Advantages and Disadvantages of PPC
PPC or Pay-per-Click Advertising is one of the best ways to promote your business online. If managed properly it can give excellent results.
What is PPC?
PPC is an abbreviation for Pay-per-Click, it is an online marketing model that involves advertisers paying a fee each time their ads are clicked.
In simple words, it is a method that involves buying visits to your site, rather than trying to earn those visits through organic searches.
How PPC Works?
Google Ads is the most popular pay per click program today. Other websites like Amazon, Bing, also offer a similar type of pay per click marketing campaigns. The advertiser or business has to sign up with the ad program and work out a campaign on a specified budget. Google sets a monthly cap on your advertising budget.
For example, if your set budget is $1,000 then Google will allow the ad to be shown only a number of times in a month based on the set budget and goals. The paid ad will be displayed at the top of the search results when a viewer searches for a similar keyword or product/service. When the user clicks on the ad, the advertiser or the business has to pay Google.
The cost per click is determined by how the marketing campaign is set. Your ad will be reflected in target areas during certain times of the day. The cost per click can range anywhere between $1.00 and $50.00. The average cost per click presently is between $1 and $3.
Like all marketing and advertising practices, there are advantages and disadvantages of PPC too.
Let us understand the advantages and disadvantages of PPC in detail so that you can decide whether to include PPC in your marketing strategy.
Advantages of PPC
- Cost-effective:
The advertiser or business does not have to pay for displaying their ad. PPC advertising is cost effective as the business has to incur the cost only when their ad is clicked and the visitor is routed to their website.
It follows a cost-per-click (CPC) model. The business has control over the spending as they can determine the budget for Google paid search.
- Well Targeted:
PPC advertising is a well-targeted marketing strategy. The ad is displayed on top of the search results only when a user types a specific phrase or keyword relevant to their ad.
The ad with a link to a destination web page is displayed on top of the search results, routing the interested consumer to their website. Users searching for a particular keyword or phrase have higher intent of buying and are good-quality leads.
- Control on spending:
With PPC marketing there is no requirement for minimum spending, a business can set maximum monthly budgets depending on their online campaigns. The business can determine the amount it wants to spend per click on their ad.
- Tracking in real-time:
To determine the success of an online marketing campaign it is important to be able to track whether the right people are being targeted and there is an increase in the inbound traffic.
PPC allows advertisers to track the effectiveness of their ads in real-time. They can get immediate information regarding the performance of the keywords, the amount of traffic being generated, conversions etc.
- Customized:
The advertiser or business has complete control over every aspect of the advertising campaign right from the title, to the ad content, to the URL of the page, etc. The PPC campaign can be customized as per company’s marketing campaign.
- Fast:
PPC marketing listings get posted quickly, usually, it takes only a few days to be displayed in the search results. The impact of PPC marketing is almost immediate.
Comparatively organic search engine optimization (SEO) tactics take months to show some positive impact.
- Branding:
Pay-per-Click marketing tactics play an important role in branding. Even if the users do not click on the ad in the search results, they do notice it and the company name and website. This awareness can be very useful for the launch of products or major campaigns in the future.
Disadvantages of PPC
- Time-consuming:
PPC advertising campaigns require a lot of time and focus. The business or advertiser needs to invest time into optimizing and improving the campaigns on a regular basis to get the best results. PPC marketing is not a one-time effort, it requires regular monitoring and updating.
- Skills required:
Setting up effective PPC campaigns is not simple. It requires skills and knowledge about online marketing and how to run online ad campaigns. Most businesses have to hire specialized agencies who offer PPC services.
- Costs can grow:
PPC advertising is appealing as it is able to create exposure and conversion for a low cost, however, it can backfire on the budget if the campaign is not monitored well.
If the campaign is not monitored and optimized on a regular basis, there are high chances that costs would go up resulting in a less ROI.
One of the most common ways where a company ends up overspending on a PPC campaign is when they get caught in a bidding war over keywords with their competitors.
Though the aim of a PPC campaign is to earn the top spot on ad listings, one should not end up spending more than what was budgeted.
- The number of Clicks is not equal to conversions:
The number of times an ad is clicked the business has to pay Google. However not every click gets converted to sales. Once the user reaches the website or landing page, the business needs to convince the user to purchase.
There are many times when some businesses ask their employees or family members will deliberately click on their competitor’s ads to just increase the latter’s expenses.
The number of clicks looks good in terms of statistics and figures, however, if no conversions it is bad for the finances and goals.
After studying the advantages and disadvantages of PPC we can easily say that the advantages heavily outweigh the disadvantages. By investing in a professional PPC agency you can gain the benefits of PPC and improve your conversions.
GSM marketing agency is one of the top PPC Agency in Tucson. We can help our clients to exploit this effective marketing strategy to boost their sales. After thorough research and analysis, our team creates a chain of highly targeted ads that can help in improving the reach of the ads.
Moreover, we also provide our clients with detailed monthly performance reports. We also have regular meetings with our clients and discuss their PPC campaigns and suggest recommendations for future strategies.
