I'm a big fan of pay per click. It is my job, after all!
I often hear people say they are struggling to get enough quality visitors to their website, and this make me think...
Yet, I understand it can be a little intimidating for first-timers to dip their toe into the world of pay per click. That's why I am here to share five good reasons to consider why it is an essential part of your online marketing plan.
Pay per click campaigns that target the right keywords to the right audience with the right intent can ramp up the traffic to your site immediately. Yes, it costs money, but you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. So if this is managed right, then you're paying for excellent quality traffic.
Imagine what a boost this could give your business to get a stream of people to your website, searching precisely for what you are selling.
TV, radio and even SEO are all great routes to get people to visit your website.
While you would certainly know how much money it cost, it can be challenging to measure what you got out of it confidently, especially if you're running multiple campaigns.
That is where PPC does a fantastic job of financial accountability.
If set up correctly, you can measure how much budget you have spent, how many clicks you got for that budget, the click's cost, and the value of the sale the click created, plus much more — a complete view of return on investment.
You can also link with Google Analytics for a more holistic view of all your online channels and how they are working together for you.
The benefit of measuring what you put in and get out is understanding if the advertising channel is working for you and making you a profit. Other activities can be difficult to measure in this way.
Platforms like Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising have so much data you can view, which can help you in many ways.
For example, you can look at the search terms people have typed into Google and triggered your keyword. These search terms are often a question/query – this could help with your SEO efforts and social media posts.
Another example is reporting.
You can gather useful insights like how many ads on average people are clicking on before converting (call your business or buy online). Are your visitors using different devices to navigate through the journey to conversion?
In the world of marketing, most people have heard of the funnel.
It represents the possible stages a person will go through before converting and becoming an advocate recommending your business to others.
PPC platforms like Google Ads allow you to target people at different buying funnel stages with various campaign types.
You have search campaigns where people are typing into the search bar on Google, and your text ad appears. There are display campaigns that host a whole range of options, including display remarketing to people who have already visited your website but are yet to convert. Then there are video campaigns to target your video ad to appear on complementary videos – just before their video starts, your ad will appear.
It is always a good idea to see what the competition is doing with a little competitor research.
For example, if you are a florist and you are relying on your traffic from organic listings, take a look a Google, and you will see the organic listings are quite far down nowadays.
If you find your main competitor has an ad on Google, you can be sure they are getting the most traffic unless you already have massive brand awareness.
It could be time to look at PPC to see if you can obtain a share of the potential traffic.
And there you have it five good reasons why pay per click is an essential part of your digital marketing strategy.
Are you integrating PPC into your Plans? Excellent, I would love to hear how you get on and if you decided to try using PPC after reading this article.