campaigns in no time.

Unlike other digital marketing efforts, PPC is quicker and easier to get into. Most of the work is done by the PPC platform you’re using. This means you can get things up and running quickly with minimal manpower. Often, you will only need help setting up conversion tracking and your desired landing pages.

Plus you will see the impact of your PPC efforts almost immediately unlike other digital marketing platforms that can take months to show any real difference.

It Lets You Control Your Campaigns

PPC is a highly customizable marketing platform. While there are certain default campaign settings you need to follow, you do have control over a wide range of options in terms of reaching your potential customers.

You can customize factors such as your keywords, the placements you choose to target, and how much you want to spend. You can also scale up and down almost immediately. If you want to take a break from a campaign, then you can do that with just a few clicks.

Furthermore, you can easily make quick edits on your landing pages, your keywords, and your ad copy. If needed, you can try new tests every day. If an ad doesn’t give you the results you’re expecting, you can pull it out immediately.

You Can Use It to Support Other Marketing Channels

If you’re already using content marketing, SEO, and remarketing, then PPC is a great addition to your digital marketing arsenal.

You can use PPC ads to drive visitors to your content more quickly and to improve the ROI on your content investment.

Furthermore, you can use the performance data of your PPC campaigns including impressions, clicks, and conversions to inform your SEO efforts.

PPC is also a great way to boost your remarketing efforts. With PPC, you enable sites to show targeted ads to people who have already visited your site. This can be anywhere on the web including Youtube and even news sites. This helps keep your brand top-of-mind so visitors will be encouraged to come back for more.

You Can Refine Your Targeting Efforts

Many PPC platforms allow for a multi-layered approach when it comes to covering network and targeting types. This can help you gain better brand exposure from your campaigns.

Your PPC campaigns can target difference keywords, customer behaviors, and specific audience demographics with just a few clicks.

This way, you can reach people who belong to your target audience, those who have already been exposed to your brand, as well as those who may not know about your brand yet but are looking or products or services similar to what you are offering.

Types of PPC

PPC campaigns come in a wide range of types and each one offers unique benefits. Ultimately, the type of paid advertising campaign you choose depends on where you want to reach your audience. You can try one or a combination of these types of PPC to see which one will work best for you:

Search Ads

This is the most common type of PPC ad you can see today. These often appear at the top and bottom of search engine search results pages or SERPs. They include the word “ad” to indicate that they are pieces of paid content.

Since these are text-based ads with no visuals, you need to rely on  relevant keywords and proper placement within your ad copy. Long-tail keywords that contain three or more words are best-suited for search ads because they can drive higher quality leads for a lower cost per click (CPC).

Display Ads

This type of paid advertising is best-suited for building brand exposure and keeping your business top-of-mind. It’s great for capturing the interest of people who may not know about your brand yet but are already searching for products or services you’re offering

These ads typically include a photo along with some ad copy. These are usually displayed on a PPC platforms partner websites that are in the same niche or industry as you.

Social Ads

This type of PPC appear on social media feeds including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. It’s an excellent way to target social media users, engage leads, and encourage people to visit your website.

With social ads, you can target people depending on various factors including their location, interests, behaviors, demographics, and even education.

Remarketing Ads

Remarketing ads are a type of paid advertising that helps reengage your audience. It’s best suited for capturing and converting people who have already visited your website to learn about your products and services but have not made a purchase yet.

This type of PPC campaign uses a tracking pixel to determine whether or not someone is qualified for this type of targeted ad.

Shopping Ads

This is a type of ad that features detailed information about specific products that you sell. If you’re using Google as your PPC platform, Shopping ads can refer to Product Shopping ads, which feature just one product, or Showcase Shopping ads, which feature several related products.

Gmail Ads

Gmail ads are interactive ads that show in the Promotions and Social tabs of your Gmail inbox. Some of these ads are expandable. When you click one of these ads, it may expand just like an email. The expanded ad can include images, video, or embedded forms.

Instream Ads

Instream Ads are video ads that are placed within videos played on streaming platforms like Youtube or on videos uploaded to Facebook. These can be placed before a video plays, during the run time of a video, or after other videos.

It’s best suited for marketing goals such as bumping up sales, generating leads, boosting website traffic, increasing brand awareness and reach, and improving brand and product consideration.

Start Your PPC Campaigns Today

PPC is a profitable marketing channel for any business. It offers a wide range of benefits including ease of use, flexibility, cost effectiveness, and measurability.

If you want to get started with your PPC campaigns but you’re unsure where to start then the FreeUp marketplace can help. Here, you can find countless PPC specialist who can help you launch and optimize your campaigns, set goals, and measure your ads’ performance so you can enjoy increased traffic and conversions quicker.

Sign up for free today to meet pre-vetted freelancers in just one business day!