So, you want to know about Pay Per Click (PPC), huh? Well, buckle up, because this is going to be one bumpy ride.
While PPC itself is a rabbit hole of information and guidelines, it gets a bad rap. PPC – specifically Google AdWords – is when you pay Google to show your ads in searches.
Even if you understand it, the various nuances of it all can make your head spin. In this blog, we’re going to talk about what PPC is and the three biggest misconceptions. Now, if you’re reading this and saying, “I don’t even know what any of this is. I am so confused.” Great, you’re in the right place!
If you’re thinking, “PPC won’t benefit me or my business!” You. Are. Wrong. …but wrong in the right way, because you’re in the right place to learn all about PPC.
(And, of course, if you already have an agency running your PPC campaigns, or do it yourself, you’re still going to learn something new.)
Let’s get into it.
WHAT IS PPC?
Like we said earlier, PPC is when you pay Google to show your ads. It has nothing to do with creating content or anything. It is what it says: you create an ad, Google puts it in the search for that term, every time someone clicks on it you pay. You’re paying per click. Let’s use an example of “tiny horses.” You want to start a PPC campaign for that keyword because, after doing research, you’ve found that customers in your industry are searching for those keywords. You start a PPC campaign. Let’s say you put $100 on the keyword “tiny horses.” Google will look at how much you’re bidding, compared to what everyone else is bidding, and then the quality of your site and content. This determines your ranking in the upcoming bidding war.
Let’s use an example of “tiny horses.”
You want to start a PPC campaign for that keyword because, after doing research, you’ve found that customers in your industry are searching for those keywords. You start a PPC campaign and put $100 on the keyword “tiny horses.” Google will look at how much you’re bidding, compared to what everyone else is bidding, and then the quality of your site and content. This determines your ranking in the upcoming bidding war.
FIRST OFF, SURPRISE! WHOEVER BIDS THE HIGHEST WINS.
The price of the keyword depends on how popular it is. “Tiny blue horses raised in Oklahoma,” will cost less to bid on than just “tiny horses,” because it is known as a long tail keyword.
Simply put: if your keyword is popular, you’re going to be competing with more people.
Google will let you know that if you want to be considered, you need to pay a little more to play.
So, let’s assume you win.
Let’s also assume “tiny horses” isn’t extremely popular.
Let’s also say you want to run this every day for a week.
Okay. Google will now put your ad on the first page of searching for those keywords. When this happens, Google will (essentially) say, “We’ll put this here for free, but every time someone clicks it, we’ll take $15 out of that $100.” Now if you don’t want to waste all your money in a week you can tell Google to stop showing your ad after a certain number of clicks. This can prevent you from wasting money and being able to pull out of a campaign that isn’t producing results.
3 COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT PPC
1. PPC ≠ SEO
Sure, if you’d like to start bidding on “burgers,” you’re going to be competing with places like McDonald’s and Burger King. So, you have to ask yourself: do you have the budget to keep up with brands like that? Probably not.
The good thing about PPC is you can limit the amount you “pay” Google for every click. You can make $100 last an entire week or just a day. It’s up to you and your keyword. If you have a common keyword, you’re going to have to pay more to show up more.
So, while PPC can be expensive, there are tools put in place to make sure you don’t accidentally spend $1,000 in a day trying to rank for “burgers” just to have one person click it.
2. PPC IS NOT EXPENSIVE
If you don’t know what SEO is then let’s bring you up to speed: it’s similar to PPC, but slower, free, and organic.
SEO isn’t so much a program as it is a long-term plan for how to produce content. You can start pumping out content that’s centered around “tiny horses,” such as blogs about “how to train your tiny horse,” or, “the best tiny horses.” You can also start putting this keyword in your site pages and in the backend.
Over time, you will start to show up in the search for “tiny horses” because Google is recognizing that you’re producing content related to those keywords.
Over time, you are OPTIMIZING your content to show up in SEARCH ENGINES.
SEO takes a lot longer than PPC but results in the production of valuable, shareable, and credible content. Based on Google’s ranking system, the more invaluable you become to your customers and industry, the higher you’re going to rank.
3. PPC WILL HELP YOU (NO MATTER WHAT)
PPC is helpful for anyone and any business.
Google says it on the landing page of AdWords: “Be seen by customers at the very moment that they’re searching on Google for the things you offer. And only pay when they click to visit your website or call.” This is self-explanatory, but PPC lets you figure out what people are looking for and then lets you be seen by those people.
It’s a very specific way of advertising, targeting people directly and not spending any money unless you get results, as minuscule as they may be.
PPC is helpful for anyone and any business. Google says it on the landing page of AdWords: “Be seen by customers at the very moment that they’re searching on Google for the things you offer. And only pay when they click to visit your website or call.” This is self-explanatory, but PPC lets you figure out what people are looking for and then lets you be seen by those people. It’s a very specific way of advertising, targeting people directly and not spending any money unless you get results, as minuscule as they may be.
TO WRAP UP
The biggest misconception about PPC is that it’s unapproachable.
There are rules and strategies in the way you budget, produce content, get ranked by Google, etc. Because of these rules, a lot of people don’t approach PPC. Most people are intimidated or have this preconceived notion of how it has to be done. Most people will just back away and get someone else to handle it. This is good, as it’s always a good idea to let experts do what they’re experts at.
However, the complexity of PPC is known by many, so the opportunity for an agency to waste your money or your time is always out there.
PPC can greatly benefit a business, providing results from the most specific of audiences. It can help bring a company into the light, putting eyes on them by prospects.
Just like anything unknown, it is scary at first. From afar PPC, SEO, AdWords and so on may seem like a giant mountain of terror. However, the closer you get, and the more you learn, the more that mountain turns into an ant hill.
