What is PPC advertising?
It is fair to think of pay per click advertising (PPC) as search engine optimization's (SEO) little brother. The two tactics are best combined in digital marketing strategy for a one-two punch. PPC advertising provides an instant influx of website traffic through targeted online ads. Conversely, building a strong SEO presence is inherently a slow-going process, which is exactly what makes it such a valuable tool: it provides an ever-growing stream of organic traffic.Today, we will be focusing on PPC advertising. PPC advertising is a delicate matter. When a PPC campaign is run properly, it should generate not only many site visits and leads, but actual sales or conversions. However, if improperly managed, you are liable to spend a fortune on PPC advertising with little to show for it (not to mention only a small portion of your investment recouped). For this reason, it is especially important that your PPC campaign manager have a proven track record of success in this arena from the beginning. This is not a role to learn on the job!
Why invest in PPC?
So, what offsets the risk of PPC advertising and makes it worthy of inclusion in your digital media marketing strategy? At a glance, despite its pitfalls, PPC can be powerful for the following reasons:
- Speedy setup
- Plentiful, easily-measured data that can be tracked over time
- Successfully couples for synergistic results with other marketing channels
Keep in mind the aforementioned benefits as well as the following come with the caveat of entrusting PPC management to a professional SEO specialist. For example, PPC will neither entail quick setup nor wealth of useful data in the hands of a novice. Read on as we expound on the above bullet points.
1. Speedy setup
If you’re late to the PPC, SEO, and paid advertising party, don’t fret. Even your competitors that appear above you in search engine results pages (SERPs) can be usurped with the three coveted “sponsored” search results above the organic content for any given keyword. Within minutes of optimizing your PPC campaign in Google AdWords, you can begin to drastically increase the traffic to and conversions on your site.PPC advertising platforms also aid in the expeditious setup process, because web developers aren’t required to launch the campaign. In other words, while there is a high level of strategy that goes into Pay Per Click campaigns, there’s no technological heavy lifting. All you’ll have to do is embed some tracking software like Google Analytics into the code for the pages whose statistics will be affected by the PPC campaign.
2. Pay Per Click campaigns can be measured and tracked
That Google Analytics tracking code you embedded during “speedy setup” will serve you well in months and years to come as it continues to provide rich data to be analyzed. Google has a whole suite of analytics tools that can be utilized individually and in tandem. Such software offers an additional value of running PPC and paid advertising through Google. Google’s AdWords makes progress easy to measure and follow. Each keyword is measured in terms of search volume and bid price per click with your advertisement. More specific to each ad campaign will be the impressions, click through rate, and conversion rate.So often in marketing, results are confounded by extraneous variables. This is not the case with clear-cut result tracking from AdWords statistics. Utilize this information to remove emotion and opinion from the equation. Direct the flow of your budget to those ads that are driving results, and cycle out the lackluster campaigns. Such is a benefit of digital media marketing as opposed to traditional advertising outlets like billboards, commercials, and magazines.
3. PPC synergies with other marketing channels
Pay Per Click advertising has the potential to move the needle for your business immediately, and in a big way. There is no limit on the return you stand to gain from a well-executed PPC campaign. Implement PPC ads before (and while) building an SEO presence, email list, and social media following.It takes months - sometimes years - of SEO groundwork to achieve such results. However, SEO strengthening is not to be discounted, as organic search results are free and more reliably valuable in the long run. While PPC-driven traffic ceases as soon as you stop paying for the advertising, organic SEO traffic has been earned and cannot easily be taken away by a competitor outbidding you on a keyword.Email and social marketing are certainly organic tools in your digital media marketing arsenal, as well. PPC supplements these channels while adding its own unique benefit. Email and social media marketing require customers to opt in to an email list or to follow your social media account(s). PPC and paid advertising are able to help your company cast a wide net, and expose your brand to leads previously unfamiliar to your site. This is an attractive addition when combined with email and social media marketing.It’s clear that maximizing your PPC campaigns is a tried-and-true way to ensure you’re not leaving money and potential customers on the table while you build your SEO presence. KitelyTech is here to help. Submit a request for a free consultation and we’ll help you get your PPC campaigns, SEO, and additional digital marketing on track.For more information on SEO, check out our articles here 3 Local SEO Strategies, here SEO Audit Checklist 2017, and here 4 Local SEO Shortcuts for Long Term Results.Contact KitelyTech today to discuss the details of how we can add value to you and your online business.Phone: (800) 274 2908Email: info@kitelytech.com
