Pay-Per-Click advertising puts you in control
Answer: Hi John. I’m often asked this question and my answer is always that Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising (also sometimes called search marketing) is a must if you want your website to be visible to potential customers. If you had a shop buried somewhere in the backstreets, you wouldn’t expect customers just to stumble across it. The same goes for your website – an estimated 2.79million businesses now have one, so customers are unlikely to discover yours by accident - you must help them find it. Dispelling the myths Of 400 businesses we questioned, 44% of those not doing search marketing believed it was too time-consuming; 56% thought it too expensive; and 33% too complicated - indeed just the concerns you’ve raised. Ironically, 76% of those who were promoting their website on search engines saw an immediate increase in sales. So let’s start by solving your reservations:
With directories, customers flick to the appropriate category to find a supplier from a list of one-liners, but they’re more likely to be drawn to a display ad which gives them a bit more detail. A similar thing happens with search engines. Customers enter a keyword like ‘florist’ (equivalent to flicking through to the right category). They are then presented with search results (similar to the list of one-liners). But they also see sponsored adverts more prominently displayed; usually at the top of the screen and down one side (equivalent to the display ads). Here too, the more prominent your ad is on the screen, the more likely the customer is to choose your product or service. So, what advantage does search marketing have over printed directories from the advertiser’s perspective? Firstly, instead of paying a one-off upfront charge to appear annually, with PPC you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. Let me re-emphasise that. It’s an incredibly low-risk form of advertising; because you only pay each time someone actually chooses to click on your ad. That’s why it’s called “Pay per click”. So you only pay for what are, effectively, self-qualifying customers who are interested in your service. After all, a user who searches for “florist” clearly has some sort of interest in finding a florist. And they would only choose to click on an ad saying “12 red roses for £25” if they genuinely wanted to buy flowers (rather than, perhaps, looking for a job in a florist’s). So, when you pay for a customer’s click, you can be sure that they’re in the mood to buy what you are offering. Secondly, unlike annual directories, where you only know at the end of the year if the entry had paid for itself in terms of new business, with PPC, you can not only control your costs, but also monitor on a daily or even hourly basis the success and return on investment of your campaign. It means you can instantly adapt your online strategy to suit your type of business. If you run a Pizza delivery business, for example, you might choose to focus your campaign around Tuesday and Wednesday evenings when there’s football on TV. You can even test different ads to find out which one performs best - try pitching “Pizza for pepperoni lovers” against “Give mum a break tonight - let us do the cooking!”. Getting started
Whilst being top is good, you don't always need to be there to get your ads to work. Prices per click range from as low as 10p up to several pounds for very popular search terms. Another good point for low budget advertisers is that search engines factor in the quality of your advertisement. Search engines exist to provide the most relevant results to their visitors, and clicks on your ad are a fair indicator that what you offer is relevant. As a result, the next time a search occurs on your keyword, you could outperform advertisers bidding more but with a historically less attractive advert. And that's basically all there is to it: bidding on relevant keywords with a compelling advert driving traffic to a relevant website. Go for it! Remember, with PPC you only pay for results - if nobody clicks on your ad, you pay nothing. It’s as simple as that. If they do click on your ad, you’ll only pay up to your nominated amount. It all adds up to a better return on your advertising budget and it means you’ll always be in total control of your spend. And lastly, don’t be put off by thinking it’s time-consuming or complex - PPC is very simple and can take as little as 10 minutes to set up a simple trial. As an effective form of advertising, it has changed the way businesses market themselves. With online purchases surging enormously - and with 50% of those purchases preceded by search engine research - there’s never been a better time to use PPC. But don't just take my word for it. Take a look at our website: tryadcenternow.co.uk, where you’ll find free £30 credit to get started. Our dedicated UK-based support team will help get you under way and answer any questions you may have, all free of charge. Good luck with your new website - I hope this will help you attract more traffic.
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