10 things you didn't know about PPC

Pay Per Click is as essential to any online marketing campaign as SEO and content marketing, as a cost effective and very measurable way of getting your products and services in front of customers you can't find any other way, at the exact time when they are in the buying process.

Here are 10 things you probably didn’t know about the world of PPC:

1. Mobile is the biggest place where people are likely to click on ads

It’s vital that your PPC ads are designed to work on mobile as this is a huge and growing market. If your ad hasn’t been optimised you will be missing out. Make sure the design not only fits on a mobile screen but that your “call to action” buttons are clickable with one finger. You can also create “call me” buttons for phones, where the user just has to click on the button to automatically connect with you. Make the best use of this medium when planning a PPC campaign.

2. Remarketing works to increase conversion

Remarketing ads (where what you searched for, continues to appear on other pages after you searched for it) have been proven to increase conversion rates over time. They are a great way to keep pushing your brand and to serve as a reminder to the customer that they have visited your site once before, so why not take another look.

3. Half of those who click, still want to call

In B2B in particular, a lot of the people who click on an ad will still want to speak to you as well, so make sure you feature your company phone number in the campaign, or use the “click to call” button which works particularly well if people come across your ad while on their mobile phone.

4. The higher your click through rate, the lower the cost

If your ad is receiving a high rate of click-throughs, your overall cost per click will be lower and your ad will be seen as high quality by the online host, improving your reputation going forward and making it more likely for your ad campaigns to be accepted.

5. You need to track the calls as well as the clicks

It’s important to track not only the clicks through from a PPC ad, but also the calls, particularly if you have a “click to call” option on the advert. It will make a big difference to the conversion rates potentially if you measure and track both figures. Getting a return on investment relies on a very strong communications thread between your website and your sales process. Even when it's automated, it needs people to analyse what's happening. In B2B, ROI is very often reliant on good processes and sales people ensuring conversion of leads.

6. Aim for the top three ad spots on the page to generate the most clicks

Even if your SEO is outstanding, paid for clicks very often out-perform organic clicks, so try to get the top three ad spots on the page in your PPC campaign. If you can then use SEO to get the top three organic searches as well, your brand will be in a pretty unassailable position.

7. Using negative keywords can boost your campaign

Adding negative keywords - i.e. words or phrases that prevent your ad from being triggered, can help to target and refine your audience further, making sure your ads don’t get shown to people who would have no interest in seeing them. This can be an important strategy to increase conversion rates.

8. PPC doesn’t get impacted by algorithm changes

While SEO and content can get adversely affected by algorithm changes and updates from the online platforms like Google or Facebook, a PPC campaign won’t be affected and will continue working for you come what may.

9. Many people can’t tell if they are clicking on an ad

Many people using Google and other platforms aren’t very good at telling the difference between a paid for ad and organic search results so while it is easy to assume people don’t click on the adverts, that’s just not the case. And as Search Ads become more and more sophisticated, even those that do know the difference, are caring less about what's an ad and what's organic, as long as it takes us where we want to go.

10. PPC can be carried out on a small advertising budget

With PPC you can advertise no matter how small your budget might be and it’s also very easy to scale the spending up and down as you need to.

PPC is not just carried out on platforms like Google and Bing. Social media channels are also a great place to get your message out to the market. Based on your target audience, one or multiple platforms might be utilised as part of a paid social strategy.

It's important to factor in that someone needs to set up and run your campaign, so remember this when budgeting, whether you use an outside agency or sub contractor, or a paid employee.

How can LCM help?

Here at LCM we offer PPC services across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr. So whether it’s advertising to promote brand awareness, drive conversions or recruit new members to your team, get in touch with us at LCM and we will be happy to talk through what you are trying to achieve.