Pay Per Click Advertising: Now & In 2015

The ubiquitous nature of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising started with a healthy dose of skepticism. The new medium failed to impress many people after its introduction as an online advertising and marketing option in 1996.

As the years passed, acceptance and use became common, and today there are at least 4 top companies offering PPC services.

In 2013, the results from PPC were remarkable, to say the least. Online users tend to click on paid ads by as much as 64% compared to the 34% who choose to click on unpaid links. Most users click on paid ads not because they’re shopping around, but because the ads look appealing and interesting. People are used to PPC by now, and jump at the chance to click on an ad that catches their interest.

But what exactly is PPC?

PPC is one way to advertise your goods or services. You get to place an ad on a search engine results page (SERP), and when someone clicks on your ad, that’s when you pay your host. Of course, to get that valuable spot on a popular website. That’s not easy because you really need to be knowledgeable of the PPC service’s requirements to get the best results.

Still, it is worth all the work you put into creating a tempting and “clickable” ad. This is why there is the Ad Auction- a great solution for those who want top PPC results by getting in front of users on coveted websites.

The Ad Auction

The Ad Auction works something like this:

• It starts with a query by a user.

• There are bidders for ad space waiting to be featured. Bidders indicate how much they are willing to pay as well as a preferred keyword

• Google decides which bidder gets to put his or her ad on the page. The decision is based on the bid and the ad’s quality score. Quality score is based on the relevance of your ad to the query and the person making the query.

• Bidder pays Google when the ad is clicked on. The amount to be paid will be based on the ad rank of the person second to you in the bidding divided by your quality score plus .01

Every month, auctions generate billions of dollars for PPC services like Google as well as for the advertisers. And it is important to note that bidders can’t just try to outbid every other bidder just to get picked by default. PPC services don’t work that way at all. The PPC service needs to make sure there is a chance the ad will be clicked. For example, Google will never pick an ad on snowshoes for a user querying about flip flops and who lives on a tropical island even if the advertiser for snowshoes is the top bidder.

Quickly, Does PPC Work For Everyone?

PPC works and this is obvious by the annual increase in companies getting involved in the PPC market. Spending has increased in 2014 after 83% of company executives and business owners decided they love the idea of advertising through PPC.

However, getting involved with PPC is not going to work if you just jump in cold. You have to consider at least 4 factors: Cost, Attribution, Relevance, and Creep Factor.

• Cost refers to being ready to bid the highest since bid amount is a factor that will be considered. This could turn out to be expensive unless you know how to prioritize your bids.

• Almost 58% of companies tend to use last click attribution, which isn’t effective because it means you have no time, inclination or budget for PPC – and you’re wasting a huge opportunity!

• Relevance starts with choosing the right keyword to bid on so you get to go on pages that will generate clicks for your business.

• Creep factor, i.e., don’t stalk people who click on your ads. It’s a big no-no as is using the data visitors provide you to bug them about your product. There has to be a limit to the number of times you use the cookies to track your visitors.