Pay Per Click Marketing | A Beginner’s Guide

Pay per click marketing is an incredibly powerful marketing strategy that can help companies generate thousands in revenue. With the ability to set up a campaign in a matter of minutes, directing consumers to your company’s website, a company can start reaping the rewards almost immediately, making it an essential strategy for many companies.

So you’re probably wondering, how does pay per click (PPC) work?

If you are looking to improve the effectiveness and ROI of your marketing campaigns, then understanding how PPC works is essential. Many businesses jump straight into making their PPC campaigns then complain when they don’t see the returns they were expecting. By understanding how PPC works, users will have a much better chance of having a successful campaign.

How Pay Per Click Works:

When it comes to PPC, there are three main players: advertisers, the middle man (or PPC network), and publishers.

Advertisers

Advertisers are businesses or individuals who use PPC to promote their products or services. They pay the PPC network to display their advertisements on their network. Whenever a visitor clicks on their ad, they are charged money by the network. This is where the term “pay per click” came from.

Network

Networks are the websites where the advertisers display their ads. A few examples of networks are sites like Adwords, Bing Ads, Facebook Ads, or even Google. Networks charge Advertisers every time an ad is clicked. The amount they are charged depends on the keyword they are targeting and their competition. It can be anywhere from a few cents to tens of dollars for each click.

Publishers

Publishers are individuals who team up with PPC networks in order to earn revenue from displaying their adverts. Almost all publishers own some website which they can show adverts on. When website visitors click on these adverts, publishers receive a split of the revenue. How much they receive in the end depends on what keyword the user clicked and what the average bid of that keyword was. Many PPC networks introduced publishers with the aim of increasing the network’s display and potential audience. By having their ads displayed on more websites, apps, and videos, a more extensive range of users can is reached.

The Bidding process

The way that a Network determines the cost to the advertiser of each click can be a complicated process. A keyword that is very common, and that has a lot of competition from multiple advertisers will be much more expensive per click than a keyword that is not as commonly used. Also, as there are only a limited number of advertising slots available on a web page, businesses need to battle it out to claim their spot. This is where bidding comes into play. Depending on the keyword you choose to bid on, you can also bid for the placement of your ad. However, it’s important to note that bidding for the number 1 spot is not always worth it. It is still possible to have a successful campaign by being in the number 4 spot. The chances are that you will pay a lot less than the 1st position, but will still receive relevant clicks.

When advertisers create PPC campaigns, they are often given a choice between having advert displayed on the network, or displayed with their partners. The benefit of having publishers and partners means that advertisers can often pay less per click than they usually would.

Quality Score

Another thing to consider when devising a pay per click campaign is to consider the quality of your ad. Quality Score is Google’s way of rating the quality and relevance of the ads displayed. It is used to determine your cost per click, and also your ad position. Making sure that you have a good quality score can be the difference between paying a small CPC and a huge CPC. If you want to increase your chances of having a good ROI and a successful ad campaign, then you need to ensure that your ads have a good quality score. So make sure that you have a relevant ad with relevant keywords. A good CTR and a quality landing page will pay dividends in the long term.

If you are starting out with this, getting in touch with a company that specializes in this type of marketing can be a huge help. Using pay-per-click services the right way has great potential in helping your business to succeed.