With pay per click (PPC) advertising, how much you pay will depend on two things:
- how many people click on your adverts
- how much you pay for each click
The amount you pay for each click on your advert is known as the ‘cost per click’, or CPC. There are two basic ways of working out the CPC:
- Some websites offer a set price for each click on your PPC advert. This is often referred to as a flat-rate CPC.
- Search engines, such as Google and Yahoo!, might allow different advertisers to compete with each other. You’ll have to state the maximum amount you’re willing to pay to have your advert appear when people search using a particular keyword, and the highest bidder wins. This is called a bid-based CPC.
Either way, you’ll only pay for the number of clicks you receive.
Managing your campaign yourself
The first thing to consider when planning a PPC campaign is your budget. With most providers, you can either set a maximum spend for a specified period or a maximum or average cost per click. Be wary of setting your budget too low, though, as you might not see the results you need.
If you decide to manage your campaign yourself, you’ll need to choose the keywords you want to associate with your advert. Your PPC keywords will require careful thought, planning and regular tweaking, to get the best return on investment.
Will paying someone to manage my PPC campaign save me money?
If you use a fully managed search marketing service, they’ll usually handle all aspects of your PPC campaign for you. An experienced search engine marketing team will be able to advise you on:
- the best value keywords
- the most effective wording to use in your adverts
- how to create effective ‘landing pages’ (the page on your website that the person who clicks on your advert will be taken to)
This could work out to be cost-effective, as you’ll increase your overall chances of converting visitors into sales. Of course, you need to monitor results to make sure you’re getting value for money.
