Pay Per Click Internet Advertising Overview

As mentioned in the PPC Methodology section, your PPC ranking is based upon your bid relative to other bids that are made in an auction-like bidding system. Therefore, if your advertisement has the highest corresponding bid, your ad will appear at the top of the Paid Listings results page. If your bid is the second highest, then your ad will appear second, and so on.

For the major PPC engines, the top one to four bid positions are the ones that receive the highest amount of distribution across their search partner networks, and hence receive the greatest exposure and click traffic. Our advice for bid management is to initially position your bids so that your ads will appear third, with the best targeted title and text possible. The fee is a little lower (usually) and the click thru rate remains quite high.

When search engine visitors click on your PPC ad, they are sent to a page on your web site. As an advertiser, you are only charged when a visitor clicks on your advertisement to visit your web site. Typically minimum bids start at $0.05 and up to $50.00, although few bids ever reach that higher level. For most advertisers bidding averages between $0.25 and $2 per click (visitor).

The majority of advertisers who employ both SEO and PPC typically report very positive results, although a well-executed SEO plan over time can deliver more visitors at a lower overall cost than a PPC campaign.

Unlike banner ads that often display pictures and graphics, these advertisements are textual and appear in the search results like a search engine does.

Here is an example advertisement if you sold widgets.

Shop for Widgets
Over 2,000 kinds of widgets in stock. Hundreds of widgets for home and work including western and exotic widgets. Shop online. Secure ordering. Same day shipping.
www.widgets-r-us.com

Pay Per Click Internet Advertising offers you the ability to control how much you want to spend and where you want to be ranked. And, perhaps best of all, you only pay for actual traffic that clicks through to your web site!

It is estimated there are over 300 Pay Per Click Programs, but really the top 10 have about a 90% reach across the Internet.

Similar to Search Engine Optimization, designing, developing, and PPC campaign management takes time and labor, but the benefits are undeniable:

• Instant visibility & traffic: The more you bid, the higher you are listed and the more traffic you will receive.
  
  
• Quick to launch: Although some PPC campaigns require editorial review before they are active, some do not. Even with editorial review, a pay per click campaign can be active in a few days.
  
  
• Easy to Implement: PPC does not necessarily require expert knowledge to set up, although experience with search engines is definitely an advantage.
  
  
• Easy to track and measure conversions: With tracking code & metrics in place and data being gathered by the search engines, tracking a campaign's success is easier than it ever has been.
  
  
• No content or Web design changes necessary: Although you might want to make some changes to create a really effective campaign, none are necessary to get you started. Your existing Web site or Web page will work.
  
  
• Keyword conversion testing: You can use a PPC campaign to find out if you are targeting the right keywords by running a PPC campaign to see how well they will convert. Then incorporate the best keywords into your SEO (search engine optimization) campaign.
  
  

For more information see our Discussion of PPC Management Costs and Learn about our Professional PPC Campaign Management Services.