Pay-per-Click Advertising: Is It Worth It?

Many businesses are often enticed to take part in what is called PPC ads. Many businesses also go into PPC ads without any idea about what they are. In today’s article, we’re unraveling the mystery behind PPC ads and what they mean for small businesses looking to get a leg up.

Without further ado, let’s get started!

WHAT ARE PPC ADS?

“PPC ads” is short for Pay-per-Click advertisements, or Pay-per-Click advertising. They’re part of a marketing strategy known as Search Engine Marketing, or SEM, which makes use of how search engines work to target potential customers or clients with ads.

Here’s an example: you need gardening supplies for your backyard project. You get on Google, and type in “gardening supplies store near me” in the search bar. You hit enter, and the results start to load. At the top of the page, you find an ad for a gardening supplies store that is within your area. You click the ad.

Boom, you’ve just encountered a PPC ad.

There are a lot of technical jargon and in-depth analytical strategies involved in PPC advertising, but the basic gist of it is this: it uses search terms like the one above to narrow down, so to speak, their target market, bringing ads directly to people who are specifically searching for their kind of product or service.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?

There are many benefits to PPC advertising.

First off, as the name implies, you only pay for the ads that are clicked on. Your ad may be displayed a million times throughout a single day, but if your ad is only clicked a fraction of that number, you only pay for that fraction. This may not sound very appealing, but here’s the thing – you’re essentially getting free advertising space. Just because your ad wasn’t clicked doesn’t mean it wasn’t seen, and when it comes to marketing, being seen is one step towards getting results.

Another benefit is that PPC advertising is metrics-based. Everything is measurable – from the number of clicks your ad gets, to the number of times its search keyword is entered, to the number of converted sales you get from those clicked ads. In the hands of a capable digital marketing team, this wealth of information can immediately and clearly pinpoint which parts of your marketing is working and which isn’t.

This leads to another benefit: PPC advertising is scalable. You can start off small, and it’ll be perfectly fine. You can finetune your marketing approach from that small start and build a more audacious marketing strategy, or simply expand your current strategy. You can even study your competitors and incorporate what you’ve learned from them without risking too much of your budget.

Finally, PPC advertising works with retargeting. What this means is that those who’ve clicked on your ads but didn’t buy anything can still be marketed to, by showing those people ads that offer them incentives or new information that will help bring them closer to buying your product.

In summary, PPC ads offer a certain kind of freedom to risk and experiment without costing your business too much of its marketing budget. With the right marketing team and strategy, and with consultation from SEM experts, your business could grow safely while exploring the new world of internet marketing.

Curious about PPC ads? Get in touch with us, and we’ll answer your questions!