PPC (Paid Search)
PPC refers to the paid search or ‘sponsored links’ which typically appear at the top, and along the right hand side of the search engine results pages – an illustration from Google is shown below.
How Does PPC Work?
All of the major search engines offer PPC advertising. Your advert will appear for the phrases (or keywords) which you have selected. For example, if you sell van insurance you might want to bid on terms such as van insurance, cheap van insurance, buy van insurance, van insurance quote etc
The position in which your advert appears is determined by a number of factors including:
Your Bid
The price you have said you are willing to pay for a click
Relevancy
This is determined by a number of factors including - how well the advert you display relates to the keyword which you're bidding on and how well the web page which your visitor will land on relates to the keyword
Click Through Rate
Click through rate is expressed as a percentage, and is calculated by dividing the number of users who click on your advert by the number of users who see it. This allows the search engine to determine how relevant searchers find your advert as typically searchers will only click on an advert which they deem appropriate to their search
The UK PPC Market
According to the Internet Advertising Bureau:
- Between Jan and June 2008 £981million was spent on paid search in the UK, accounting for 58.3% of the total amount of
money spent on online advertising. - this represents year on year growth of more than 20%
- To put this in context the UK advertising market as a whole grew by just 0.7% for the same period, meaning that Press,
Direct Mail, Outdoor, TV and Radio all experienced falling revenues
To maximise return on investment in an increasingly competitive pay per click advertising market, you need tailored solutions which fit specifically with your objectives.
The Benefits of PPC
You are only charged when someone clicks on your advert.
PPC differs from traditional advertising methods, in that rather than paying for your advert simply to appear, you are only charged when someone clicks on your advert - hence 'pay per click' or PPC.
Targeting & Control.
Similarly you have more control versus traditional advertising, as your PPC advert will only appear for the phrases (called keywords) which you select.
Effectively, you can put your advertising messages directly in the path of those searchers who are looking for your product or service.
Measurability
You can measure every element of your PPC campaign - right down to an individual keyword level, so you can easily see which elements are delivering a return
Speed & Flexibility
PPC campaigns can be up and running in a matter of hours, and can be switched on and off at will
The Pitfalls of PPC
Whilst PPC can be an extremely effective advertising medium, lack of experience can be very costly. Common mistakes we see in PPC campaigns include:
Poor keyword selection
If you're not bidding on the right keywords, your adverts may attract clicks, but you're unlikely to see any ROI
No negative keywords
In addition to picking the keywords which you wish to appear for, you can also say which you do not want to appear for. For example if you sell van insurance, but do not sell vans you'll probably find your campaign is much more effective with the addition of some negative keywords pertaining to the sale of vans
Poorly structured campaigns
In order to make sure you're not paying more than you need to on a per click basis, create tightly focussed groups of keywords, and from these tailor relevant ads - it's all about relevancy!
Problems with tracking
The beauty of PPC is how measurable it is, but if you've not got tracking in place, or the tracking is incorrectly placed you'll be missing out on valuable information
A poorly run PPC campaign will cost you money, rather than make you money. Why not take advantage of our free PPC Health Check to see what sort of shape your PPC campaign's in?
Our Approach to PPC
We're happy to take over an existing PPC account, or indeed create a whole new campaign for you. By gaining a clear understanding of your business, and undertaking extensive research we will create a well-structured, targeted campaign which will generate business for you.
As part of the service you will have your own account manager who will manage all aspects of your campaign. They will produce monthly reports detailing the activity / testing which has taken place, key learnings, performance and potential improvements which can be made.
If you would like to discuss your campaign further, please call 020 8941 2364.
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