How PPC Marketing Works
There is a big difference between pay
per click marketing and SEO. Neither of these sections are intended to
be a complete how to guide, but are designed just to give you a brief
intro into both topics.
What is PPC?
Pay per
click ads usually appear in a colored box on search results pages and
are separated from the regular search results on most major search
engines and portals. Some portals (such as Ask Jeeves and AOL) are not
clearly separating the ads from the regular search results.
Many of the larger PPC networks have many search partners and broad sweeping contextual advertising networks.
Who Owns the Largest PPC Networks?
This
is a rough estimate, but between 10% and 30% of purchases which
originate from search come from pay per click ads. Currently Google
AdWords and Overture are the two largest pay per click search engines.
Risk Involved with PPC?
Pay
per click search engine marketing has no risk involved other than the
money you are spending buying the clicks. This means that you do not
need to worry about your site getting banned from a search engine for
PPC services.
The recurring costs for PPC marketing can be
expensive since you pay for every click. Some competitors may click on
your ads to cost you money (this is more prevalent in high margin
industries). It is important to track your ads and report suspicious
behavior.
How PPC Works
With pay per click
marketing you buy search engine traffic based on relevant keywords
bought in an auction model. (Some smaller pay per click engines charge
by category.) You pay for every click so targeting is important. You can
view Overture click costs for your primary keyword phrases using the
Overture view bid tool. Google hides bid prices and factors ad
clickthrough rate into click cost.
