We’re sure you've seen these types of ads before. In most cases when we search for something on Google (or Bing) a few ads will appear above the organic results on the page. These ads have been paid for by businesses who are after yours. Pay per click advertising therefore is a type of marketing that allows companies to bid for their ad to land at the top of the first page of Google when people search for a term related to their business. Whenever someone clicks on that ad (or views it through the display network) the company will pay for that click.
That’s why it’s called “pay-per-click”
There are three main types of PPC ads; Search Ads, Display Ads and Shopping Ads and these all perform different jobs for a business. Whether you’re a plumber, a retail store owner or a paintball arena owner you’ll use these ads differently to reach your target audience and convince them that you are the best of the best and they should buy from you.
So how does pay per click advertising work? (This is where it is worth having a professional on your side)
We’ve seen so many customers blowing large sums of money to land on the front page of Google by using the wrong keywords and targeting strategy, or by not understanding the process of an Ad Auction. It’s very easy to set up your own Google campaign, but if you don’t set it up the right way then it can be a big waste of money and time for your business. When bidding for your ad to land on the front page of Google you go through a process called the “Ad Auction”. This is where the quality of your ad and your bid amount will determine whether you end up first, third, or on the fifth page of Google.
And you know what they say, if you want to hide a body, put it on the second page of Google.
Google Ad Auctions aren’t like normal auctions where if you bid more and you’ll win. You must make sure a variety of factors such as a great landing page, correct wording, relevant keywords and more are all structured in a way that ensures you get Google’s tick of approval.
That’s why it’s worth using a pro.
What are the advantages of pay per click advertising?
There are so many advantages to using Google Ads that you’ll be busting to set up your account by the end of this article!
If you come from the era of using the Yellow Pages to market your company you would be used to paying vast sums of money trying to occupy the best real estate in the book and even if you were questioning every single customer how they found your business you still wouldn’t know if it actually gave you a positive return on investment. That’s where Google Ads come in.
Firstly, you spend a lot less than you would on Yellow Pages ads (even with $100 daily budgets you’d still be paying less than a full page ad for the whole year) and you could tell whether or not your customers actually came off your ads. Google can track how many calls you received, how many people clicked on your ads, even how many conversions you made through your website so you can properly calculate your return on investment. Now that’s amazing!
You can test multiple ads against one another to see which performs the best, making sure you’re only paying for the most successful ads and you can even see how you are performing compared to your competitors with a tab called “Auction Insights”.
You can specifically target customers who are interested in your products or services by language, age, gender, specific interests, the actual search terms they use, location (down to the suburb your customers live in), whether they use computers more, or tablets, or mobile and even what time of the day they search!
All this power at your fingertips and if you do it well you can even pay less than your competitors.
While you’re waiting for your SEO team to optimize your website so that it can “earn” you customers, you can have Google Ads up and running a lot faster. Bear in mind that it can take time for those ads to start pumping out conversions, but while they’re up and running you will get to build your brand recognition across the Google Network, use the tools previously discussed to gain a greater understanding of your customers and see real time results that you can measure.
With all these features you’ll be miles ahead of your competitors.
But what are the disadvantages?
Everything isn’t always wonderful in the world of Google and it’s worth knowing the disadvantages that can come with Google Ads before you jump right in.
If you don’t set up your ads correctly, target the right customers, use the right keywords or if you bid too high you can drain your budget before you get a chance to say “Bing”. Google Ads campaigns can be technical, and it takes specialists with years of experience in tweaking keywords, budgets, targeting and understanding the numbers that come off your ads to develop a successful campaign. Therefore, it’s worth having a marketing specialist working on your account alongside you.
The second disadvantage is that doing all of this can, and will, take time. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your campaign. If you’re new to Google Ads you will find that this process works in stages; first you’ll build brand recognition, customers will start to know your name, then, they will start to click on your ads to see what your brand is about and once they’re ready to buy and know who you are then you will start to see conversions. You will have to liaise with your marketing team to get a better understanding of how long you might have to wait before you see those happy customers and shiny dollars rolling through the door. But is it worth the wait? Absolutely.
Will it work for my business?
This all comes down to what you are selling, how marketable your brand is what your budget is and what your competitive advantage is. If you provide the same things as the other thousands of businesses out there you will find it hard to cut through the noise. But, if you have decades of experience, if you’ve won awards, if you provide the best price, get the best reviews for your service or even give away something free with your purchase (people LOVE free stuff) then you will find that Google Ads can work for you. It is also worth understanding how competitive your market is. If you’re having to pay $15 for a click and you have a budget of $30 a day then you might find that Google Ads won’t work for you.
Feel free to send us a message or give us a call at Two Moons if you want to know more about Pay-Per Click Advertising and we can help you figure out if it will be an asset for your business.
