Should you use pay-per-click advertising? Forbes reports that nearly half of all small businesses do. So why do PPC?
Everyone Is Shopping on Their Phone
As online shopping grows in popularity, appearing at the top of the search engines results page (SERP) has become a top priority for savvy marketers and the best way to get there is PPC. Appearing at the top of the SERP is particularly important in this era of mobile phones where smaller screen sizes limit the number of results that are shown. That means an inordinate amount of attention is given to paid results.
Consumer Trust
Studies have shown that almost 50% of adults can not distinguish between paid and organic search results. This implies that the average person will likely trust paid results just as much as unpaid organic search results.
Efficient and Immediate
With the right amount of investment, you can set up a PPC campaign and appear in sponsored results within a few hours. Clicks can convert to paying customers quickly when PPC is done properly.
Measurable Outcomes
PPC performs exactly how it sounds. Advertisers pay for each click, in other words, each time someone clicks on your ad. Companies no longer have to gamble on advertising that’s paid for in advance with no real way to measure results other than Nielsen ratings for an audience that may or may not be sitting in front of the television.
PPC gives you the ability to drill down and know where every advertising dollar is spent and how much return on investment you get from each click on each ad or keyword. Advertisers can bid on certain phrases and keywords through services like Google AdWords Auction.
Tracking Conversion Rates Through Enhanced Analytics and Insightful Data
Conversions are when someone browsing your site turns into a paying customer. Research shows that people almost always visit a website a few times before they convert. Direct conversions are rare, so through your PPC campaign, you may also monitor what are called “micro conversions.”
Perhaps the customer downloaded a PDF with information or put a few things in their shopping basket but did not check out. Google Analytics allows you to view the behavior for those visitors to your site that show interest but have not yet converted into sales.
The data can be tracked and process improvements can be implemented according to your performance metrics. Google Ads has convenient predefined reporting. You will gain valuable marketing insight with PPC data because it will clearly show whether your campaigns are hitting the goalposts you have set.
The data will tell you what to do next, what worked and what didn’t. You will be able to make comparisons with different time periods, such as quarter-over-quarter or one holiday season compared to the next. Alternatively, perhaps your analysis will show that you could get a better result by improving your landing page or by adding more pings and whistles to your website.
Getting Started with PPC: Marketing 101
To create effective PPC advertising, you will have to answer basic questions:
- What might the customer be searching for and what key words could you use to direct them to your site?
- Who is your target customer?
- Do you want to create brand awareness or get leads for your sales team?
- What steps should you take to optimize your conversion rate?
- What KPIs can you track with this data?
Today’s successful marketers know the value of PPC. It has never been easier to identify your target customer and track your advertising dollars. How can PPC and data-driven insights help you grow your business?
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