PPC (Pay-Per-Click)
PPC or Pay-Per-Click is one of the fastest ways to grow awareness about your website and your business online. If you have the budget to run ads it is definitely worth it to obtain some fast traffic for the short term. This form of advertising is not designed to bring in traffic long term, the traffic only lasts as long as the ads are running.
PPC VS SEO
Many wonder which is better PPC or SEO, while they both drive traffic to your site they do it in different ways.
PPC ads act more as a lead generator for your business, placing your message directly in front of your potential customers in hope that they’ll take a specific action. This is a very fast and direct way of advertising, however keep in mind that the cost per lead can cost between $80 to $300 so if your product or service cost less than the cost then the lead then this method may not be worth it for you in the beginning until business picks up.
SEO can be a slower approach to gaining traffic but the results last longer. SEO is more about providing value to your site visitors and the more value you provide the higher you’ll rank in search engines and the higher you rank the more visitors to your site you’ll receive.
There is a way to have both PPC and SEO work together. It is a good practice to start with SEO first before launching your website and if you have the budget for it, at launch start running ads for your site.
How Much Should I Spend On PPC Ads
If you’re planning to run them yourself, anywhere between $300 to $3,000 is a good start for a beginner. If you plan to hire an agency that has all the skills and know-how when it comes to running successful campaigns then you can probably expect to double those numbers.
You should only look into spending money on ads when you’re ready and your budget can afford it. It is believed that you should only spend between 7 to 8 percent of your gross revenue on ads and if 7 to 8 percent of your gross revenue do not match the numbers above it is probably a good idea to hold off on spending any money on PPC (Around $4,300 of Monthly Income).
Never go broke in an attempt to grow your business, always grow responsibly and grow in stages this is the best way. Make sure you have a well outlined, detailed plan and stick to that plan, make adjustments when needed but stay the course to your success.
Is It Difficult To Run My Own Ads
Like everything else in life, not once you get used to it and know what you’re doing, however in the beginning yes it is. As a beginner you will most likely burn through your entire budget without seeing much of a return. More experienced campaign managers understand how to write copy that converts and how to position the ad in front of potential customers that have a genuine interest in what your company has to offer.
If you would like to run your own ads it is important that you study and do as much research as possible, Google Trends is a good way to check what’s popular now, this will be a nose to the grindstone time for you as a beginner. Also keep in mind you’ll have to understand that you can end up paying for low quality clicks (bots) and you’ll need to learn how to target low competition keywords, going for highly competitive keywords mean that you’ll either get drowned out by your competition or you’ll pay higher rates to rank and get clicks.