One of the best ways to advertise your new website or online business is PPC. I know what you are thinking, what in the heck is PPC? PPC (Pay per Click) is the main advertising medium of the search engines. Google’s PPC is called Adwords. PPC provides the means for online marketers to be display advertising that will appear alongside and just above the natural or organic search results. As with organic search results, the ads are targeted to the keyword. Unlike organic search, you don’t have to do anything to your website to appear in sponsored listings on page 1. You also can appear there immediately which is never the case with organic search. PPC is the only way to get immediate visibility on Google, Yahoo, Bing et al. While the benefits are straight forward, developing your own PPC program is not nearly as straight forward when considering the processes involved launching and continually managing the business performance. So PPC Management from a qualified and experienced Internet Marketing Company becomes the clear choice for PPC success.
One of the key things a PPC outsourcing company should do for your website is keyword research. They utilize specialized tools to find specific keywords that are relevant to your website. There are many tools available to professional PPC companies that uncover the best keywords / phrases for your online marketing program
The program needs constant monitoring and management; this involves the use of analytics to measure the 2 key areas of measurement for any PPC program:\
- Click Through Rate (CTR) – the percentage of ad displays (impressions) that result in a click.
- Conversion Rate – the percentage of those landing on the specific landing page who actually convert (perform the desired action).
These rates can always be improved upon. It requires strong management techniques and skills to improve these key metrics. What few people understand is that the position of the ad is not only influenced by the bid; it is affected by the effectiveness of the ad. Google, for instance, will show performing ads more prominently, independent of the actual bid. This is why CTR management is so important … it can be a virtuous cycle and is within the control of the PPC Professional.
Landing Pages are critical! When your ad is clicked, where does the visitor go? Are they going to a page that is the most relevant to the keyword, the Adgroup or the Adtext? Does the landing page have a clear “call to action” so as to engage and convert the visitor? This is the key metric that must be monitored; you must understand the visitor interaction and make the necessary adjustments. Dozens of factors are involved. Only a profession Internet Marketing Company with demonstrated experience and success can master these factors.
So, what about cost? This is the simplest justification. If you consider the importance of the above factors, it is easy to understand that without professional PPC you will waste a ton of money each and every day just by not knowing how to optimize the above factors. The lion share of the money is going to the search engines to begin with. Even if the management fees of a PPC company is 50% of your Adspend (and it never is), it is justified simply based on the differences sure to be achieved in improved CTR, Conversion Rates and new business.
PPC Management then becomes a true and vital investment necessary to insure ROI that you can be proud of.
October 22, 2009
