What is Pay Per Click? Tutorial

This post is part two of four content articles to help you learn how to market your website.

PPC is the process of advertising your site through the use of pay-per-click advertisements in the search engines. The search engines sell relevant ads to anyone willing to join in a friendly bidding war. By bidding on keywords, advertisers are able to control when their ads are shown. In many cases the sky is the limit on how high the price will go. However, you only pay when the ad is clicked on, making PPC a very budget-friendly advertising option. With each bid, marketers are guaranteed a certain spot on the search engine page. Ads run on a search engine usually consist of a heading, body copy and a display URL. More often then not, the search ad will contain the keyword that was bid on.

Every day more and more people turn to the Internet to find information, products, and services. As a result, businesses and web site owners are always looking for ways to be found in search results and ultimately drive more traffic to their site. Pay per click, or PPC, is a cost effective and immediate way to do just that. With proper management and a clear focus, pay per click services offer some of the most well targeted, far-reaching, and economical advertising on the Internet.

Pay per click advertising is the fastest growing segment of online advertising. According to a Forbes Magazine prediction, companies will spend $8 billion a year on PPC advertising in 2009. While many companies exist in this space, Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) were the largest network operators as of 2006. MSN has their own PPC services, called MSN adCenter. Customers specify keywords that directly relate to their business and ones they think people will use when initiating an online search. When a user searches for a product, service, or category that matches what the customer has to offer, their ad appears on the results pages. This means they get clicks from people who are ready to buy. Search engines recognize users who are searching for these keywords and display the customer’s ad to them. Advertisers are charged based on the number of times a visitor clicks on that ad or web site; therefore the cost is action-driven. This means advertisers are only charged when a user who is searching for information directly relevant to their business, clicks their ad. This helps drive traffic, target leads, and convert users to customers.

How Pay Per Click Works

Pay per click involves using the right keywords and ad copy to attract visitors to your site.

• Right Keywords
• Attractive Ad Copy
• High Traffic to your Web site
• Good Landing pages
• The conversions you always wanted.

Benefits of Pay Per Click

There are several benefits to using a pay per click advertising program. Some of the benefits include:

• Quick and effective way to promote products and services
• Advertising is highly targeted and results are quantifiable
• Customer only pays when a prospective customer clicks their ad
• Results are immediate and provide instant traffic
• Different keywords, titles and descriptions can be selected for most effective results
• Effectiveness of the campaign can be measured
• Controlled spending by establishing predefined budgets