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This is the second post in a series on Pay-per-click advertising. Lots of our clients struggle to understand PPC so they can evaluate it as an investment, compare it to traditional advertising, figure out how it works, or sometimes just explain it to their boss. The explanations can get rather complex, so I decided to make a series of blog posts to help educate clients, readers, and anyone wanting to learn more. This is the second article in the Pay Per Click Advertising 101 series.
The Control Levers
Picture us inside a big black box. Big – as in the size of your house. On one wall, picture rows of knobs or levers, and then imagine us, on your behalf, poised to turn them, pull them, or simply adjust and tune them. In reality, all the knobs and levers are on our computer, controlled with a simple mouse click. Best of all, they take effect immediately and will start generating immediate feedback. When it’s done well, PPC gives a level of control that’s superior to nearly every other form of advertising. Here’s what we’re controlling to make your PPC campaign work its best for you:
- Lets us determine which search terms, when entered, will cause your ad to display on the search engine results page (called – you guessed it – the SERP)
- Iterative testing tells us which words are most successful
- In bringing traffic to your website
- In getting visitors to take the actions you want them to take on your site
- Allows us to hone your keyword selections over time to pinpoint the terms that bring you the most visitors for the least cost
Ad copy and Landing Page design
- Iterative testing lets us determine which version of ad copy, linked to a specific landing page, is most successful in getting searchers to click on the link, come to your page, and take a desired action
- You or your website design/development team will create the landing pages; we’ll test them and provide the feedback on how to optimize them best for your PPC campaign
Geo-targeting
- Gives you control over where your ads will appear (e.g. for searchers located in what zip codes, as identified by their computer’s IP address)
Calendar-targeting
- Lets you determine what days of the week, season of the year, or even time of the day your ad will display
Budget scheduling
- Allows you to set your budget limit per day. When that limit is reached, your ad will be paused automatically so you don’t run up costs that will over-run your allocated advertising budget
Look for my next posting, Part 3 of the series on PPC Advertising, called “PPC Advertising – Measurement and Analytics Tell the Real Story.” Any questions so far? Want to share your own experience? Feel free to leave a comment below.
