Ben Johnson

What is PPC, and how a PPC campaign could work for you

With platforms like Google Adwords and Facebook Ads, paid advertising on the Internet is now easier and more cost effective than ever. Not sure if a PPC campaign is right for your business (or not sure what a PPC Campaign even is)? Here is a crash course on PPC:

What it means:

PPC merely means \"pay per click\". You, the advertiser, will pay the publisher (like Google adwords) for each person that clicks on your ad.

You might hear other terms, like Pay per Impression (you pay for each view or impression of your ad), Pay per Action (you pay anytime someone performs a specified action, like buying your product or filling out a form). There are different forms of paid advertising, and the costs differs according to the action (Pay per Impression is cheap, Pay per Action is more costly).

How can you do it?

Running an ad campaign is now easier than ever.

Decide what to sell. Let\'s say you want to use Google AdWords. You first need to determine what you want to sell. Single products generally do better in PPC campaigns than trying to market an entire business or set of products.  For example, instead of advertising ApogeeINVENT in a campaign, we select our products, like our CobraCart Ecommerce Software.  This allows us to target our audience, and select keywords, like Ecommerce, Shopping Cart Software, Online Sales, etc.

Determine the Action you\'re purchasing.  Now that you\'ve chosen your product, you need to decide what you want your visitor to do. Buy the product, submit contact information, sign up for a newsletter or special offer, or just view your advertisement. The cost will vary depending on the action, and you will also want to tailor your landing page for the type of action you want.

Let\'s talk landing page. What is it? A landing page is the page your visitor will \"land on\" after clicking on your ad.  The best direct sale landing page is a simple website that typically markets one product. It is created with the single goal of making a conversion. A regular website may have multiple purposes- to represent a company, to have lots of information, and to sell numerous products. A landing page is much more targeted, and focuses on a single product or encouraging a single action.

Set up your campaign. You can determine your budget, what key terms to advertise under, and what audience you want to target. Most publishers of your ads, like Google or Facebook, will recommend a bid amount for the demographic you want to target or the key terms you have selected.  By paying more, you guarantee your ad appears before more people.

It can get more complex, and I recommend learning as much as you can about it.  But don\'t be afraid to try a simple campaign, even if you don\'t fully understand the more in depth aspects of paid advertising.  If you have a good product and a way for people to purchase or contact you about the product, PPC is worth a try!

With a descriptive ad and a well-designed landing page, you could really increase your sales with a paid advertising campaign.

Have questions or more advice? Share them with us!