What is PPC (Pay Per Click) and should you be doing it?

Firstly, PPC (Pay Per Click) can be used for most business and companies who are looking to drive more traffic to their site. That said there are a number of considerations before you get started, says LUKE QUILTER of Sleeping Giant Media.

Before we go into this in any more detail, for those of you who are new to Digital marketing and PPC, let me quickly explain what it is.

PPC or Pay Per Click advertising are the sponsored listings you generally find at the top and right hand side of Google’s search results page when you have searched for something.

Companies can select the keywords they want to appear for, set the amount they want to pay and then set the account live. Once set live the adverts will appear when users search for the selected keywords, then if the users click your advert they will go to your site, and you will Pay for that Click.

Right, so we know what it is, but is it right for you? Here are some things for you to consider before you embark on the path to PPC domination.

Cost and can you afford it?

It does cost per click so technically more expensive than the likes of SEO. Subsequently make sure you are advertising on the right terms. If you have a small budget don't try and go global instantly.

Focus on niche areas, focus on geographic terms that are relevant to your business. i.e. if you run a shoe shop in Canterbury and have a small budget, don't choose the term "shoes online."

This term will put you up against the big boys in the market and your budget will be gone in the blink of an eye. Rather, choose terms that apply specifically to you like; "shoes in Canterbury" or better yet "men's shoes in Canterbury".

These terms may not have thousands of users searching for them, but they are very relevant to the business and will hopefully increase the chances the user will go to their shop to look at shoes.

Generally the rule is the more niche the term the less competition and the cheaper the cost for the click.

The key to any form of Search Marketing is relevance. Don't waste your time, money and effort getting lots of irrelevant visitors to your site. Sure, if you have lots of visitors you will be able to brag to your business friends about it but would you rather 100 visitors, five of which convert into customers, or 1,000 visitors and one customer from it?

What is the objective of your site?

I think this is a general consideration for any online marketing, but particularly important if you are going to pay for the traffic from PPC.

What do you want the visitors to do when they arrive on your site? How are you going to track it, how will you measure performance? Who will monitor it?

Ideally you should be monitoring, checking and optimising the PPC account on a regular basis. Because of the near real time information you are able to make changes to an account, see the impact and make more changes. The bigger the budget of the account the more important this is and the more regularly you will be able to have enough data to make informed decisions.

PPC is a great advertising platform that can generate huge incomes for some businesses. Just like with any form of advertising it is important to think through the whole process before you break out the credit card.

Best of luck with your Digital Marketing.

Sleeping Giant Media are a fast growing search marketing agency based in Kent. Our core services centre around Pay per click (paid search), search engine optimisation, search training, mobile marketing, analytics, social media marketing and online reputation management.

www.sleepinggiantmedia.co.uk