Pay Per Click! What Is It?
August 25th, 2008Pay Per Click advertising is placing ads for products or services on search engines and on content sites across the Internet. They are typically the first results presented following a search query. Payment is made when users clicks through to the web site from the search engine link. Link position on a results page is normally set by what’s called a quality score. The quality score is made up of your click-through rate, and the bid price the advertiser is willing to bid. It is what ultimately determines your position in the search listings after a search query.
Prior to GoTo.Com first using the pay per click model it was very difficult, if not impossible, for new advertisers to get to the top of the search results on major search engines. Since that time it has quickly evolved into the media of choice for many, many savvy online entrepreneurs. Instead of having to spend all of one’s time trying to figure out search engine algorithms and the like, Advertisers could now focus on buying the keyword traffic they need to succeed online.
The debate rages on about the viability of pay per click campaigns. Many companies feel is all they need to do is set up a pay per click campaign and that’s it. They mistakenly believe that just getting customers to their website is the ultimate goal. Nothing could be further from the truth. Getting prospects to the website is just the beginning of the selling process not the end. When advertisers understand this basic concept then they look at pay-per-click with a new appreciation.
Here’s why. Everybody wins. Customers can easily find and purchase the products and services they need. Advertisers thrive. The search engines get paid.
Presently Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing and Microsoft Ad Center are the most popular search engines offering the Pay-Per-Click model. Even though it’s similar the submission process differs with each search engine. Unless an advertiser is experienced in dealing with the nuances of each engine, it is probably wise to outsource the submission and maintenance to a third party firm.
By paying for search engine traffic advertisers can make sure that the product or service gets listed and is made available to the market . Moreover, it is a total misconception that there won’t be any marketing costs in models like SEO. The amount of money spent in optimizing your keywords, creating in-bound links, understanding and applying the correct keyword density and designing a site that still converts at a reasonable roi might just overshoot what one would have paid to the search engine in exchange for sure visibility!
The best feature about Pay-Per-Click for some advertisers is that it’s fast. It’s tailor made for advertisers seeking quick results. If you sell seasonal products like chocolates, greeting cards and other gifts which become hot selling items during festive season of Christmas. A PPC model assures the advertiser his products or services can be found by the consumer in time to take advantage of the season.