Click, click, click! $$$KA-CHING$$$

Some businessmen have the misconception that Pay-Per Click (PPC) ads are too expensive and do not have the capabilities to invest in this form of marketing, however, they are wrong.

PPC is effective for businesses to get the results they are looking for and are also cost-friendly.

Here are some interesting facts about PPC:

1. It is difficult for around half of web user to tell the difference between organic and paid search results

• Which makes them fall into the trap of clicking on such ads easily as they assume that they are organic search results as PPC ads are displayed on top of organic results. 
• This already justifies why PPC is great, because to web users, the company is capable enough to pay for the top "organic" result. 

2. It is important to use negative keywords 

• Words such as "free" and "cheap" in a campaign for certain product types to not waste ad impressions on web users that are unlikely to purchase.
• Negative keywords add another layer to targeting demographics. Audiences of your ads can be shaped by using negative keywords.
• One study found that including negative keywords alone increased the CTR in a campaign from 0.97% to 1.33%, which then led to an overall conversion rate increase from 1.12% to 1.53%.

3. PPC ads are not necessarily expensive!

Using Google Ads as an example:

• You get to choose the keywords to trigger results for your ads.
• You only pay each time someone clicks on your ad and before that, you set a maximum bid for how much you are willing to pay and among the other advertisers, if your bid is the highest for a certain keyword or phrase, it will appear at the top of the search results.
• This way, you are only paying when someone clicks on your ads and will not waste money on audiences that cannot be bothered with your products or services.
• Competitive industries can expect to pay $30 to $40 and up per click but industries that are less competitive are likely to pay only a few cents per click.

4. 52% of people who click on PPC ads end up calling the advertisers

• Take advantage of technology advances in services by adding your business's phone number on the ad for web users to directly click on the number to call your company.
• This is called "click to call", which your company will then basically be only paying for the phone call charges directly to your company.

Here are the benefits of PPC in a nutshell:

Source: https://ibasesolutions.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/benefits-of-ppc-campaigns.png

This is an example of Nike's PPC on Google, as you can see, the search results are above Zalora's website which would mean that they offered a higher bid among other advertisers who also included the word "Nike" in the keywords or phrases in the search results.

Web users like myself are always confused between organic search results and and PPC ads as the small "ad" box is not very visible and because we want to get information fast, it is likely for users to want to click on the first result shown on their page. 

I think it is very useful to invest in this form of marketing as most people turn to searching on Google or other search engines immediately when we are looking for information to get fast results. This helps advertisers get a wider reach and a targeted reach to people who are interested in their products or services with related key words used in their search. However, it can be frustrating for users who often fall into the trap of clicking onto irrelevant PPC ads that can lead them to a completely unknown website. 

Do you often get confused between PPC ads and organic search results as well?

References:

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.webfx.com/internet-marketing/10-facts-you-didnt-know-about-ppc.html

(n.d.). How Much Does PPC Cost in 2019? Retrieved from https://www.webfx.com/ppc-pricing.html