Hi guys, this is my seventh Blog Post about Digital Marketing tools and techniques. I discussed about Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) from my previous blog Post. The second type of Search Engine Marketing(SEM) is Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising. This is called as Paid Advertising on Search Engines or Paid Search Marketing.
Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is the process of attracting visitors or customers to a website by purchasing ad space on search engine result pages. This mainly involves a bidding process on keywords, so that relevant ads are placed on search results pages when users search for those keywords. This is also referred to as CPC (Cost Per Click) or as usual PPC (Pay Per Click) marketing, because most of ads on search engines are sold on a CPC/PPC basis.
When we search a keyword from Google or from other search engines, Google provides search results according to the ranking. In those search results, PPC ads are appeared in the right hand side of the web pages. They are small and very creative. The speciality of PPc ads is, tha company has to only pay for PPC ads when customers click on it. When visitors and customers click on PPC ads, then only companies have to pay to Google or other search engines for PPC ads.In traditional advertising, companies have to pay to deliver a message in to a target group(customers). But, It is not effective since it address non target customers as well. But, in PPC advertising, companies have to pay when someone (a visitor or a customer) engage with your message. By using PPC advertising, we can get some benefits as well. They are as follows.
01. Company's message is delivered to the target group.
02. Highly targetted advertising.
03. Can measure. (Companies can identify or count the visitors or customers who clicked PPC ads.)
How we create PPC ads? We can create PPC ads by using Google Adwords. There are more tools and techniques which can be used to create PPC ads. But, why we use Google Adwords? Because Google is the Sri Lanka's most visited website and over 80% of search happens with Google. So, how do we run an ad on search engine? There are mainly 05 steps when we create an ad. They are as follows.
01. Brief
In here, company has to give a brief of products that company is going to promote from the ad. The brief should include the objective and the budget of the advertising campaign.
02. Create an Adwords Account
Company has to create an Adwords Account to advertise their PPC ads on it. In here, according to the company's budget, Google will decide the frequency of PPC ad. Company can decide whether the PPC ad advertise in to whole world or locally.
03. Keyword Research
As I mentioned early, Keyword research is the key for search ads. In here, companies must search words and phrases which are familiar to real customers. By conducting a keyword research, companies can measure and identify the market size also.
04. Step by step campaign set up
Then companies must set up their PPC advertising campaigns step by step. They have to cope up with their competitors.
05. Key word Match Type
In here, we can identify mainly 04 types of matches. They are as follows.
(a) Exact Match (Only exact match with the keyword).
(b) Phrase Match (Broad Phrases are come related to keyword).
(c) Broad Match (Broader searches are appeared related to each word of keyword).
(d) Negative Match (Opposites are appeared of the keywords).
When we write an effective Ad copy-we have to comply with best practices. Some of them are,
01. Include keywords in your ad copy.
02. There is no room for "creative copy writing".
03. Grab the attention of users within 05 seconds.
04. Stand out in the clutter.
05. Use numbers, prices and special characters.
06. Have a strong "call to action".
In PPC ads, there are Ad Extensions also. In ad extensions, we can identify mainly 04 ad extensions. They are as follows.
(a) Site Links
Apart from the main link,there are site links also. for a example, in Pizza Hut,"pizza store" is the main link. "Order online now, Deals in your area" are site links.
(b) Location Extensions
In here, we can get Maps for an example.
(c) Review Extensions
(d) Call Extensions
For an example, online call a button of Pizza Hut can be got for this.
Finally, I think you have got an idea about what is a PPC ad, How we create PPC ad and procedure to create PPC ad. So, see you from my next Blog Post very soon.
