As new businesses have started entering the market, competition has become tough and new ideas for marketing are required to attract customers these days. While big businesses end up spending a huge chunk of their budget on marketing, small businesses need to opt for cheaper options, hence more creativity is needed to spice up the regular sales techniques.
Since people have started using more internet over time, companies have come up with ways to reach out to their target audience. Pay-per-click is one of these ways where companies have availed the opportunity to use search engines and websites to advertise themselves. To drive traffic and increase sales with PPC a business needs to keep a few things in mind such as:
#1. What is PPC?
Pay-per-click is one marketing method that businesses use to increase their sales but have to pay a small amount to the platform which they are using. Each time a person ends up clicking on an online advertisement, the company has to pay an amount.
Technically, the payment for each click is minor when compared to the sales that a business can end up making just by one click. PPC is the new marketing technique that uses the support of search engines and websites to boost sales and increase the number of customers for that business.
Even though most people believe that this marketing technique can be more expensive, they tend to forget that while they might be paying off a small amount as payment to the webpage or search engine, they end up gaining more with the sales from consumers. Pay-per-click is not just restricted to search engines.
There are various kinds of Pay per clicks such as search advertising, display advertising, social media advertising, remarketing, sequential remarketing and Google shopping.
Source: Startup Nation
#2. Google Ad Campaigns for PPC
The most popular and sought after type of pay-per-click is what we know as Google Ads where companies seek the support of the search engine to advertise themselves through online advertisements. Ad campaigns require search keywords which help in bringing the target audience to the doorstep of a business.
Google Ads is used by both large and small businesses simply due to the success rate of this technique. The click-through rate (CTR) is determined after someone clicks on the advertisement and shows how many people were affected by the ad. While each company and business has a separate CTR according to the industry they belong to, the average CTR is considered to be 2% while a rate greater than 2% is one that is more than average. Advertisements chosen for Google not only show up on the search engine but also on other Google platforms.
Before opting for Google Ads, it is important that you know the basics. Since it is keyword-based, companies and businesses bid on the keywords that will lead their target audience to their advertisements. It acts as an auction where bidders are chosen by Google according to a merit-based system relying on the CPC bid (what the business is willing to bid) and Quality Score (based on the CTR, landing page quality and the relevance of keywords).
This way you can bid according to your budget and reach potential consumers with the help of an ad. The image below represents a marketing thought that if you opt for Google Ads as a way of marketing your product, your sales and your CTR are bound to go up.
Source: PrestaShop
#3. Display Advertising
When you want to target a specific audience for your business with the help of pay-per-click, display advertising is your option. This concept is similar to that of Google Ads but differs in the way that a business can choose the web pages and websites to advertise themselves.
However, you still need to choose keywords like Google Ads which will be displayed on the websites that you wish to target through. Technically, through this method, you end up choosing your audience which makes this cost-effective since you reach the target audience directly rather than spending money on clicks that produce no yield.
Combining pictures and text through display advertising will develop more interest in customers. Google display network is one such way of advertising which can help a business to market itself to 80% of the people who use the internet. However, as compared to Google Ads, display advertising leads to lower CTR but a better impression on viewers.
So whichever option you end up choosing for PPC, choose thoughtfully knowing your aims and goals. Display advertisements need to stand out and be vibrant pictures that appeal to customers such as the image highlighted below which is graphic and conveys the message to those who see it.
Source: ppcprofessionals
#4. Social media advertising
Facebook, Twitter, and Linked-In have become the most accessible platforms for pay-per-click these days. Since customers now use these websites to stay updated and in contact with others, it is one cost effective method for big and small businesses to increase sales with Pay per click.
With these techniques you need to keep one thing in mind, that is you need graphic and colorful imagery to attract customers. These advertisements pop up for viewers scrolling down their social media pages and lead them to click it if it has an appeal to it.
The best part about social media advertising is that all you need is an active account on the website to launch your Pay per click ads. If you really want to filter your potential customers rather than advertising to the entire audience, you can now do it.
After proper research, you can see which clients are frequent visitors to your page and then make your advertisements available to them whenever they go online to their social media page. Facebook has recently started promoting such social media advertisement campaigns where people tend to see ads of the pages and products that they have visited on the internet.
This integration of technology has led to savings of both cost and time where companies and businesses are now fully aware of their target audience and what they are searching for. As can be seen below, the costs incurred in reaching people through social media is much less as compared to others.
