How Does PPC Marketing Work?

Want to bring traffic directly to your website? Want to boost your business online? PPC marketing is where it’s at. You can drive visitors to your site instantly, enabling you to increase sales, generate leads, and build brand awareness.

So if you’ve been wondering, “What is pay-per-click marketing?” read on to discover our insights!

What Is PPC?

PPC, or pay-per-click, marketing is a form of online advertising used to drive visitors right to your website. When you utilize PPC, you pay a fee for each time a visitor clicks on your advertisement. Essentially, it is a way to “buy” visits instead of attracting them organically. The fee paid in PPC is named cost per click, or CPC.

PPC ads are often seen on search engines and in social platforms, with popular ad platforms including Google Ads, Bing Ads, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

So just how does PPC work? While the basics are outlined above, there is a little more that goes into pay per click than just paying for an advertisement.

First off, when advertising through search engines, such as Google or Bing, the advertiser will “bid” on keywords or keyword phrases, with more competitive keywords costing more. The keywords you choose will ultimately affect your ad placement in an organic search. You can see some examples below.

An advertiser’s bid on those keywords or keyword phrases can place them in a specified location in relation to their competitors. With this in mind, it is essential to perform research on which words are the most effective for your website. How relevant these words are to your ad determines your place on the search page, as seen in the example above. Because of this, writing compelling ads and landing page copy is extremely important in winning the sale from your targeted audience.

Two Major PPC Advertising Platforms

Among the many platforms (which include Microsoft Advertising/Bing Ads, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, etc.), the two major players in the PPC marketing game are Google Ads and Facebook Ads.

1. Google Ads – This platform allows companies to create ads to display on Google’s search engine. When a user searches for something, Google presents relevant ads based on the search. The ads that Google chooses are based on the quality and relevance of the keywords to the ad campaign, and the size of the advertiser’s bid.
2. Facebook Ads – These ads allow advertisers to target a specific audience based on their social profile, likes, and interests. Facebook ads are particularly effective because they are difficult to block. They allow for more exposure and more clicks.

What Are the Benefits of PPC Marketing?

Even though the PPC marketing process may be tricky, it offers some key benefits. These include:

1. Speed – Online advertisements provide for direct traffic to your website, letting you see qualified leads, clicks, and sales right away.
2. Control – Through PPC, you have all of the power for your campaign to meet your goals and needs. You decide the amount of money you spend and who you are specifically targeting.
3. Quantifiability – You can easily measure the return on your investment by tracking your conversion rates.
4. Adaptability – If your campaign isn’t working the way that you would like, you can refine landing page copy or update keywords and bid amount. Because your performance data is displayed so quickly, you are able to modify what is needed to make your campaign more successful.

Key PPC Marketing Terms

So now that you know all about PPC marketing, here are some important terms to boost your expertise.

1. Conversions – The desired action targeted from your PPC ad
2. Keywords – These are search words or phrases that are relevant to your business
3. ROI – This is your return on your investments, meaning are you making money or just spending it?
4. Click Through Rate (CTR) – The ratio of users who click on your ad to the number of total viewers to the page
5. Quality Score – The number that Google determines by evaluating relevance and quality of keywords for your ad

How Does Pay-Per-Click Marketing Work?

What Is PPC?