Pay Per Click
Pay per click (PPC) search engine marketing is a powerful
way to get your company into the top rankings of most of
the major search engines. PPC is a complicated, but potentially
rewarding SEM technique. It is, in theory, as simple as
the name suggests. You simply pay for each time a visitor
clicks on your listings in the search engine results. Every
time a user clicks on your listing your account with the
PPC provider is charged an amount. It's the fastest way
to drive traffic to your web site, and the traffic you receive
is highly targeted. Google, Overture And E-Spotting are
the major pay per click listings providers in the PPC marketplace.
So, how does PPC work?
Basically, you bid an amount to be listed for particular
'key phrases'. For example, if you bid 20p or 20 cents to
be listed in the number one position for the phrase ‘diamond
rings’, then you will be charged the bid amount each
time someone clicks on your listing. What makes pay per
click complicated is that there will often be many other
people who are also bidding on that same phrase. So you
need to monitor what other people are bidding to ensure
that your bid remains competitive. You may decide not to
bid the highest fee, but you should always ensure that you
remain within the top five set or results. In the search
engine listings the pay per click results are presented
in the sponsored listings section.
Where do PPC listings appear?
Most of the top search engines such as MSN, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves
etc will have a section on the first page of search results
for pay per click listings. Some search engines will only
present the highest three bids whilst others may present
them all. Google offer their own pay per click system, called
Google ‘Adwords’. Their PPC methodology is slightly
different to that of Overture’s and E-Spotting’s,
but the same basic principles apply, i.e. you only pay once
a user clicks on your listing to go to your website.
How do I set-up and manage a PPC campaign?
To set up a pay per click campaign you need to either open
an account direct with one of the PPC providers such as
Overture of Google, or, you can use the services of a specialist
search engine marketing company. To see a full list of PPC
providers for your country visit the SEM Tools section.
For advice on how to choose a reputable search engine marketing
company visit the ‘Choosing
a suitable search engine marketing agency’ pages.
Companies with a small number of keywords and limited PPC
budget may be better off trying to set up and manage their
PPC campaign themselves. However, it would be wise for companies
with 100+ keywords to seek the expertise of an SEM company
to manage their campaign. This is because PPC requires on-going
monitoring and management of bid prices and positions. Obviously
the more competitive the industry and the more keywords
you are promoting the more work that needs to be undertaken.
One other advantage of using a specialist SEM agency is
that they will have invested in keyword selection, bid management
and return on investment (ROI) reporting tools. These tools
help to manage and maintain bid prices and positions as
well as measure ROI from pay per click campaigns. They are
important tools to use when managing big campaigns as they
help to prevent you from over bidding and save you time
in maintaining positions.
