Pay-per-click or PPC is an internet marketing method which pays the advertiser or publisher based on the number of times the ad is clicked. This is even more relevant in the internet today with the improvement of search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Advertisers will maximize PPC adverts by using keywords that are attractive to the target market. These PPC adverts are usually shown in content sites or search engine results which have agreed to display the advertisement.
Unlike the portal method (which directs a high volume of traffic to a specific site), the PPC uses the affiliate model. This provides people with purchase opportunities whenever they are surfing the web. It is called an affiliate model because it is centered on having affiliate sites in the form of the site hosting the advertisers. The advertisers provide incentives (which in most cases are the percentage of sales brought by the ads) to the merchant sites or affiliate sites that put up their PPC banner.
What determines the PPC ad that shows in websites? These ads display on the website if a keyword will match with the advertiser’s keyword list. This is also usually displayed in a website with related content. These adverts usually appear above or below the results of the keyword search result in search engine sites or content websites; these are also called sponsored ads. So when is it a good idea to use PPC ads for your own website? Let’s look at its pros and cons.
Pay-Per-Click Pros
There are many advantages of having PPC advertisements in a website. We’ll go over these advantages in the list below:
- Quick results – In the age of instant needs, the PPC method gives quick results. Setting up of the software plan and advertising is relatively quick and with the amount of money spent on the PPC, it will immediately translate into clicks for the site. PPC is more advantageous compared to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) because advertising gives instant results. If generating online revenue is what the company needs then PPC is an excellent marketing strategy for it.
- Performance-based – PPC cost is relative to the number of visitors to the website it is in and not the number of times the ad is clicked. This is commonly referred to as Pay-per-performace. PPC itself is only delivered to sites that contain the related content of the query as well as its geographic proximity. This means that it assists in leading traffic with high-value to the website and can be the cause of high browsing to conversion of visitors to buyers.
- Maximum control – This aspect cannot be stressed enough. Most PPC providers allow the sites that are availing to their service the ability to control the amount of spending allowed per day and the amount of cost per click. This allows maximum control of the advertising which may sometimes clash with campaign costs. Even more, mistimed and poorly-performing ads can easily be monitored and corrected while still keeping track of the budget. Maximizing control allows for quick responses and optimization of the site’s campaign.
Pay-Per-Click Cons
As with all innovative ideas, there are also some disadvantages to PPC. We’ll explore the cons as well to determine whether or not PPC is the way to go for your online business.
- Cost – PPC advertising can be very expensive. This is mainly due to poorly-performing or mistimed ads; however this can be offset by the previously mentioned advantage. Constant monitoring is required in order to prevent PPC ads from taking up too much of the site’s budget. It is quite possible to quickly burn through a thousand dollars or more in AdWords (Google’s arithmetic for PPC; equivalent of PageRank for SEOs) due to poorly-performing PPCs.
- Complexity – Although relatively easy to set up, some clients have a difficult time of grasping the ins and outs of PPC. Despite the almost instantaneous results, PPCs quality and efficiency is determined largely by its AdWare quality score whose arithmetic is rather complicated compared to PageRank for SEO.
- Click Fraud – This is a very serious matter especially in the highly competitive online market. To put it simply, click fraud is basically a competitor clicking on the ads’ links and thereby eating away the budget. Click fraud is done by a person or even a computer program specifically tasked in doing so.
It is important to pay close attention to these pros and cons when deciding when to use PPC for the website. They key is always to balance both aspects carefully in order to curb the damage from the disadvantage with the benefit of the advantage.
