There are two main categories of digital marketing: organic marketing and paid search marketing. Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing falls into the latter category. It can be a very effective way of generating traffic to your company’s website, and as a result, boosting sales of your products or services. For best results, however, your company should utilize both organic and paid search marketing. Here’s a closer look at PPC marketing and how to best use it to your advantage.
Basics of PPC Marketing
PPC marketing involves placing an ad on a search engine, such as Google. Each time a web user clicks on one of your ads, you’ll pay a small fee; this is where the term “pay-per-click” comes from. When a web user clicks on your ad, the ad will direct the user to your website or a landing page, where they can explore your products or services and make a purchasing decision.
Google Ads, which was formerly known as Google AdWords, is the most popular online advertising platform for PPC marketers. Every time a web user types a search phrase into Google, the search engine chooses a pool of ads to place on the search engine results page (SERP). These ads are chosen based on a number of factors, such as their relevance to the web user’s search query and the quality of their copy. In particular, the Google Ads platform relies on each advertiser’s Ad Rank to determine whether to place its ads on any given search. An advertiser’s Ad Rank is a metric calculated with the following information:
CPC Bid
The advertiser specifies the highest amount they would like to bid on any given keyword or keyphrase.
Quality Score
The quality of an ad is judged based on the ad’s click-through rate, landing page quality, and ad relevance.
With these factors in mind, it’s easy to see why it’s critical to invest time and effort into creating high-quality ads.
Benefits of PPC Marketing
When used along with organic marketing, PPC marketing can help you grow your customer base. You’ll be able to attract customers from a vast geographical area, yet still only target the specific customers with an interest in your products or services. Plus, you’ll only have to pay when someone clicks on one of your ads. And since the cost of each click is typically trivial, you’ll be able to generate leads for a fraction of the price of traditional marketing techniques.
Best Practices for Effective PPC Marketing
Extensive keyword research is essential for effective PPC marketing. Yet, it’s also time-consuming, which is why many companies decide to outsource this task to a digital marketing agency. Comprehensive keyword research should examine short-tail and long-tail keywords, while identifying only the most relevant search terms. Keyword research is also something that needs to be done continuously, as you will need to research each new PPC campaign and refine campaigns that are already launched. You can tweak existing campaigns by doing the following:
- Adding newly identified PPC keywords
- Specifying non-converting keywords as negative keywords to prevent irrelevant and wasteful clicks
- Periodically reviewing under-performing keywords and eliminating them when need be
- Improving landing pages to elevate conversion rates
Does your business need help with your PPC or organic marketing efforts? You can put your trust in the experts at Pennington Creative. Our digital marketing pros will build a customized campaign that elevates your brand, engages your customer base, and boosts sales. Contact us today to chat about your project.
