Your Ultimate Guide to Pay Per Click Advertising

by Robert Bentz | Oct 26, 2022

At this point, pay per click advertising certainly needs no introduction to marketers. Still, it is certainly a vital part of mobile marketing and no campaign can likely be successful without it.

Google Ads is an effective way to drive traffic to your website because consumers are actively searching for your product or service. Often, depending on the type of keyword you are targeting, consumers may be at the bottom of the sales funnel.

Keywords are Key

Keyword selection is the single most important aspect of a pay per click campaign. Try to avoid choosing to pay for broad keywords where the consumer is simply trying to get more information and is not yet in buying mode. Or, if you want to introduce your brand at the top of the sales funnel, understand that these broad keywords are simply not as valuable as one where the consumer is ready to buy. A person searching for “blue Honda civic, less than 30,000 miles” is one that already knows what they want to buy, as opposed to the other prospect who has just searched for “Honda cars.”

With pay per click, advertisers bid on keyword search terms and are then ranked accordingly. But, it isn’t just about the rate you are willing to pay. In addition to the amount you are willing to pay, your PPC position is also determined by AdRank and quality score. Quality score is based on Google’s desire to deliver a positive result to the user. Relevance of your ad is important and Google bases that on how many people click on your ad when it is served. The relevance of your keywords, the ad copy, and the landing page all contribute to quality score and ultimately your AdRank. 

Other Pay Per Click Providers

Google isn’t the only place to buy PPC. The Microsoft advertising platform provides a viable alternative with Bing, which is often up to 33% cheaper than Google. Moreover, the Bing user is most likely to be in the 55-64 age group and have a higher income than a Google user. Therefore, it is a very important addition to a campaign with an older target audience, such as one targeting 55+ housing.

Bing provides search ads that are dynamic and allow you to add two descriptions and three headlines until you find the winning combination. You can also do responsive search ads where you can add up to 15 different headlines and four descriptions. From the various combinations, Microsoft will serve the best options.

If you choose to set it and forget it, Bing gives you a lot of options. You can set bids to maximize clicks or impressions. In addition, you can set a 30 day plan to hit a Target Cost per Acquisition (CPA) and Bing will automate your ads to hit it. You can do the same with a Target Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).

How to Measure Your Pay Per Click Performance

Common KPIs (key performance indicators) used in PPC advertising are:

• Average cost per click (CPC)
• Average position
• Conversions
• Conversion rate
• Cost per action (CPA)
• Impression share – the percentage of the available keyword impressions that your brand is getting
• Impressions
• Quality score – Google’s analysis of how well the landing page correlates to the chosen keyword
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
• Revenue
• Tap through rate
• Total investment

Want to get more information to judge your PPC performance versus national averages? Meet with us today to discuss your digital marketing strategy.

Bob Bentz is the President and Founder of Purplegator. He’s also the author of Relevance Raises Response, a comprehensive guide to mobile marketing.

Top 5 PPC Strategy Trends That Will Be Everywhere in 2020

by Steve Czyrny | Mar 17, 2020

Are you a small business that uses Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising to market your business? Here are the top 5 PPC strategy trends that will dominate in 2020.

YouTube users watched 4,500,000 videos every minute of the day in the year 2019.

While these figures will go up in the year 2020, they are an indicator of the central role that social media plays in modern day paid advertising.  The pay- per -click internet advertisement model is a result of this emerging popularity of online marketing.

As a small business, Pay-per-Click (PPC) internet advertising can change how you market your business.

Are you looking to ride on the influence that social media sites have in modern markets? Then you need to be aware of these 5 PPC strategy trends that will help your business to thrive in the year 2020.

1. Pay-Per-Click Automation 

Automation will be a significant PPC trend this year. Search engines will utilize emerging technologies such as machine learning to automate most of the labor-intensive tasks.

Search engines need powerful tools to segment and respond to the millions of requests received every minute.

The idea of having powerful tools working to segment possible audiences for your campaigns is fascinating. Automation will change how PPC works for the better.

1. Artificial Intelligence 

The emergence of AI as a future trend in many sectors of the economy has challenged the status quo in online marketing.

When it comes to PPC, Artificial Intelligence will generate a more effective advertising campaign for the business.

Artificial Intelligence will also enhance keyword optimization for your marketing campaign.

1. PPC Strategy Trends will Involve More of Video Ads 

More than 78% of online users watched videos online every week in 2019.

Viewers tend to remember more than 95% of the message viewed from video ads.

A majority of businesses rated video marketing as their top marketing strategy alongside social media and SEO.

These statistics show the critical advantage that video ads will introduce for your marketing campaigns going forward.

1. Responsive Paid Ads 

The launch of responsive paid ads was a critical first step towards building more dynamic ways of reaching your target audience.

Responsive paid ads are among the PPC strategy trends that will revolutionize how businesses utilize base content. You’ll also get to enjoy greater flexibility for testing new ideas for your marketing ads.

Responsive paid ads also help you save time due to the short periods used to try out new concepts.  You’ll also get to enjoy greater extents of continuous flexibility with more targeted ads and accurate segmentation.

1. Smart Bidding

Smart bidding will take away the guesswork when dealing with Google ads. With smart bidding, the rates of conversion will be higher due to automation. This will lead to enhanced online performance.

With smart bidding, small businesses will also benefit from getting the best return on investment in their spending. You’ll also get to generate new leads for your products with a readily determinable cost per acquisition.

The Future of Online Marketing Depends on Pay-Per-Click

The world of paid advertising has evolved significantly over time with the introduction of new tools.

This innovation will help make your online advertising more dynamic and ensure that you reach more audiences. One of the critical changes that will have lasting implications on paid advertising is pay-per-click.

As a small business, you need to keep track of the trends in pay-per-click. With these five PPC strategy trends, your business will maximize the rates of conversion by attracting more clicks.

Are you looking for a consulting agency with a lead in digital marketing? Contact us for all your marketing needs.