If you've been exploring ways to market your business online, chances are you've come across the term "pay-per-click” or "PPC” before. But, what exactly is PPC marketing? Not to worry, that's exactly what this article is here to answer. We're going to go over the basics and explain the potential benefits of targeted PPC ads.

PPC is exactly what it sounds like, it's a marketing model where advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads are clicked. This is an aggressive way to market online as opposed to something like content marketing. Essentially you're trying to buy visits to your site rather than waiting for users to find their way to you organically. There are upshots to both approaches (ultimately, a mix of the two is likely best).

There are several forms of PPC ads. They can be inserted into websites, appear as promoted posts on social media feeds, or appear in the form of search engine bidding. If you've ever noticed when you search for something on Google and the first three results have a small green "ad” marking on them, that's PPC in action. It places paid results right at the top of Google's search results where it's proven the vast majority of users click.

Every time one of those links is clicked, someone pays for the privilege. Prices vary depending on the keyword used, how popular that term is as a search phrase, how many people are bidding on it, and so on. Something like "Disney vacations” may cost several dollars per click as different tourism based sites all bid for a slice of the lucrative Disney pie while a more obscure term only costs a few dimes.

This is where you have to determine a balance between cost and potential return. If a click costs $2, but is likely to produce a $200 sale, that's a trivial expense. You couldn't ask for a better marketing ROI.

But that's assuming you convert on that click. That the user lands on the page and says "yes.” Obviously, not every visitor is going to do that, which is where you have to look at your "conversion rate.” 

If you're not likely to convert on many clicks, you could end up spending more than the ad is worth. Say you've bid on a term that costs $2 a click, and only one out of every 100 visitors converts on a $200 sale - that's not going to help you at all. This is why each PPC campaign should be carefully planned and supported by professionally designed landing pages and CTAs designed to maximize the conversion chance of every single visitor that lands on that page. Finding the right balance between cost and conversion rate is the key to successful PPC advertising.

Finding the right keyword for your PPC campaign is very important. The keywords you choose are what will trigger the display of your ad, so you want to make sure they directly related to what you are offering and will attract the right visitors. By taking your time and researching your options, you can find low-cost keywords that offer high long-term returns.

Make sure your keywords are always relevant to your business. This is a bit obvious, but be careful of attracting unintended clicks who are searching for other things using similar keywords. This is something that may take a little fine tuning. PPC is something that should always be an on-going, iterative process that is constantly being refined. Carefully watch your keywords, conversion rate, and bounce rate (people who click the ad, take one look at the page, decide it's not what they need, and close it in mere seconds).

In a Google AdWord campaign, you have several optimizing options available. You can add negative keywords, meaning non-converting terms will be excluded and not trigger your ad, allowing you to reduce waste clicks and focus in on your real market. There are split ad groups that will allow you to test and compare different ad text and landing page options to determine which is more effective. 

From your own site, you can always refine your landing pages and CTAs to make sure you're reaching the best odds on conversion with every click. Again, this should be a on-going process. Don't just make one landing page and assume that's as good as it gets, experiment!

PPC advertising should be viewed like a power-tool in your garage. When used well and in the right conditions, it can get an amazing amount of work done with lightning fast results. When used sloppily, it can hurt you more than it can help. If you want to dive into PPC advertising, make sure to set up the proper conditions for success and commit to an on-going process of refinement and optimization.