Unfolding Pay per Click (PPC) Advertising and its Pros & Cons in 2022
When it comes to digital marketing, there are a lot of different techniques and strategies that you can use. One of the most popular is pay per click or paid advertising. This approach involves paying a third party to place ads on their website that link back to your own.
But…
What is pay per click, exactly? How does it work? And is it worth using in 2022? Keep reading for answers to all those questions which can be helpful for your business.
What is Pay per Click Advertising?
You got some hints from the name itself, right?
Yes! Pay per click, paid search, or paid advertising is a form of digital advertising in which you don’t pay the publisher unless or until your ad is clicked by the user (you only pay when your ad is clicked).
To make it more simple, pay per click is pay when clicked.
This advertising model is offered by search engines like Google and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
How does it work?
The most widely used PPC is Google ads, and it involves keywords.
You may have noticed when you Google something like best insurance companies near me, the search engine shows you result based on the keyword ‘insurance’. On top of the result page, you see ads. Those ads are based on keywords.
Therefore, as an advertiser, you must analyze keywords with detail and then use them in your marketing PPC campaign. Otherwise, you may not drive desired traffic on your page or website and similarly lesser number of clicks and conversions. Suppose the keywords are related to competitive niches. In that case, you have to bid high in order to appear on top of your competitor.
For other platforms like Facebook, ads are not based on keywords. But the model is the same (you pay only when your ad is clicked).
For social sites, your ad has to be visually appealing, unique, and compelling enough in this highly competitive environment where daily hundreds of ads are thrown at the users. So, you must be unique in your approach to advertising.
This paid search model is favorable for both parties; advertisers (you) and publishers (Google & Facebook). Publishers get a constant stream of income when you pay them. You got to boost your revenue and sales when the ads convert.
Now, you know what PPC is and how does it work. Let’s dive into its Pros and Cons.
Pros of Pay per Click
Cost-effectiveness is a perk:
Let’s talk about the greatest perk of paid search advertising.
You got to pay only when your desired action (click) is completed. Unlike the traditional advertisement where you have to pay even when your ad is just displayed and not getting clicked. Publishers show your ads to users and when they click them you pay.
In pay per click advertising even if you’re ad is not getting clicked it is still creating awareness for your brand.
And when it comes to budgeting, you’re under complete control. You can set a spending limit and restrict yourself to a certain budget. Moreover, in paid advertising, there is no minimum spending limit. You can spend any amount you want. This comes in handy for small businesses with limited expenditures.
Measure results easily:
When you’re investing your money, you want to see the results and how much ROI you’re getting back. Pay per click advertising makes it possible easily.
The dashboard of PPC provides you with all the necessary data and it is easy to track & measure. Based upon the data you can know what is working and what is not in your campaign. So, you can take significant steps to boost the campaign results.
If you can’t find the problems yourself and feel blanked then you can hire some PPC marketing expert that can help you get the expected results and save your money from being wasted.
Targeted advertising in pay per click is a win:
Can you recall a salesperson at a store who doesn’t understand your problem and shows you a different product/service from what you were looking for?
You didn’t buy anything from them, right?
That same case you can avoid in your campaign by targeted advertising.
Paid search provides you with targeted advertising. You can create a perfectly tailored campaign for a specific type of audience with certain characteristics. You can exactly target those who are looking for your product/service. This can save you from breaking your bank.
To make your campaign effective with targeted advertising you must know the problems & pain points of your audience. You have to understand them. And if you can do so then there are high chances that your campaign is going to be successful.
You get the faster results:
This is another marvelous perk of paid search. You get to see traffic, clicks, and conversions quickly.
Create an account, set up your campaign the right way, and publish it. There you go the results are coming.
Unlike SEO where you have to just put continuous efforts into keyword research and then post content daily based on those keywords, paid search gives a quicker outcome.
Whenever you’re short of time or just want the immediate effect, pay per click will be favorable.
But this comes at a cost that we are going to discuss now.
Cons of Pay per Click
PPC can cost you money without a return:
Say a user comes to your website, scroll through it, and doesn’t find the thing that they’re looking for. This makes it traffic but not a conversion or sale. And you’re charged for a click, not the conversion. A huge number of clicks without any sale is a loss.
Paid advertising does not guarantee a return but the publishers (Google, Facebook) are going to get their cut from you. It is upon you to get the things done expertly.
To avoid any loss, you have to be up to date with the campaign results. If something is not working, figure it out and do the needful.
Paid search becomes even riskier when you’re in a highly competitive niche. You’re charged according to the keywords you’re targeting. Highly competitive keywords will cost you more and still have no guarantee of a sale making it a high-risk investment.
Paid search campaign needs time to keep going:
If you think that after publishing a campaign your work is over then you must correct yourself.
As mentioned earlier that paid search is risky and in order to avoid the risk and keep the clicks and sales coming, the campaign must be maintained.
Keep following up with the campaign results, look for the improvements where needed, enhance ad copy & creatives to get the most out of it.
To make your campaign effective by following it up and making improvements will take your time along with the money. This makes it a drawback of paid advertising.
Nurturing a PPC campaign requires skill:
Managing a pay per click campaign is not easy unless you’re a master at it.
To manage a campaign you must know Google Adwords, making & utilizing a budget, marketing knowledge, and the dashboard of paid search that you are interacting with. All of them require time to learn.
There is a lot of technical things going on that you can’t be familiar with unless you have run campaigns yourself. You need a well-versed experience to conduct an effective campaign.
Apart from managing campaigns, you must know the advertisement policies of the platforms you’re using. If not then there might be some troubles in the future causing your campaign to either pause or even get banned for serious violations.
So, the one managing your campaigns must be skillful enough to handle any difficulty coming along the way.
Consumer psychology is a problem in paid advertising:
What will be your reaction when you’re watching your favorite show and someone knocks at your door to sell you something?
Annoying and you will not buy from them, right?
The same is the case with some paid advertising campaigns.
In these aggressive times of marketing PPC, one person is shown 5000 ads per day. You can imagine how difficult it is to convince the users to buy.
Ads these days have to be unique and very detailedly customer-centered. The words in the ad copy should be the exact words that you’re targeted audience use and the aesthetics of the graphic must be eye-catching.
If there is no unique approach then highly likely you’ll lose money rather earning in return.
That is the truth of digital marketing.
In a nutshell, pay-per-click advertising is a great way to boost your business. It can be cost-effective and you get faster results. However, it’s not as easy as flicking a switch – it takes time and skill to keep your campaign going and make sure you see a return on investment. That’s where Tectanic comes in. We are experts in pay per click advertising and we will help you grow your business using this powerful tool. Contact us today for a free consultation and let us show you how paid search can work for your business.
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