Past Tense

Pay per click advertising, or PPC advertising, is one of the best ways to guide visitors to your site. Every day, many service providers and other businesses use PPC campaigns to reach their target audience effectively and inexpensively. Used correctly, PPC methods can be the key to more sales and improved business.

PPC advertising campaigns start with a list of keywords or phrases that relate to your product or service. It’s important to do more than just optimize for these words, however. You’ll need a quality keyword strategy to be sure that you’ll get the right audience, and that you’ll end with a sale. This is the part of PPC advertising that’s the most tricky, and that makes it the most effective in the long run. Proper targeting allows you to rule out people who aren’t interested in your products, and reach only the ones who will buy.

Keywords can trap you in a bidding war if you’re not careful and the most expensive words come with the promise of high rankings on the search page. High ranking ads get much of the traffic, particularly the highest ranked three on each page. But if the person clicking on your ad decides they don’t want your product, you’ve paid a high price for someone to look at your site. This is way targeting your keywords is the best tactic.

Track how your keywords are doing and oversee what is happening with your investment. Advertising ranges from a cent per click to over a dollar, so the amount you pay for your advertising depends on the search engine and, of course, the popularity of your keyword. Using a tool that will help you understand which words lead to clicks and how many of those clicks are making a sale is a great idea.

It might be hard to pay enough for some keywords to make sure your ad’s at the top of the page. For some search engines, writing your ad well and making sure it’s relevant can help your placement. For instance, well designed sites that rank well in Google’s quality scoring are likely to get better placement than sites that look like placeholders, or which could be mistaken for fraudulent sites. Some sites will also allow you to run ads intermittently – you could choose to have ads up only on weekends, for instance.

Failing to get a high enough placement for your bids, and failing to make your page attractive to visitors are some of the most common mistakes people using PPC campaigns make. Be sure that the page your visitors land on is relevant to the ad they clicked, and make it easy for them to find what they’re looking for. Write ads so they’re relevant to the keywords they’re associated with, and be sure they catch a potential customer’s eye.

Remember to test ads for effectiveness, too. Sometimes a change of only one word can have a big effect on the rate at which people click through and buy. Write ad variations for each keyword, so you can test them to see which copy works best. Google is willing to alternate ads for you, and you’ll easily be able to see which ones are the most effective.

For small to middle sized business owners, PPC advertising is a great way to spread the word and make money. A good plan and an organized campaign are the road to success. Do things right, and you’ll be able to target your ideal customer, and get many more sales.