Pay-per-click or PPC is a payment model in online advertising where an advertiser pays per click on an ad. A click is defined as a user going to a target page. For example, a landing page or a product card page.
PPC advertisements are shown based on keywords. A user enters a query into a search engine and the search engine generates two results: advertising and organic. The advertising one is always higher and that is where your PPC ad will appear.
Why You Should Use PPC
PPC is often contrasted with the CPM model, which assumes that the advertiser pays per thousand impressions. Unlike CPM, the PPC model does not charge money when users see the advertisement but do not click on it. Therefore, the advertiser does not have to pay for non-targeted impressions.
It is believed that if brand awareness is the goal of advertising, a pay-per-thousand-view model is better. Even if the user does not click on the link, they will see the company's advertisement. The effect will be even better if a user sees it several times.
If you want to increase traffic to your website, generate more sales and win new customers, the pay-per-click model is the one to choose between PPC and CPM.
So, let's highlight the main benefits of PPC:
1. PPC campaigns will take effect within hours or days of launch. Once you bid, your banners will be auctioned almost immediately. You will be able to track detailed statistics about the success of your strategy, allowing you to make continuous adjustments to optimize your ads' performance. This means that an ineffective PPC campaign can be cancelled anytime, and you can invest more money into profitable campaigns to maximize their effect.
2. Even if PPC is not your top priority, the vast amount of data available from PPC campaigns can help you improve the results of other marketing methods you use. By using highly targeted campaigns, you'll see which groups of people respond best to your products.
You will even get an idea of what tone of voice will better work for your target audience. This type of data, in turn, can be used to significantly increase the success of all other marketing efforts.
3. PPC allows you to control your advertising costs. You determine the maximum cost and budget. You can also choose the location, device, time of day and other demographic characteristics of your banners. Depending on the platform you choose, these parameters vary.
Given all the benefits of contextual advertising, you can test it on your business without the slightest risk. You can then gain valuable information that can be used in your marketing strategy and to optimize your company's performance.
What Is PPC Platform
PPC advertising was originally a text in search engine result pages in Google or Yahoo. These pages are also known as SERP (search engine result page). Today, these are only a fraction of all the options available for advertising.
Many of these PPC platforms offer the opportunity to display your advertisement on one of their partner websites or in search results performed on third-party resources. These advertisements can come in the following forms:
- Media advertising.
- Embedded video.
- Text on search engine pages.
- Ads in mobile apps.
- Ads that pop up on a website or mobile app.
- Video ads that appear when you watch a video (such as on YouTube).
- Native advertising content that is sponsored by an advertiser.
Some of the PPC platforms offer most of these options. Others focus only on specific niches such as mobile app ads or sponsored content.
TOP 5 PPC platforms
Let's have a look at the TOP 5 most popular PPC platforms for eCommerce.
Google Ads
This is the most popular option with the largest audience worldwide. Google is the largest search engine and has a 84.08% share of the search market. This popularity makes it highly likely that anyone in your target audience uses Google, so it's a great platform no matter what industry you're in.
Google Ads allows you to advertise on Google partner websites such as YouTube, Gmail or the Google Display Network. The most common are Google search banners and eCommerce banners.
In addition to being the largest PPC advertising network, Google also offers a great selection of free tools, such as Google Analytics and Keyword Planner to help you make the most of your marketing efforts.
Microsoft Ads
Microsoft Advertising, or Bing Ads, is the second largest PPC platform. Like Google Adwords, it allows you to advertise on the websites of Microsoft partners such as Yahoo and AOL. Its market share is very small compared to Google, which means you'll reach a smaller audience. On the other hand, some argue that the ROI on Bing is often higher and costs are much lower.
Facebook Ads
Facebook allows you to showcase your product or service to the more than 2 billion users currently using the social network. More than 35% of all people around the world visit Facebook daily, giving you the opportunity to interact with a huge audience.
This advertising network offers a diverse advertising package. While Google and Microsoft Ads rely on search as their foundation, Facebook Ads focus on targeting.
This means users don't necessarily have to actively search for something to see your ads. Instead, you can place your ads on the two biggest social media feeds — Facebook and Instagram.
Amazon
Amazon campaigns are significantly different from Google campaigns.
Amazon ads are ranked based on profits, while Google ads are ranked based on click-through-rate (CTR).
The sole purpose of Amazon ads is to make sales, while Google ads are used for other purposes, such as attracting leads and increasing traffic. Because Amazon ads are sales-oriented, they are ideal for eCommerce companies that want to sell their products.
Advertising your products on amazon offers various benefits:
- Increased brand awareness
- Valuable insights into changing consumer habits
- A brand-safe environment that advertisers want to see
- Improved product visibility and product sales history
Amazon is where people shop online. Often, they enter the marketing funnel somewhere in the middle because they have already done a Google or Bing search beforehand. Chances are they already have an accurate idea of what they want to buy. That's why it's so important for you to show them that you have exactly the product they want, in perfect quality and ready to sell.
The purchase data from Amazon is so detailed that marketers can save money and not advertise to people who have just bought the product. For items bought regularly, the advertising display mechanism is built so that their ads are not shown to people who have recently purchased them. The likelihood of buying the same product again soon is low, its advertisement reappears after a period of time.
Instagram Ads
Advertising on Instagram is a truly effective opportunity. Instagram is a social network of active and engaged users. The ads appear in the social network feed or Stories. They are only seen by an audience selected according to set criteria — people who are potentially interested in the advertised product or service.
Algorithms allow you to show your ads to people from certain demographic groups and with the corresponding interests. Since your ads do not actually appear in search results, they are more like regular, "natural" content.
Wrapping Up
The purpose of "pay per click" is to save the advertising budget on irrelevant traffic and attract the maximum number of leads. The advertiser isn't just paying for impressions of his ad. After all, the ad may just be viewed and not clicked on. PPC marketing only attracts targeted users who see the ad, are interested in the product, click on the link, and visit the target page.
If you need help with your PPC campaign, check out our paid media and advertising services and watch your business flourish. To book an appointment, call
866-208-3095 or contact us here.
