Exposure is important for businesses of any size, but especially for smaller companies that are trying to find their footing in a world dominated by large corporations with the resources to utilize advertising and media to their full potential. This much is obvious: exposure is necessary to gain and keep clientele, regardless of the niche.
With exposure at such a premium, this question arises: how do you capitalize on the attention you’re getting? One answer lies in pay-per-click. What is pay-per-click and how can it help your business grow and succeed? We’ll discuss that and more as we proceed.
What is Pay-Per-Click?
The name is enticing, isn’t it? Pay-per-click…it sounds like a mystical loophole in the Internet world where you can sit behind a screen, click repeatedly, and earn unlimited money. Unfortunately, this isn’t exactly how it works.
Pay-per-click means you will be spending money to get noticed, but the reward for that investment is generally worth it. Essentially, you sponsor an advertisement that will appear on a search engine page—like Google—or even another webpage related to your business.
Each time someone clicks on your ad, you will pay the search engine a fee, but that search engine is ensuring you reach your audience.
I Want to Make Money, Not Spend it!
While the age-old idea of spending money to make money does not often apply on the Vegas Strip, it does with advertising. With pay-per-click, you will be paying a search engine provider each time your ad is clicked, but consider this: if a click costs you $5 but results in a $200 sale, your investment has paid off handsomely.
Pay-per-click is like renting a billboard, but instead of an address or phone number, pay-per-click provides a direct route from an advertisement to your website or online store. Pay-per-click is instant and can be targeted much more accurately.
How Do I Maximize My Pay-Per-Click Effectiveness?
Let’s talk about billboards again. Most billboards are located on highways and interstates to maximize exposure, but this comes with a downside: length of exposure. In other words, more people will see a billboard on a well-traveled route (impressions), but only for a few seconds as they drive by at 70 mph (or faster). Further, there is a competing billboard every 100 yards! Last, we see a lot of things every day, but did we really care or notice further than it crossing our line of sight? Ask yourself what billboards you saw today or any day.
So, what do effective billboards do? They catch the eye and the attention; they are bold and interesting, but the information is succinct and direct. Also, they intrigue and inform by standing out from the crowd.
Your pay-per-click ad should function the same way. With a Google search returning millions of results, your ad must stand out and intrigue someone enough to inspire them to click on it. The best way to do this is by utilizing relevant, purposeful, and thorough keywords. Your pay-per-click expert will help you dial this in.
How Do I Choose My Keywords?
The first and most important way to filter your keywords is by relevance. Paying for an ad to appear on a search that has nothing to do with your business is wasteful and inefficient, and it’ll cost you if it’s clicked. If you sell lollipops and your ad turns up on a search for pool filters, you might want to rethink the relevance of your keywords.
Secondly, you want to encompass a wide number of keywords. The main words you choose will likely be obvious (and therefore more expensive/competitive), but by including more exact niche words, you can maximize your return on investment and ensure you are accounting for specific searches.
Lastly, you want to focus on being thorough. This comes down to persistence and management. Your keywords should constantly evolve to keep up with market trends and refine into a more productive list. Utilizing pay-per-click is not a set-it-and-forget-it strategy. Rather, it requires constant attention and revision. Again, a pay-per-click expert will help.
How Do I Get Started?
Internet marketing is a confusing world for most people. The majority of business owners know their trade; the digital marketing is a necessity to get people in the door or onto the website. The knowledge is seemingly infinite, and navigating such a complex world can be difficult or seemingly impossible to those who’re inexperienced or going into it alone. The best thing to do is to research how the bidding process with search engines work. You can start by checking out this great Google-specific resource.
Another route is to get in touch with a business that specializes in digital marketing and allow them to guide you. Many of these businesses focus on leveling the playing field between small business and those with seemingly endless resources (likely those buying billboards).
Developing a relationship with a team that has your best interests in mind may be the key to breaking through in the world of digital marketing.