Almost every website uses ads as a form of monetization. These ads are often paid per click ads that earn the webmaster money every time their visitors click on them. As a webmaster, you and your website can also benefit by creating these ads and allowing other websites, as well as search engines, to display your ads. This process is called pay per click advertising.
What is Pay Per Click Advertising?
When you create an ad, you normally pay a set price to have it displayed on other people’s websites. For instance, it may cost you $50/month to advertise on one popular website.
With pay per click advertising, you create an ad and pay a certain price only when someone clicks on the ad. In addition, your ad is not just shown on one website. It has the potential to be shown on many different websites.
Your ad can also be displayed around the search engine results, depending on what service you advertise with. For instance, if you use Google AdWords to display your ad, then you can appear in the search results on Google.
In short, you can display your ad to a much wider audience using pay per click advertising than if you utilize one static ad.
How Does Pay Per Click Advertising Work?
Unlike regular ads, pay per click advertising costs you money every time someone clicks on your ad. When you create your ad, you determine how much money you are willing to pay for someone’s click.
Your ad is displayed around relevant keywords. The keywords you choose will determine how much you have to pay per click, and the price you choose to pay for one click will also determine how often your ads are shown. People who are willing to pay more per click will have their ads shown first because they take priority over other ads.
Most of the time, you will be paying under a dollar per click; however, some popular keywords, that are highly competitive, could cost you a few dollars per click. It all depends on the popularity of the keyword and the competition for that keyword.
For instance, if you create an ad based around a popular keyword such as ‘lose weight’, then there is going to be a lot more competition for ad placement than some less popular keywords.
That means that you will have to pay more per click if you want your ads to appear higher in the search results, and your competition will determine how much that price will be by the amount that they are willing to pay per click. You will have to beat their top amount if you want your ad to appear above theirs.
How Does Pay Per Click Ads Generate Traffic For Your Website?
Pay per click advertising can be very beneficial for you and your website. There are a few different ways that it is well worth the money.
First, you can steal the competitions traffic. Your competition is likely to use a pay per click form of advertising, such as Google AdWords, to monetize their website. In fact, very few websites do not use this form of advertising. If your ads appear on your competitions website, and the reader clicks on your ad, then you have the potential to impress that reader and steal their business from your competition.
Second, you will be put in front of a huge audience. Not only do you appear on your competitions websites, but you also appear in the search engines where people are actively looking for the information or products you are providing.
Lastly, the return on investment has huge potential. Even if you pay over a dollar for someone to click on your ad, you can end up turning him or her into long-term readers or customers. You have the potential to make much more money from them than it cost you to get them to your website.
Organic Search vs PPC Search Marketing Results
When you invest in pay per click advertising, you appear in the search results and receive visitors that are interested in your ads and the information promised in your ads. After that, it is up to you to pull the visitors into your website because they may not see your ads again.
However, when you appear on the same page as those ads in the natural search results, you can get targeted visitors who are interested in your content without it costing you a penny. In addition, if they come back to that list of results, you are guaranteed to have them see your website in their natural search engine results again.
This is why onsite and offsite SEO is so important in any website. It can help you appear alongside the ads in search engines and help you to get noticed by a larger audience.
Is Pay Per Click Advertising Worth It?
Yes. There is no other form of advertising, besides organic search results, that reaches such a large audience. Especially if you use a popular pay per click service such as Google AdWords. In addition, you receive targeted visitors who are interested in what your ad is offering. As long as you direct your visitors to relevant information, the chances of you gaining a reader or making a sale are huge.