PPC When To Use It?

PPC When To Use It?
By Vickie J. Scnalon

As everyone knows, PPC can be expensive if you do not do your research on how it works, how much it costs (versus how much you can afford to spend) and if it will benefit your website. If you do your research and prepare to use PPC it can be useful in the short term.

The Last Blog entry I discussed, covered the long-term benefits of SEO, this week's blog entry I'll discuss the short-term benefits of PPC for your website. But let's first begin with the definition, for those new to PPC.


PPC -what is it?

PPC is pay-per-click advertising. You pay the search engines for showing your ads on their search and content networks. The price is driven by: price per keyword and the price you want to pay on a daily basis. You set both, the daily budget and the price per click for your ads campaign. The success of your campaign will be, obviously, how many sales you make against the price you paid for the ads. So what are the benefits and drawbacks of PPC?


Benefits of PPC
Pay-Per-Click advertising does have it's benefits.

• Immediate exposure and sales if you find the right keyword combination and you construct the right ad that will give you the conversion you need.
• You can experiment with more than one ad and keyword combination. You are not limited by the number of keywords that you use.
• Keywords are more targeted to your web page/website
• Gives you traffic in the short term. If you are a new site this can help give your website quicker exposure on the Internet.
• Great for seasonal items or time sensitive promotions
• Great for feedback. (Translated-if your ads do not spark a click, you have a problem with your landing page, keywords, or ad(s)
• PPC is more goal driven. You can manipulate keywords and ads to help drive conversions
  

Drawbacks of PPC

Yes, there are drawbacks to Pay-per-click advertising. I know, I'm hearing the groaning now. But it's better to be aware, than to jump blindly into the PPC pool.

• PPC can continue only as long as your budget holds up
• PPC does not go across all search engines- it only hits the search engine that you are paying to show your ads
• Your PPC success is limited by your PPC knowledge
• If you don't know what you are doing, you can quickly lose your budget for the full year.

As you can see, PPC is a great way to get targeted traffic to your site in the short term. However, the major drawback is the price you have to pay to get that targeted traffic. If you want to try your hand with PPC, I'd suggest learning some of the ins and out of Pay-Per-Click Advertising, especially if you're on a tight budget.

If you want more information about PPC then check out my review of Definitive Guide To Google Adwords by Guru Perry Marshall.
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Content-SEO-SEM-Target Market -How Do They Relate

Content has been said to be king. But many don't know, or have a complete picture of how it can relate to SEO and SEM and thus, your target market.

If you write your content correctly for your niche you will reach your targeted market. And isn't that the direction that you want to go. As with anything you must keep the quality of your content in mind-or lose visitors and return visitors for that matter. There are some people that say they put out 50+ articles a month. That's great, but I wonder how many of those writers -- may have below par writing and low readership? However, if you can crank out quality articles at 50 a month -- I applaud you, and keep up the good work. If not, it might be to your benefit to cut back a bit and go for quality.

Anyway, here is an article that I have written, just to give you a total picture of the marketing process between SEO,SEM, Content and your target market. It's called: "Content-SEO-Target Market-What Comes First?".


Content-SEO-SEM-Target Market-What Comes First?
By Vickie J. Scanlon

Content, SEO, SEM, Target Market -- What comes first? I would say content. Even though many say that content is King on the Internet, many may not realize the interrelationship of content to SEO, SEM and your target market. How does content influence your target market and the search engines? Let's see how it translates into your website health and success.


Content and SEO

First, left's define SEO. Search Engine Optimization is the process of designing a webpage/website so that the search engines can easily find you. The process of optimizing your page or website is through the placement of chosen keywords within your content --(your text copy), as well as, within your meta tags.

When you choose your keywords, and weave them expertly within your content -- without sacrificing readability or interest, you will have created a quality, optimized page for search engines and for your target market. If the content is useless or not of quality, expect a quick click away from your site.

If you are a newbie, it is important that you have quality content just to make the search engines take notice of your site and to begin indexing you. And if you've been online for awhile, quality content is essential to your website continued success-SEO speaking. If the quality of your content begins to slip you will see lost revenue, lower page ranking, and fewer clicks on your website. Ouch!

Content and SEM

SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is the submitting, researching and positioning of your website within the search engines to maximize your website to the masses. This includes, PPC (pay-per-click), paid listings and search engine submissions to increase your website's exposure for all to see.

Where does content come into play with SEM. Google has stricter rules for it's PPC -and landing page criteria. Landing pages must have keywords that are relevant to the PPC ad they are using. If your landing page does not have the relevant keywords associated with your ad, you may be finding that you are paying more for a keyword than others. If you don't realize it, let me tell you --you have just been penalized.



Quality Content and your Target Market

So what is quality content? Quality content should be interesting, relevant and useful to your target market. And yes, if the quality of your content is useful, people will come. Without it, people will leave and search elsewhere for the content they seek.

Quality Content will also lead to websites linking to your site. If the websites are relevant or complimentary to your website, you can see an increased importance of your site with the search engines. And yes, that translates in a higher page rankings and better positioning in the search engines.

To conclude, even though the Internet is evolving - Social Bookmarking, YouTube, MySpace-- they still require one thing - Content. Content-be it written,audio or video- content must come first. For with it, it will give you the targeted traffic that you need to prosper on the Internet.


About The Author:
Vickie J Scanlon -- Visit her site at: My Affiliate Place for tools, how to info of SEO and marketing/internet marketing, tech accessories, software and computers -- all geared to help the affiliate/small businessperson online.
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