New clients often come to us with many questions about pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. It’s not hard to understand why. On the one hand, you can have a new campaign of PPC ads up and running within minutes. But on the other hand, those ads are going to cost you money, and you can watch your budget get eaten up hour by hour.
Additionally, most business owners understand—either from stories or first-hand experience—that PPC ads can lead to fast sales or lots of wasted dollars. So, they may be alternatively excited and apprehensive at the idea of running them.
You may be able to relate to some or all of these situations. In order to help you make good decisions for your company, we are going to share the answers to five frequently asked questions about PPC ads we hear all the time…
1. Are PPC Ads a Waste of Money?
Clients bring this up usually because they know someone who ran PPC ads that weren’t profitable, or went through an unsuccessful trial run themselves.
When they are used correctly, PPC internet ads are incredibly versatile, targeted, and cost-effective. As with anything, they can be a drag on your bottom line. But if accounts and campaigns are set up carefully, the benefits outweigh the costs.
2. Where Should Our PPC Ads Run?
The answer is going to be a little different for every marketer. Generally, you want to run PPC ads where your customers are going to see them, and where it makes sense for your budget.
In many cases, that means placing advertisements on Google and Facebook (the two most popular platforms). However, it might make sense for you to run ads on Bing, YouTube, or elsewhere as results dictate.
3. What’s the Key to PPC Profits?
There are actually two secrets to PPC advertising success. The first is to choose your target audience and message very carefully. You want to narrow down to the exact group of buyers who are most likely to respond to your offers.
The second key is to constantly refine your approach. Study your web analytics to determine what is and isn’t working for you, and then make adjustments as you go.
4. How Much Should We Budget for PPC Advertising?
There isn’t any set answer that will work for every company or situation, of course, but we usually advise our clients to start small and work their way up.
This helps to solve a couple of problems. First, it means you won’t be risking much money as you get your PPC campaigns moving. Secondly, it ensures that you’ll start seeing positive returns before you devote a big chunk of your budget to PPC advertising.
5. How Do We Get Started with PPC Advertising?
Setting up PPC accounts is incredibly simple, but making them profitable isn’t always so straightforward. That’s why we recommend partnering with an experienced creative team who can help you with things like keyword research, ad creation, and account configurations.
Getting expertise on PPC increases your startup costs slightly, but it also makes it far more likely you’ll get positive returns down the road.