What is Pay-per-click and why your small business needs it.

PPC is a form of advertising where you pay the publisher every time the advert is clicked. The days of being able to rely on organic traffic are over, and most businesses must opt for a mix of paid and free PPC activities.

The most common PPC is Google Ads, which allows you to pay for the top slots on Google's search engine results pages at a price 'per click'. Other PPC channels are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter Ads, and sponsored messages on LinkedIn.

PPC is all about relevance. Users search for specific products, services, and information at any time. Advertisers can show a targeted ad at the exact moment the search is occurring. For example, if a user searches for ‘blue running shoes,’ an advertiser can show an ad speaking to ‘blue running shoes.’

What Is Google Ads?

Google Ads is the PPC paid advertising option on Google. They are the top advertisements on the Google search page and the reality is that if you want to feature on the first page, then you will need to place Google ads. Not advertising in Google Ads would be like having a shop on the high street, but not bothering to place any signage on the shop front.

Google Ads pros

• Results from Google Ads can be instant. This is crucial if you’re looking to drive traffic to your site quickly. SEO can take a long time to take effect.
• Creating a Google Ads campaign can be quick. Do keyword research, allocate your budget, set up a campaign and press go!
• Best real-time exposure. You have the chance to appear on the first page of Google when someone is actively searching for what you’re offering.
• Google Ads are bigger and better. The size of text ads has increased and they have become more engaging, giving you more bang for your buck.
• It’s a cheap and effective testing ground. You can use Google Ads to test your ideas, keywords, click-through rate etc. It provides immediate feedback so that you can measure results.
• It can be done on a budget. You determine how much you’re willing to spend by setting the maximum cost per click for your keywords.
• You stay in control. You can turn your adverts on and off at will.

Google Ads cons

• You pay for each and every click to your website.
• Competitive industries have a higher cost per click. If your keyword bid is too low, then your ads could be relegated to lower pages of the search results.
• No money – no ad. When your limit is reached, that is the end of the advertising.
• Ad restrictions. You are restricted by the number of characters you’re allowed and you must conform to Google’s content restrictions.
• It’s an investment of time as well as money. It’s a continual process of test, analyse, adjust and test again.
• Your landing pages must be high quality and relevant to your ads. By improving your website’s landing pages, your Quality Score will increase, which will reduce your cost per click.

Are you a Google Ads guru?

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