Google has always been known as the top search engine in the world, but it mostly due to their advertising platform; Google Adwords. Google Adwords is primarily a PPC (pay-per-click) service that helps you get your message in front of the right audience at the right time.
Many companies are addicted to PPC, but this is a good problem to have, as their main priorities are drawing in web referrals due to the internet being a widely used medium and Google being one of the most visited websites of all time.
While PPC is very important for Google, it may or may not be a successful venture for every business. The cost per click can cost as little as a nickel for certain keywords, but the most popular keywords and search terms can cost as much as 50 dollars. When PPC works, it is very fruitful for the company. If PPC does not work, the company ends up not only being unsuccessful in attracting customers, but also wastes money and resources.
If you are wondering whether or not PPC is right for your business, here is more of what you need to know about using it.
Use It If…You Use Targeted Keywords
The bulk of any PPC endeavor is researching key keywords. Finding the best keywords for your company is necessary to getting more clicks and generating a positive buzz around your business. A common mistake is that business owner only go after keywords from their own company name alone. The problem with this is that when people look for IT solutions, for instance, they won’t know the name of your business without knowing where to find it in Google’s search engine first.
Terms such as “tech support”, “help desk” or even “computers” may be tempting keywords and phrases to go after, but these are phrases that are both very popular and broad, with very large bids needed for your business to show up on the first page on Google for the respective search terms.
Instead, you can opt to go after safer search terms like “help desk
Don’t Use It If…You Cannot Track Search Results
Because results are rather abrupt, PPC requires you to monitor it constantly for opportunities that open up. Unless you just want to set up a PPC campaign just to get more clicks, the click through rate is a technique with no financial guarantees to your business.
You will need to have the abilities monitor your campaign closely and foresee where search trends are headed in order to get a significant return on your investment. If the cost is more than the money that you would be getting back, it is not a venture worth pursuing. That might be something you already know, but there are lots of people who recklessly overlook the expenditures.
Use It If…You Have A Professional Landing Page
The appearance of your company and brand on the web is very important to draw in customers. Clever and effective ads will give you the customer’s attention, but what the customer will end up doing will all come down to how effective your web pages are. Think of it as a book: You might design an attractive and inviting cover, but if the story is no good, readers will not want to continue to read. The same can be said for your landing page.
One thing you do not want is a “bounce rate”. Bouncing is a term for when customers leave a website after just arriving to it, solely because they are not able to see what it is they need. Visitors just close the tab without clicking on other pages or scrolling down to read content.
High bounce rates are bad for businesses, because when a company clicks on a link from Google to their website, they have to pay Google for that click, regardless for how long the visitor stays on that site.
To be sure that your visitors do not abruptly leave your pages, you need a website that is easy to read and navigate, while presenting what it is that most customers would need front and center, such as a service or product that you happen to be selling.
Don’t Use It If…Your Website Does Not Have A Mobile Version
If your website only works on desktop users, you only have the option to target only people using desktop computers. While there is nothing wrong with still using desktop PCs to use Google nowadays, it limits you to how many customers you could expose your business to. As a matter of fact, three of every five internet users browse the web from a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet. By having a desktop version only, your limit the exposure of each ad that you put out.
This is why that having a mobile version of your website is important. So when designing your website, be sure that your web designer or provider can supply you with different versions of your site for different viewing experiences.
To businesses that provide users with elaborate mobile offerings, Adwords will allow separate data for mobile users opposed to desktop users. This allows you better insight as to which ways customers are finding your website.
Use It If…You Have A Reason For Your Business To Exist
In order to have an ad put on Google, you need to have a good reason for that ad to be there, to put it simply. If you have a brand new product or a limited time sale, PPC will attract users to check your products out. A bad reason to use an ad would be to provide a link to an “About” page or a “Contact” form.
Instead, you should focus more on what you want to accomplish as a way for users to click on your ads: primarily to market a product or service. Make sure that you have a set goal for how many visits come from that ad, and that goal will be met once you get enough clicks.
Don’t Use It If…Your Audience Is Not Well Defined To You
PPC is a pivotal marketing tool that can make sure that ads are displayed to the right customers at the right times. This is true only if you got a clear-cut idea of your target audience and their consumer habits.
Google Adwords can allow your ads to appear at certain times of day. While you may ask “Would I want ads to appear all the time?”, you could do this, but to maximize profits, you would want ads to only show at times when most people would be exposed to them. High schoolers, for instance, wouldn’t be able to browse the internet during school hours. So if you sell products that best suit teenagers, it is better to only display ads after school hours, so you do not waste money on ads that show in the morning and night time.
Additional Adwords features allow ads to appear based on the customer’s location. This is ideal for local businesses so that they can receive search results form companies near them, instead of large corporations known by everybody. Plumbing services, small pizzerias and family-run barbershops are all examples of businesses that would benefit with these advanced features from Google Adwords. These localized features from adwords can be activated within a 25 mile radius of the user, if applied.
Use It If…You Need Results Right Away
PPC has a short term plan for you, unlike the bulk of marketing utilities. With proper keywords and an inviting website, it’s possible to have customers come to your business within just a few hours, granted that it is approved by Google.
If you need immediate results, PPC will make sure that your business is on Google’s front page in order to get the most attention with your selected criteria. You are sure to get a big spike in traffic with the instant exposure, and of course you will need to know what those visitors are doing once they get there. As long as you have a navigable and attractive website ready, there will not be that many visitors that decide to “bounce”.
In summary, PPC is very helpful to businesses and very detrimental if done poorly. When time is of the essence, explore your options in the forms of other SEO methods in order to boost traffic to your web sites. Better yet, experiment with both PPC and SEO. One thing that you should be aware of, though, and that is that PPC must work along with other marketing platforms. It should not be your one and only service to rely on when looking to build a consumer base.