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As consumers spend more of their time online, more businesses are beginning to take advantage of digital advertising to create a high-impact marketing strategy. Although, this presents just one problem: advertising is often expensive, especially for small businesses. 

Pay-per-click advertising, or PPC, is a low-cost way to get your brand in front of millions of potential customers who are actively searching for your solution. A well-planned PPC strategy can help encourage traffic to your website, increase conversions, generate sales and leads, and build overall brand awareness. 

What is PPC advertising?

The online advertising model of pay-per-click, as the name suggests, is when advertisers pay a fee each time a user clicks on one of their online ads. The term, however, has become a somewhat universal reference to just about all forms of digital advertising. 

While most platforms still charge per click, some services now charge per impression or video play. Popular PPC channels include major search engines like Google and Bing and social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. 

Common forms of online advertising

The science of targeting these ads has become so refined that your advertising budget can be very specifically aimed to get the best results possible.

Here are a few examples:

Search 

When you conduct an online search, you may notice the marking of “ad” next to the top few results. These do not appear there by accident. Someone has paid well to have their product or service emerge in those favorable spots. In the split seconds before results appear, there is a fierce bidding war going on behind the scenes as advertisers juggle for a position. 

Search is quite versatile: you can address potential customers at any point in your sales funnel, and the algorithm will figure out to who it needs to be shown.

Display

A Display ad contains an animation or image graphic that can be seen in the form of banners that appear across a page. Whether it’s on a web page, mobile screen, Youtube video or Facebook post, these ads can entertain, inform, offer deals or just grab attention.

Remarketing 

If your intended audience did not or could not click on your ad the first time, the next time they are on that page, you can pick up where they left off. In fact, you can even keep them in the loop for several weeks. Sometimes it takes several ad impressions before a customer will take action, and repetition brings conversion. 

Video Ads 

Videos are an extremely influential and effective advertising format where you can target your audience by interest, geographical area, income, or other criteria. In some cases, you can place your ad directly onto other industries and competitors by sponsoring an entire Youtube channel.

Geofencing 

With location-based technology, you can draw virtual “fences” around certain areas and deliver your message to anyone who enters that space or has business in that area. Geofencing is excellent for community-based businesses to get customers in surrounding areas to know about them. Just imagine a convention or trade show where you can reach all those in the conference center! 

The Benefits of Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Nowadays, advertising platforms know a lot about their users; who they are, what they do with their time, and what they like. This allows advertisers to ensure their message reaches the right audience by narrowing down prospects based on specific behavioral patterns and demographics like age group, income or education level, gender, or marital status. You can even target clone “look-alike” audiences to go mining for your next generation of customers. 

PPC is also highly measurable, unlike other advertising approaches such as billboards or TV commercials. You can look at every single impression or interaction and see for yourself what works best; what keyword generated a conversion, or which region delivers well. Then you can tweak your message according to that data.

Does a PPC Campaign Replace SEO?

There is incredible value in having well-optimized organic rankings, and there are even indirect benefits to SEO that PPC advertising provides. However, the fact is that while the two strategies complement each other well, PPC advertising does not replace an SEO campaign. 

PPC is a dynamic and ever-evolving tool that allows us to fill in the gaps of certain keyword positions. Results are always seen faster when combining PPC with an active SEO strategy. 

The Cost of PPC Advertising

The cost of PPC advertising can vary considerably due to the competitive nature of its bid-based model. Platforms like Google Ads allow you to customize your budget as you see fit, but ultimately, the company with the highest bid will earn the top spot. 

Although, getting the right content in front of the right people is also about continuously testing, growing and evolving your ads. To get the most bang for your buck, it is important to understand the differences between each platform and tailor a campaign accordingly. Keywords that perform well in one search engine, for example, may not obtain the same results within another. 

With Wizard’s experienced professionals at your side, we can help your business get the most out of your digital advertising budget. We will optimize your bids on an ongoing basis with data-backed decisions per your monthly ad spend. Contact us today and find out what we can do to improve your business’ visibility.