What is Pay-Per-Click Marketing? A guide to PPC Marketing

Let’s pretend you’re searching for a new pair of basketball shoes. You go online to Google and type in the search term “basketball shoes.” As soon as you click through, there is an ad at the top of the page for “Insert Name Brand Shoe Retailer” with their current basketball gear discounts and sales. This situation is just one example of how pay-per-click advertising works and showcases why it is one of the most effective online marketing strategies available! So, what is PPC exactly, and how does it work? Let Big Red Dog help you understand the wild world of digital advertising with this guide to PPC marketing.

 

What is PPC (Pay-Per-Click)?

PPC is a form of online advertising that allows your business to appear above the organic search results. This marketing strategy allows advertisers to bid on specific terms (keywords) and pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked on. Essentially, PPC is a method of “buying” visits to your site, but when done correctly, the fee is worth it to drive additional traffic to your website. 

 

Why is PPC Important?

One of the most important digital marketing strategies is to have your website rank high on Google organically. However, that takes a lot of work, knowledge and know-how on the intricate functioning of a website. PPC ad campaigns are a great way to earn quality leads while also giving you an element of control over your advertising dollars.  

PPC allows a business to boost ad spend for areas and demographics where there is a massive ROI (return on investment), but also reduce ad spend in areas that aren’t showing success. PPC also 

  • Reaches a wide audience 
  • Helps a business reach the right audience
  • Drives fast results 
  • Provides metrics related to your ads and performance
  • Is testable and able to be altered to reach your audience
  • Is cost-effective 

 

How Does PPC Work?

PPC is most commonly used in search engine results pages (Google or Bing) but can also be utilized on social media channels. PPC advertising looks different from platform to platform but the general process is as follows:

  1. Define your goals: Determine your main goals and use this information to decide which PPC strategy/platform is worth the investment. 
  2. Target your audience: Target your audience based on intent — it’s important to consider all targeting options, but the best practice is to match your PPC strategy with your sales funnel
  3. Optimize your landing page: A strong PPC campaign will link to a relevant landing page tailored to the target audience. 
  4. Create the ads: Ads should illustrate your selling proposition and offer value. 
  5. Analyze and Optimize: PPC is an ongoing process where you can use metrics to finetune the ad campaign. 

 

Getting Started with Your PPC Campaign

No matter the size of your business, incorporating PPC advertising is a solid marketing strategy. However, some factors affect how well a PPC campaign will work and the overall cost of that success. If you want to learn more about PPC advertising or want to discuss a comprehensive marketing strategy, contact us at Big Red Dog Marketing

At Big Red Dog Marketing, we understand the value of a strong marketing plan when it comes to PPC advertising strategies. With clients located across the country, we focus on what your business really needs and understand how to make your company competitive to deliver high-quality results. From Integrated Marketing to SEO, we tackle any marketing need to help drive quality traffic to your website, raise conversions that build results and solve those complex problems every business owner faces.

Want to learn more about our team and how we can help your business? Feel free to give us a call at 919-926-8727 or email us at hello@bigreddog.marketing.

 

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