Looking to boost your online revenue? Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising might be your ticket to riches, but you have to know how to position those advertisements right if you want to maximize your profits.
In this article, we’re taking a good look at pay-per-click marketing and how to make money with PPC ads.
Pay-Per-Click Basics
PPC is the most popular form of internet marketing. In PPC, advertisers pay website owners every time a visitor clicks one of their ads. PPC is the most efficient way to spend money to drive traffic to a website.
Most of the PPC money changes hands in search engine ads. In platforms like Google’s Google Ads, advertisers make bids for ad placement in Google’s sponsored links which appear on top of regular search results. When someone searches for a term the advertiser has bid on, Google will list the relevant ad at the top spot of the results page.
The Cost of PPC
The great thing with PPC is it can cost as much or as little as you want. The cost of PPC marketing depends on the keywords you pick. Depending on their popularity, different keywords will cost more than others.
In general terms, the more popular a keyword is, the higher its per-click cost will be. For example, an ad with “mortgage” as a keyword is going to cost a lot more than an ad with “wooden neckties”. Since advertisers are bidding more money for “mortgage”, the cost per click is going to be higher.
But, the advertiser has the final say about how much money they are going to spend on PPC. You can set your per-keyword bid, and your daily budget, so you always know how much you are going to spend.
This allows advertisers to have full control over their budget. For example, if you set your PPC budget to $200 per day, the campaign will pause each day when your campaign reaches the $200 limit.
Keyword Auctions and Ad Placement
Keyword prices go up and down with time. This is because their price changes according to demand. But, PPC networks also check ads based on their overall quality.
Ad quality is determined by keyword relevance, click through rate, and overall landing page value. In general terms, the higher your quality score, the higher your ad rank will be. This means that better landing pages and more well-developed PPC campaigns will give you more bang for your buck.
This is important because you are not alone in the world of PPC marketing. Other advertisers compete for the same spots as you. So, given a similar budget, the most relevant, highest quality ad will get the spot.
This is why you can’t do PPC effectively by just throwing more money at your campaigns. If your ads are not optimized, you will end up below competitors with a lower PPC budget than yours.
Components of a PPC Campaign
So, what goes into PPC advertising? PPC is made of several different parts which work together to deliver your intended message and get more traffic to your site.
At the heart of your PPC marketing lie your PPC campaigns. These typically target different products or services at different demographics. If you have multiple offerings, you might have to launch multiple campaigns.
Each campaign will have one or more ad groups. Ad groups target similar offerings to different demographics. For example, within a campaign, you can have an ad group for local holidays and another for international holidays.
Each ad group will have its own keywords, some of which will be common across your campaigns. The keywords that are common throughout your entire PPC marketing are your “main” keywords.
Finally, each individual PPC ad will have its own text and sometimes an accompanying image as well. These will make your ads attractive enough to click.
Different Types of PPC
Google Ads is the undeniable leader when it comes to PPC ads, but it’s not the only option. Every major search engine, as well as all social media platforms, offer their own PPC ad services.
For example, if you want to advertise your business on Facebook, you can buy PPC ads directly from Facebook.com. These are more targeted than Google Ads PPC and cost less.
While search engine PPC allows you only text ads, other PPC networks give you the opportunity to advertise with images and even animated .gif files.
Make Money with PPC by Partnering with an Expert
The world of PPC is full of opportunity, but mastering online ads is more complicated than most people think. You may be able to control your PPC budget but to get the most out of your PPC campaigns, you might need expert help.
Thankfully, you are not alone when it comes to PPC. There are many dependable PPC agencies you can partner with. Your PPC partner will help you build your campaigns, pick the right keywords, and position your ads to get the most juice out of each PPC dollar you spend.
Looking for a dependable PPC partner? Check out JSA Interactive, the best pay-per-click agency in Philadelphia. They are one of those PPC partners who offer a full range of PPC services for companies of all sizes and scopes.
The Tools You Need to Succeed
Now that you know how to make money with PPC, check out our other tutorials and resource pages for a ton of helpful guides and freebie tools to take your website to the next level.
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