What is Pay Per Click Search Marketing?

A simple definition of Pay Per Click (PPC) is the placement of an ad on a search engine(such as Google, Yahoo)results page or web page that appears for specified keywords or key phrases. For example, if you search for "Plasma HDTV" on Google or Yahoo, you are going to see sponsored listing on the right hand side as well as on the top of the result page. These ads are placed by advertisers who pay a pre-determined price (or bid amount) whenever a visitor who lands on that page clicks on their ad. That’s why they are termed “pay per click” because you only pay when the visitor clicks on your ad. What is pay per click can vary based on the competitiveness of the keyword and the search demand for these keyword. Some of the keywords could have an outrageous bid amount. For example a keyword "Mesothelioma" can cost of north of $100 per click.

A PPC ad usually consists of a heading, a short summary and the URL which is the landing page you have selected. Remember, URL displayed in the add could be different than the landing page URL. Some PPC search engines strictly control and monitor the title and description you can use in your ad while others are more open to the type of ad you can place. For example, Google would not allowed you to use absolute word such as "Best" or the "Greatest" because these are not certified results but rather opinion of the advertiser.

In some cases, once you have devised your PPC ad, decided on the amount you are willing to bid and lodged your application with the PPC search engine, your ad will appear within minutes, other PPC search engines may take a couple of days for your ad to appear. So unlike organic SEO, PPC marketing can generally give you immediate results. Major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN also do keywords reviews to make sure that your keywords are appropriate and relevant for your web site contents.

How to Set Up A PPC Campaign

Your most important considerations in putting together a PPC campaign are how much you intend spending and what keywords you plan on targeting. Obviously, the larger PPC search engines like Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and MSN have the widest coverage, so the cost for bidding on their keywords is going to be more expensive than if you try the smaller, niche PPC search engines.

Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) provides a free search tool that not only provides you with a wide range of keywords, but also a tool which indicates the current bidding price for those keywords. Bijnor Group provides a free tools to get a list of keywords that are relevant for your web site. We also provide you with a Adsense preview tool to see your ad before it is shown online.

Keywords Suggestion Tools

Adsense Preview Tools

These free tools help you find better keywords for your site. If you are new to the industry, it’s advisable to take it slowly to begin with. Set yourself a small budget and choose keywords that are well searched for and as cheap as possible. The first step is to choose the PPC search engine you are going to use. You can choose from the “Big 3” - Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing or MSN, or one of the smaller PPC search engines.

When choosing your keywords, choose wisely (the more focused and targeted the better) and keep bids within your budget. Just because a keyword has the most searches does not necessarily mean it will be the most profitable. For example: "plasma TV" or "HDTV". These keywords might have large number of searches, but they are too generic. What if someone is just searching to understand what is plasma television? if you sell plasma TVs, this visitor is not going to do any good to you since they don't intend to buy. So if you bid for other keywords such as "Buy Plasma TV" or "Cheap Plasma TV Online", you have better chance of making a sale and profit from PPC advertising.

Tip: Do not target only keywords with the highest number of searches, especially if you are just starting out. These will be the most sought after keywords and phrases for PPC and they will cost you more to bid on them. Don't be afraid to use keywords from the middle, and even lower end on the list. Fewer click-throughs that convert to sales are much better than paying for a lot of click-throughs and fewer sales. Remember, you want quality targeted traffic.

The next step is to design and implement your ad. This will depend on the PPC search engine you have chosen. Incorporate your keyword or key phrase into the Title and if possible, either the main keyword or a secondary key phrase into the description.
Create a number of versions of your ad so you can split-test them to see which one works most effectively. PPC Marketing requires a good deal of tweaking – especially when you are starting out – so tweak, test and monitor until you find the right word combinations that not only draw you visitors but make the sale. Recently Google and Yahoo have added quality score to incorporate click thru rate in the formula that calculate kyword bidding amount. These change has made it very expensive for those advertisers who do not have relevant contents on their landing pages but bid high just to grab the high position in ad display. Remember, click thru rate is important to search engines since their profit is directly tied to it.

Running a Profitable PPC Campaign

Your main consideration in running a successful PPC campaign is your return on investment (ROI). The ROI is calculated by working out how much you are making on the click-throughs (and purchases) from your PPC visitors minus the amount you are spending on advertising. If your ROI is low or worse still, negative, you have to tweak your ads to increase traffic or opt for less expensive keywords.

If you have chosen particularly competitive keywords and paid a premium for those words, you may have to consider keywords that are less competitive. Your position in the search engine listings is determined by the bid price you have paid. Obviously, the more you are willing to pay “per click” the higher up in the search engine rankings you’ll be. The trade-off is that you need to have a high ROI to make the cost of your keyword bids worth it. Most PPC search engines automate the bidding process so you only pay the maximum amount required to get you to the top of the search engine listings. However, it is imperative that you follow your own PPC campaigns to ensure you aren't being out-bid or that the PPC search engine has declined your ad. You also need to be aware that bidding amount can change from day to day for the same keyword. It depends on the search volume for that keyword as well as the advertisers bidding for that particular keyword.

Once you have mastered the basics of running a PPC campaign and have discovered the various tools and software available to help you run a profitable campaign, you will be in a position to fine tune your campaigns.

Although PPC marketing is an effective and instantaneous way of generating targeted traffic to your site, it doesn’t work for everyone. Factors like the competition in your market, the cost per bid, the number of actual click-throughs you are getting and your return on investment (ROI) must all be factored into your results.

But when you consider that the only alternative is to wait for your site to be organically listed and ranked by the major search engines, which could take anywhere from one day to three months or more, running a PPC campaign is certainly a more viable option. Good luck!