The Fundamentals of PPC Advertising

PPC is a shortened term for Pay Per Click. Put simply it is advertising where you pay for each click on your ad rather than paying a set ad placement rate. Advertisers can bid on keywords or categories, with the highest bidder receiving the top position. Some of the most common places to advertise via PPC include search engines, contextual ad agencies, and social networks.Setting up your first PPC campaign might seem like an intimidating task, if you don't know where to start. Here are a few basic guidelines to help your first campaign go smoothly.The most important selling tool that you have in any online business is, of course, your website. The first thing that you should focus on before beginning any type of advertising including PPC is the quality of your website. It needs to not only sell your product, but sell it well. It should make visitors reach for that credit card without hesitation.Once you've got your site up to specs to sell like a well oiled machine, it's time
to give some thought to your keywords. What will customers search for when they are looking for your product? Keep in mind that when it comes to PPC you want to make every click count, so it is usually better to go with targeted phrases rather than generic terms. There are a number of free tools online that you can use to dig for keywords, for example the Google AdWords keyword tool. If you are advertising on a contextual or social network you will likely be bidding on categories rather than keywords, however the same principles apply.A word about profit margins. When promoting any product via PPC it is important to consider your expected profits. How well your visitors convert into sales and the amount you earn per sale are just a couple of criteria to consider before you place a bid. This probably seems like common sense but you'd be surprised how many marketers fail to truly take this seriously and get caught up in mindless bidding wars!Your PPC ads should be written in
a way that stands out from the competition and grabs the browsers attention. After all you only have a few seconds to get them to notice your ad. Again think about your product. What are people who will buy your product looking for? What makes your product better than all of the other choices out there? It is a good idea to write up 3 or 4 different ads and rotate them in your campaigns to see which one gets the better response.Tracking your PPC campaigns is a must! The importance of tracking cannot be stressed enough. This will allow you to find out which campaigns are working for you and which ones are not, keeping the winners and ditching the losers. One of the most effective and also the easiest to use tools to help you track your campaigns is Google Analytics, plus it's free.These are just a few of the basics to help you get stared in the world of PPC. Hopefully it will lead you down the road to a profitable future, and remember as with any venture practice makes perfec
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