ASER home > SEM Services > PPC

What is Pay-per-Click (PPC)?

Pay-per-Click (PPC): Sponsored Listings for Immediate Visibility!

These days, more people than ever are using the Internet to research products before they buy. Also, Internet users are becoming serious about the amount of time that they spend online, tending to be more focused and on purpose. Many users bookmark their favorite websites so they can access the information later without having to search for it again. When people want a solution for their problem, such as a health issue or where to take a vacation, they often search online for the answers. This is why it’s imperative for you to put your product or service in front of them whenever you can.

Sponsored listings from PPC campaigns can be found at the top of, right and bottom of organic listings in most search engines and will provide instant visibility when you are not ranking organically, or additional visibility if you are. They appear in the form of ads that tout products and services and are typically governed by a bid program. Advertisers set their max bid and of course hope to pay less; and sometimes they do.

Setting up a PPC campaign is simple and can grow into a complex management challenge depending on the competitiveness of the keywords and keyphrases chosen. Ads appear rather quickly and can provide that much needed traffic while waiting for organic listings to gain visibility.

You are a candidate for pay-per-click campaigns if:

• Your website is not "search engine friendly".
• Your website is built in Flash or Frames and you just don't want to change it.
• Your editing interface does not allow you to make important changes to important sections of your pages.
• You want immediate exposure.
• You want more exposure than you have pages to optimize on your site.
• You are ranking organically and want to "dominate" more space on the first page of the SERPs.

Although others exist, the top three pay-per-click advertising programs are Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and MSN AdCenter. They are similar and yet different. Of course understanding your target market and where they search will help you determine which program to start with. For more information on some of the differences, listen to an interview with Mary O'Brien, founder of PPC Summits.

Each search engine has structured their program in different ways. Although there may still be some bid for position models where the highest bidder gets the top position, Google set the current standard by taking many factors into consideration and developing a quality score to determine ad placement. Click though rate, maximum bid and even landing page relevance are all taken into consideration.

Running a PPC campaign is also a good way to test keywords and keyphrases for an organic search engine optimization campaign.

Bringing Targeted Traffic to Your Website
Contact me Today for your
Introductory Website Analysis with Consultation and Free Ranking Report
P.O. Box 710891 San Diego, CA 92171-0891 Phone: 858.810.0301 Fax: 509.356.1358

Free Internet Marketing
Talk Show & Podcast!