Source: SEO Traffic Lab
#5. Remarketing
This concept is what we were discussing in social media advertising where businesses can now see what their clients are searching for. Customers are then brought back to the business advertisements that they were previously looking at. This is called remarketing.
If you want to maintain an engaging relationship with your potential customers than remarketing is the way to go since you can keep up with your customers and continue enticing them by remarketing your product to them and keeping them in the loop. Sequential remarketing is also similar but it tends to focus more on the clients individually.
If you ever see personalized messages on websites where you are reminded to buy a certain product or see a message that you have been offline for too long, it is an act of sequential remarketing. These techniques keep customers informed and updated while also alluring them to purchase products.
ExpressText is an SMS service selling company that also keeps in mind the importance of remarketing towards clients by sending out reminder text messages to customers so they remain a close relation to the business. The picture below depicts the best way to remarket the advertisement through Pay per click.
Source: Wordstream
#6. Why is PPC gaining importance in marketing?
After looking at the various kinds of Pay per click methods that are available for both small and large businesses, we need to look at the fact that with time, pay-per-click marketing has increased. What could the possible reasons be? Low costs? Efficiency? Effectiveness?
As discussed earlier, the marketing industry is evolving causing businesses to change their techniques as well. People are not just attracted to plain old text messages and bland emails anymore. They require imagery, colors, and details which is what Pay per click tends to provide.
Looking at the cost-effective aspect, you only get to pay a price when someone clicks on the ad, otherwise, no payment is incurred. Another important point is that Pay per click can help you become a part of the top lists on some of the world’s leading search engines.
Showing up as the first option for someone on Google can mean a lot of things to businesses, especially small ones. The importance attached to Pay per click comes from the fruits it can bear for those who invest in it properly.
Since new marketing ways are being looked into, companies are seeking methods that have high success rates and make it possible for the business to create a connection between themselves and their customers. Pay-per-click has gained significant popularity with time because it brings new ideas to the table and develops the interest of viewers, attracting them to open web pages of businesses simply through an advertisement. As pay-per-click advertising becomes more essential for businesses you can find different tools that will help you to optimize your PPC advertising. For example, if you want to create and manage successful PPC campaigns with fewer efforts and resources you can use PPC management software like the one from Adplorer.
Source: IQ Infotech Blog
#7. How to use PPC to increase sales and traffic?
Since you get the hang of what Pay per click is, how it works and what impact it creates on potential customers, it is time to look at methods to drive up your sales using this method effectively. 41% of the clicks on the Google page are received by the top 3 searches.
To become a part of the top 3, there are certain necessary steps that a business needs to use to drive its sales upwards with the help of Pay per click. Let’s have a look at a few tips and tricks that can help your business increase its sales and traffic:
- Find the perfect blend of quantity and quality: You don’t just need leads but also sales that add up to something. So you need to see whether more content helps in achieving your goal or whether a better quality content leads you to your goal.
- Use high performing keywords: This is determined by what you want to achieve. However, high performing keywords are those that have a high CTR and quality score which ensures that your campaign can become a success rather than a failure.
- A landing page that stands out: A customer didn’t just click on your ad for nothing. They expect an amazing landing page which is the main sales page which they end up at after clicking. Your sales are bound to go up with a landing page that speaks for itself.
- Optimize your Pay per click campaign: A continuous evolvement of technology has increased the prospects of e-commerce marketing. In 2016, 20% of the mobile searches were made through voice queries making it an essential part of the search engines. When customers shift to such modes of search, it is better if you optimize your campaign for voice search so the audience is aware as well as keen on using it.
Source: Incartmarketing
Conclusion
51% of the global web traffic comes from mobile phones which means that marketing has taken a shift from regular marketing to mobile and internet marketing. PPC is one such method and according to the information stated above, it also has high success rates making it a suitable marketing option for businesses.
Since the aim is to attract the attention of people, it is better to use a mode which is more suitable for usage. Using platforms like Google and Facebook is not only convenient and cheap for businesses but also creates a link between the customers and the business. These advertisements act as a recurring reminder to the customers, appealing them to open the ad and then the web page of the business.
These leads can become sales if the Pay per click techniques used are effective. The tips to improve the performance of Pay per click can indeed help a business increase its sales and customers in the future.