How PPC Ads Work

The world of marketing and advertising seems to be constantly growing, which can make it difficult to keep up. With the rise of the internet and social media becoming prevalent platforms for getting your business’s name out there, knowing what type of advertisements are available to you and how they work is vital.

Everyone knows about billboards, commercials, and you’ve likely seen an ad or two when scrolling through your favorite social media platform, but have you heard of PPC Ads? Do you know what they are? Do you need to know?

How do they work?

PPC is short for “pay-per-click”. This is a method of payment for advertising in which you pay an advertising company for how many times someone has clicked on the advertisement.

In a way, you could consider PPC ads as a method of paying for visits to your site. Even if not every customer who visits the website makes a purchase, you’ve still spread your brand awareness, and at least made enough of an impact for a potential customer to show interest in your company.

Imagine you see an advertisement on Instagram or Facebook for a pair of athletic shoes that catches your eye. You click on the ad, which navigates you to the site where you look around for a while but don’t purchase anything. The advertising company will pay for the click on their ad, but not for all the time you spent browsing their site and products.

As a result, this is very effective for spreading brand awareness. Even if they don’t buy anything during that specific interaction with your site, they may remember it and come back. Before you know it, that one ad (one click specifically) has created a potential customer that you otherwise wouldn’t have had.

Where can I find PPC Ads?

Since PPC ads are a model for online marketing, these are most popular when you are investing in search engine advertisements.

Specifically, Google Ads is very popular for this feature. Have you ever noticed when you search something on Google - for example, let’s say you search “winter scarves” - the first few links in your search results usually are labeled as advertisements.

These show up because they are meant to be shown to anyone who types in the keywords “winter” and “scarves”. These are PPC ads. One reason these are so useful is that it is a quick and efficient way for you to allow your target market to find you.

With this method of advertising, your website will be shown to people who are looking for what you have to offer, making it a mutually beneficial advertising method for both you and potential customers.

Why are they useful?

This can help you drive more traffic to your website, and makes it simple to keep track of which ads are working and which aren’t. These ads also allow you to figure out what keywords, images, and other content are most effective to consumers in your target market.

PPC ads also allow you to edit and make adjustments when your ads aren’t working as well as you’d like them to. Otherwise, you may not have any idea how effective your advertisements are, or if they are even worth the investment you’re putting into them.

If you place a PPC ad with Google Ads, you will pay based on how many times someone clicks on the link to your site, and that’s not all. Companies like Google Ads can also follow what someone does after they click on the link to your site, giving your even more useful information about what draws clicks and what doesn’t.

With PPC ads, you are able to gather a plethora of useful information to use in future marketing strategies.

You might be thinking, what if a lot of people click on my ad, but then don’t buy anything? Won’t that be a lot of money lost?

The short answer is, no. When you consider the small cost of a PPC marketing model, the cost of those clicks is trivial in comparison to the money you will make from those who do navigate to your site and make a purchase.

When should I use PPC Ads for my business?

Well, it’s up to you!

PPC ads are especially useful for newer businesses, or if you are launching a new product or product line. This can be one of the quickest ways to draw attention and traffic to your business, with minimal effort.

While it is an investment with PPC ads, especially if you are a new business, it is well worth it. PPC ads will give you an advantage against other competitors who aren’t taking advantage of this marketing model.

PPC ads are also great for growing your customer base or trying to hone in on your target market. These ads will bring your customers straight to you because it connects them to what they’re looking for, and connects you to exactly who you are catering to.

Sometimes the hardest part is finding your target market and figuring out how to make them aware of your business, but PPC ads simplify and speed up that process. How successful this is will simply depend on your ability to select the right keywords and content to be shown.

Can I use PPC Ads on any platform?

The method of advertising and how you pay for it depends on how the platform does things. However, more and more platforms and marketing channels are adopting this marketing model because of how useful it is to every part involved.

As mentioned, one of the most popular and prevalent users of PPC ads is Google Ads. Formerly known as Google AdWords, this is a great place to dip your toes in if you are new to PPC ads. Other search engines like Bing use this as well if you are looking for other options.

Another great place to use PPC ads is with Facebook. Facebook will advertise your ads on both their own platform as well as Instagram. This will widen the spectrum of who does and doesn’t see your advertisement significantly.

The bottom line is, PPC ads are extremely useful, and if you aren’t using them already, don’t you think it’s about time you started?