How Does Pay Per Click Work?

Many smaller businesses struggle to get the same exposure and advertising success as their larger competitors. After all, it’s hard to compete with big-box stores that have millions of dollars in their advertising budget.

That’s where Pay-Per-Click, or PPC, advertising comes in. It’s a great way to help boost your visibility when people are searching online for the kinds of goods or services you provide, and a creative way to bring “niche business” or local buyers straight to your website. Best of all, you only pay when someone engages with your ad.

What is Pay Per Click Advertising?

Pay Per Click advertising is an ad that populates when a user types a search query into a search engine like Google, such as “Chinese restaurants near me.” The search engine will return a list of websites that match the criteria the user entered, and the user can then pick from the list. However, most people make their selection from the first page of Google returns and rarely get beyond the fourth page. The websites on the first page are often the ones that match the search string best but are also the most popular, or ones that are SEO optimized.

PPC ads are the websites that appear at the very top of a Google search, ads that link a user through to the actual website. They are listed above even those sites that are organically the best match.

How Does PPC Work?

PPC ads are a paid advertisement that contains the weblink to the business website. However, each time that a user clicks on that ad link, the business gets charged. The ads populate when certain words are typed in. Using our example of a Chinese Restaurant, users typing “Chinese restaurant near me” may get different results than ones that type in “egg rolls” or “Chinese stir fry delivery.”

Businesses can bid on certain words that relate to their business, like:

  • Chinese food
  • Stir fry
  • Delivery
  • Schezuan Chicken
  • Egg Rolls

And so on. However, Google limits how many businesses can “rent” these keywords for advertising in a particular market, so the more popular ones tend to be more expensive than ones that aren’t as common.

Google runs the ads for free, and only charges the business when a user clicks through the ad to the business website. The charge depends on how much the user paid for the particular keywords associated with that PPC ad, so prices can vary widely.

How Can Pay Per Click Help Small Businesses?

PPC advertising can help small businesses in two ways. First, it can help propel a new website to the top of a search return, thereby boosting its popularity and leads. Second, small businesses with a tiny advertising budget can choose to bid on less popular keywords, but still used, and develop new leads in that manner.

If you offer an unusual service that many of your competitors don’t, using words that describe it will help connect people who want that specific item or service directly to you!

Let’s Get Started!

Developing the right PPC ads takes time – time that you could be spending running your business. Focus on what you do best, and let the professionals at Kick Digital Media focus on the rest. Visit us online today to explore our services and discover how we can help grow your business for pennies!

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