Search engine marketing - Contextual advertising (Pay Per Click)

PPC on SERPs

It isn't easy to be on the firs page of a natural search but you can ensure you are on the first page by placing adverts with the search engines. All major search engines have a sponsored links section where you can place an advert. When the keywords you nominate are used in a search, your advert is displayed. You only pay the search company when your link is clicked.




Other PPC opportunities

You don't only have to advertise on the search engines result pages. You can chose to have your adverts displayed on the websites of other online publishers. Google has thousands of partners that provide placeholders on their sites for Googles adverts. Google AdSence will find pages to display your advert that are aimed at your target market. For example, you want to advertise your online shop that sells yoga equipment. Google will find sites relevant to that topic where it will display your advert. Maybe a blog or website on meditation, stress relief or health. Your advert wont be shown on a site about panel beating.

Choosing your triggers

Three in four searches use three or less keywords. These key words are often very expensive and not targeted. Longer keywords are searched much less but those who use them have a much better idea of what they are looking for and are much more likely to be interested in what you are offering. Decide whether you would rather bid on keywords short keywords or long-tail keywords. You can also bid on your company name.

Developing a PPC campaign

Heres a step by step overview on developing your own PPC campaign

Research: Collect as much info as you can about your target market. Research your competitors too. Then make a test campaign that will run for a few weeks. Try as many different things (keywords, landing pages, adverts etc.) as you can so you can see what works for future campaigns.

Evaluate: Watch your campaign carefully. Examine your keywords, landing pages, adverts etc. and decide what worked best.

Expand: After evaluating, expand on the elements that were most effective and drop the elements that did not perform. Increase your budget till you hit your targets.

Monitor & Enhance: Monitor your campaign closely. Continually fine tuning and tweak it. Tweak keywords, adverts, the effectiveness of your landing page and your conversion funnels. Make sure you are not wasting money anywhere.