SEM Ireland | Pay Per Click | PPC Campaigns
PPC | What is Pay Per Click advertising?
Pay Per Click advertising is one of the most visible forms of online marketing there is. In fact, everyone who has ever used a search engine while browsing online will have been exposed to PPC, whether they noticed or not. Each time a searcher enters a word or phrase into the search field and clicks, the engine returns pages of results ranked according to how relevant the search engine thinks them to be. At the top of these results pages you'll find sponsored listings, otherwise known as Pay Per Click ads. They can usually be easily identified by their 'sponsored results' tag on most search engines, but others make it more difficult to tell them apart from the natural search results.
This form of online advertising allows the customer to market their service or product directly to users who have been actively searching for it or for something similar. Of all the marketing programs available, PPC (or sponsored search placement) is probably the most highly targeted form of advertising available, online or offline, as it allows the user to preselect the keywords or phrases for which their ad will appear. It is essentially an auction. The highest listing will always go to whoever bids the most for that particular key word or phrase combination. The advertiser is only charged when a potential customer actually clicks on the link and is delivered to their site. Because the results of any campaign can be monitored on a daily basis, many thousands of web sites have made the use of Pay Per Click ads an ongoing part of their overall Online Marketing program.
PPC | Measuring Success
The popularity of Pay Per Click programs as a form of online advertising is likely a result of how easy it is to measure how successful any campaign has been. Success is ultimately determined by the ROI (return on investment), however the ROI is highly affected by the level of competition for any given phrase. If the keywords or phrases chosen are highly competitive (ie, many companies are bidding for them), or very general, then the ROI will usually be significantly lower. Because Pay Per Click programs are an auction, site owners are well advised to spend plenty of time and effort researching the search terms properly, and thereafter tracking and monitoring their progress on a daily basis. There are two main PPC programs available for site owners at the moment, Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing, which was run by Overture previously. MSN has its own platform, but as yet hasn't significantly cut into the big two's domination of this market. Although Yahoo and Google offer a service that is similar in a broad sense, they behave quite differently and allow the user very different levels of control over the costs and selection of search terms.
PPC | Advantages of Pay Per Click campaigns
We have mentioned some of the obvious benefits to running a Pay Per Click advertising campaign above, but to recap:
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Low start-up costs
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Ease of set-up. Setting up a Pay Per Click campaign doesn't take very long. This makes them an ideal addition to other ongoing marketing promotions. They are perfect for product launches or programs which have a specified amount of time alloted to them.
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Guaranteed top listings in the SERPs. Usually, search engines reserve the top positions in the results pages for PPC users, these can be easily identified by their 'sponsored listing' tag.
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Choice. If you conduct your research properly, you will be able to identify and target those lesser used, but more specific, search phrases, which will be cheaper than the more popular general terms. As search engine users become increasingly more sophisticated in how they write their queries, multiple word (phrases) searches are becoming more popular than single word searches, so these cheaper search terms usually have a higher ROI than their more expensive general counterparts.
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Where the visitor arrives is your choice. Perhaps you have a site that has hundreds of product pages. Having the potential customer land on the exact page they need rather than the homepage can be a significant advantage.
PPC | Managing your Pay Per Click Campaign
If you are serious about using the internet to drive sales then it is highly likely that you will find PPC advertising playing a crucial role in your future success, at least over the short term. However, successfully managing a Pay Per Click campaign is more complicated than it first appears. Key to its success is the need for constant monitoring, preferably by a skilled professional familiar with the intricasies. Successful Pay Per Click bid management tends to be time consuming and complicated, requiring a complete understanding of the differences between the two interfaces offered by Google, Yahoo and MSN.
PPC | Choose The Professionals
Avatar Web Solutions can run your Pay Per Click campaign for you, either as part of a complete SEO/SEM package, or as a wholly separate one-off campaign. Our team of experts have the experience, knowledge and skills to set up and run a sucessful pay per click or adwords campaign for your business, with maximum reward for minimum fuss.
PPC | Avatar Web Solutions PPC Bid Management Services
Our complete service includes:
- Research - an intensive examination of all the keywords and key phrases suitable for your business, identifying those that will perform best for the least, and finally developing those keywords into a business specific campaign;
- Titles - with a restriction on how many characters allowed in the title (24/40), we select the best titles to describe your business, using appropriate keywords and sharp text.
- Landing Pages - if necessary, Avatar can design suitable landing pages that are specific to a particular search term or phrase; Creating and developing the actual Pay Per Click ad;
- Bid Management - simply making a bid and then sitting back and waiting won't get the best results. Avatar Web Solutions will ensure that you are not over bidding, or getting trapped in a bidding war.
- Constant monitoring - by keeping track of your PPC campaign on a daily basis, we can help ensure that you are not wasting your money, and that the campaign maintains its effectiveness.
