Pay-Per-Click Internet Marketing Methods

Pay-per-click marketing (PPC) is one of the most popular Internet marketing strategies. A well-thought out PPC campaign can be a profitable source of online revenue. Without proper preparation, however, pay-per-click marketing can be a disaster. With a PPC marketing campaign you can get visitors to your site within a day or two, with an immediate search presence which can be costly but may be worth the expense for an effective campaign.

Pay-per-click is an Internet marketing strategy that uses ads to redirect users to businesses Web sites. Merchants bid on keywords they believe their customers will use to search for information related to their business.

Merchant ads are shown when search results match the keywords the business successfully bid on. Known as sponsored ads, the ads appear as links either above the search results or to the side of the search results. Ads may also appear on Web sites with content that matches the merchant's business.

No matter where the ads appear, the business only pays for advertising when a user clicks on the ad and is redirected to the businesses Web site.

Businesses who manage pay-per-click marketing accounts successfully find PPC ads are a relatively inexpensive way to direct targeted audiences to their Web sites. A targeted user is a user who was already looking for the kind of product the business offers before he or she reached the business' Web site.

Two major pay-per-click marketing methods exist:

Many search engines offer PPC marketing. The two powerhouses in pay-per-click Internet marketing, however, are Google and Yahoo. Google offers PPC through Google AdSense, while Yahoo has the Yahoo! Publisher Network.

Pay-per-click marketing requires a thorough understanding of your businesses client base and the keywords they use to find your products.

A keyword's popularity determines its bid price. Keywords with little popularity go for between one to fifty cents per click. On the other hand, a popular PPC keyword phrase, such as "used cars," may cost several dollars per click.

Just bidding on PPC keywords without a budget could have a disastrous effect on a company's finances. Fortunately, pay-per-click marketing providers allow accounts to set a maximum budget for the month, which can be as low as $50.

There is an art to writing PPC Internet ads. On the surface, it seems simple enough: write two or three sentence ads containing your selected keywords.

In practice, however, writing PPC ads is a matter of trial and error. Pay-per-click ads must be regularly evaluated to see if they are generating enough click throughs to be profitable. Sometimes a slight change in keyword positioning in the ad is all it takes to change poorly performing ads into revenue generators (and vice versa: don't mess with ads that perform well).

Keeping all this in mind, PPC ads also have to be compelling ad copy. It's no wonder that businesses rushing into pay-per-click marketing without any preparation fail to generate the revenue they expect. For companies who are willing to accept a slow start and a steep learning curve, pay-per-click marketing methods can, in the long run, be very successful.

Resources

Collins, G. (updated May 12, 2006). PPC Advertising: Pay Per Click Programs. Retrieved March 2, 2008 from the SEO Consultants Directory Web site: www.seoconsultants.com/

articles/1383/pay-per-click-programs.asp.

Epower Marketing (n.d.). Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising FAQ. Retrieved March 2, 2008 from the Epower Marketing Web site:
www.epowermark.com/payperclickfaq.htm.

King, D. (July 10, 2006). Which method Should You Choose? Retrieved March 2, 2008 from the American Chronicle Web site:
www.americanchronicle.com/articles/11254.