So what is PPC?

PPC stands for Pay-Per-Click advertising. Simply put, PPC is the process of paying search engines to include your website in their Search Results.

How does PPC work?

All major search engines like Google.com, Yahoo.com, Bing.com, Ask.com and many of the smaller search engines offer Pay-Per-Click advertising.

PPC is available to any advertiser and creating a PPC campaign is a simple as opening an account with these search engines and following these steps*

1) Create a Campaign Name

2) Create an Ad Group

3) Create an Ad

4) Select the Keywords you want to Bid on

5) Select a Geographic Target Area (i.e. Local, Statewide, Nationwide, Worldwide)

6) Set your Budget

7) Go Live!

*these steps may vary from search engine to search engine.

So is it really that Simple?

The answer really depends on how much time and patience you have. Oh, and research skills are very important as well.

You can lose a lot of money if you do not know how to play the PPC game. On the contrary, you can make good money if you master the art of Pay-Per-Click advertising or you hire the right firm to handle your Campaign for you.

The Art of PPC.

Pay-Per-Click advertising is an art that requires skill. You need to know how to pick the correct geographic areas,  right keywords, ad creation, bid setting, and most importantly monitoring your campaign.

If you have the time, patience and research skills, you can run your own PPC campaign.

Here are some of the things you need to determine for a successful PPC campaign…

Geographic Location – where is your target market located?

The answer to this question depends on where you are located and what you do. If you are an insurance agent in the Santa Clarita Valley, and you are only interested in local business, then you need to select a local geographic market when setting up the Geographic Preferences for your campaign.

On the other hand, if you are a Lawyer licensed to practice law in the State of California, and your practice can easily reach state wide, you might want to select the entire State of California as your Geographic Target Area.

Finally, if you are a web-based shoe sales company, and you can ship to anyone nation or worldwide, you might want to select a larger Geographic Area for your campaign.

The most important thing to remember is that the larger your Geographic Target Area, the more expensive your campaign.  So don’t pic the entire United States for your PPC campaign if you only have a $500 budget per month.

Picking the Right Keywords.

If you have even thought about PPC advertising, you already know that the possibility of keyword combinations is infinite.

For example, let’s take a look at all of the ways one can search for a “Web Designer“

1. Web Design
2. Website Design
3. Web Site Design
4. Web Designer
5. Website Designer
6. Web Site Designer
7. Web Designers
8. Website Designers
9. Web Site Designers
10. Web Developer
11. Website Developer
12. Web Site Developer

I could go on but I think you get the point.

The best advice I can give you when it comes to picking your keywords is…DON’T BE GREEDY! – Especially if you are on a budget.

You don’t need to bid on every keyword possible for your business. Do some research. Learn more about the keywords that your competitors are bidding on. Select the keywords that you think will provide the most return for your investment.

I run a PPC campaign for one of my websites. I only bid on 11 keywords and spend $50 per month. My websites generates anywhere from $1000 to $2500 in business per month.

It is not the quantity of the keywords that will make your campaign a success but the quality.

It is getting late and I am getting tired. However, if you found this topic useful, and want to learn more, check Fresh Element‘s Blog out more often. I promise you that Part II of this topic will follow shortly.

In Part II, I will talk about the type of keywords and introduce Phrases (i.e. web designers in Santa Clarita). I will also write about creating your Ad copy, setting your Bids, and Monitoring your Campaign Performance.

Thanks for reading!