A Pay-Per-Click Advertising Crash Course

Pay Per Click Advertising

Whether you are here to learn Pay Per Click from scratch or to get a few proven tips and tricks on how to improve your existing ppc campaigns, it’s time to venture in to the world of pay per click advertising.

Pay per click marketing or “ppc advertising” seems so easy at first, but many entrepreneurs and marketing people will soon realize that it’s a struggle to achieve a good return on investment.

In this article you will get a proverbial crash course in PPC. I will explain pay per click marketing, give you some do’s and dont’s and you will also find money saving tips and suggestions on how to insure that your pay per click experience goes smoothly.

What Is Pay Per Click?

At the basic level, pay per click is the fastest way to bring ready-to-buy customers to your blog, website, or article. You pay to place your ppc ads high on the results pages of all the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN (Bing) and Ask. PPC advertising is effective because it matches searchers who are looking for what you sell with website pages that are prepared to pitch your products or services.

You should (if you manage your PPC campaigns correctly) see dramatic results in as little a a few days for a fraction of what it costs to place ads in traditional media like magazines, radio and television..

How To Pay Per Click

Marketing your products & services through pay per click is easy:

You develop a list of keywords representing the products or services that you’re selling.
You write targeted ads matching those keywords and upload the ads, keyword lists, and bid prices to the major search engines.
Your ads appear in the sponsored links sections when a potential customer performs a search using those keywords.
Searchers click on your ads and are directed to the most relevant page of your website, where you can captivate them with a great offer and turn them into a paying customer.

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Read on to discover how to pay less, convert more ppc visitors into buyers, and create a profitable marketing channel for your business.

Pay Per Click Search Engines

There are hundreds of Pay Per Click Search Engines that you can buy traffic from: Google, Yahoo, Bing, MIVA & Ask are just five examples. This number is increasing, and it’s becoming more difficult to determine which ones are worth using. That’s where my Top 2 Search Engine list comes in handy. I’ve narrowed down this huge list down to my favorites based on my own experience, ROI, and feedback from other pay per click advertisers.

1. Google Adwords: Google AdWords is the largest and most popular of all the pay per click search engines. In fact, it’s in a class all its own, with an index reaching over 10 billion web pages and 100 different language versions. Google provides great tools to help advertisers, including Google Analytics which is integrated with AdWords to help you discover which keywords perform and which you should cut. Again, Google is the biggest and best for volume, traffic quality and user interface.

However, it’s also the most expensive.

2. Ask Sponsored Listings: Businesses large and small are aggressively looking for ways to bring more customers cheaper to their site. Ask Sponsored Listings (ASL) is a great way to reach qualified consumers for less per click. You can attract quality traffic through ASL’s network which is comprised of over 100 search sites, meta search sites, portals, lifestyle, technology, travel and business sites. Some examples of these properties include sites such as Ask.com, Excite, evite, Match.com and Gifts.com.

A Pay Per Click Marketing Secret

Ask Sponsored Listings is a great resource for businesses and entrepreneurs looking to either start their paid search campaigns or to augment their existing ones. Ask Sponsored Listings is currently offering all new customers a 100% FREE account set up and assistance (note: Yahoo charges $200 for this service and Google doesn’t offer it at all) + a $50 credit towards your campaign!

Pay Per Click Management

Successful pay-per-click campaigns offer amazing returns and brand-building opportunities. But every ppc campaign needs careful management. Close attention should be paid to changing markets, bid wars get very heated and it pays to keep advert copy constantly adjusting. It takes time, and a whole lot of tracking to get it right.

Pay per click however, has the best tracking capability of any form of marketing today. With most integrated reporting systems (paid & free), you can see information for all the major search engine PPC programs, track where your visitors are coming from, what they do once they get to your site, and which visits convert into actual sales.

Then it’s up to you to turn around and do the most responsible thing you can with the data: make your pay per click campaign even more efficient.

Executing PPC Campaigns

Pay per click is a simple idea, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to execute. A successful campaign requires constant keyword management, keyword selection, ad placement and scheduling, bid management, and more. So either quickly learn ppc management yourself or leave the pay per click management to specialists. PPC specialists take the guesswork out of PPC so you can focus on what really matters: running your business. Whether you’re a local retailer or a national advertiser, specialits will create and implement a successful PPC campaign for your business.

Are you running a “real” brick & mortar store? No worries. Manage your pay per click campaign well & it won’t be long before the customers are knocking at your door!

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