The growth of the internet and its penetration into the everyday lives of people around the world has made it a growing marketing channel. And since search engines are used by most to find information on the internet, search engine marketing or SEM has emerged as among the most targeted, measurable and effective channels of marketing your business online. From ecommerce to social networking, and blogging to publishing, it has emerged as the most preferred means for websites to increase visibility in the online world.
There are various ways to advertise your business online. For marketing in search engines, SEO and PPC (pay per click) advertising are two of the most powerful channels. This article provides an overview of pay per click advertising, its uses, limitations and more.
Uses of SEM and Pay Per Click Advertising
• PPC is targeted: Lets you decide on the geography, time and user segment to advertise to
• PPC is measurable: You can see which ads worked, which didn't, and refine your campaign based on this information
• Get eyeballs: PPC helps you increase the visibility of the website in search engines, and by extension helps you popularize it in the industry
• Quick results: With PPC, there is hardly a time lag between starting your campaign and getting visitors, generating leads, sales and business growth
Advantages
The growth of competition has made it essential for businesses to advertise and market their businesses online. When you have a good PPC campaign, there are many advantages it lends to your business. These include:
• Since PPC ads appear at the top of search results, chances of someone clicking on them and visiting your website are high
• If a company is willing to spend money on a PPC campaign, the perception of reliability increase
• It also helps you establish credibility and seriousness if you manage your campaign intelligently
• It is among the most potent channels of building awareness about your business
• Even a short PPC campaign can generate noticeable results quickly
• PPC allows you to decide where you want to advertise (down to a city), what time of the day, to which target groups, etc. This gives you a high degree of control over who sees your advertising and minimizes advertising wastage
Drawbacks
While it is an extremely powerful online marketing channel, PPC has certain limitations and drawbacks. These include:
• For the first time advertiser, starting a PPC campaign can be confusing and you may end up spending on ineffective advertising initially
• If your campaign does not immediately result in an increase in sales, then PPC can prove to be an expensive marketing channel, especially for someone with small advertising budgets
• Depending on your strategy and its effectiveness, PPC can result in wasted money if it doesn't get the desired results
• Where to place your ads can be a daunting decision at times
• Unless you outsource, managing and optimizing the PPC campaign can be time consuming
In spite of its disadvantages, PPC cannot be discounted. It continues to be a very important element of marketing and you should consider some PPC advertising while developing your marketing strategy. The more you read about online marketing, practice and refine your campaign, it will help you improve your quality score with search engines, bring down advertising costs and improve the success rate of your campaigns.
Yet another powerful search engine marketing channel is SEO. With SEO, you do not pay a search engine for every visitor to your website. This can often make it a very cost effective marketing channel as compared to PPC. You can even consider partnering with a cheap SEO services company to get your online marketing started and build on your SEO successes by complimenting the efforts through targeted PPC campaigns.
There is no formula for online marketing success. There is no right or wrong marketing strategy. What works for one business may not for another. This is where working with specialists can be helpful. You can learn from the experience of an agency and minimize errors. Especially for first time advertisers, it is wise to consider working with a good online marketing partner to kick start your online marketing, SEO and PPC campaigns.
