What is PPC Advertising And Should I Be Using it?

Pay-Per-Click for Real Estate Businesses to reach targets.

 

The big question is: what is PPC advertising? It stands for pay-per-click advertising. It can be a useful strategy for businesses that want to reach their target audience online. This article will take a look at what PPC advertising is, break down its related terminology, and show you some strategies that will help you get the most out of it for your business.

 

To understand PPC advertising, you first need to know what search engine marketing is. Search engine marketing (otherwise known as SEM) is when you pay to advertise on search engines, such as Google, by paying for specific keywords. This means when people search for certain keywords, such as ‘real estate, New York’, your business may come up on the first results page. You will notice at the top of the page, the first results have a small ‘Ad’ next to them. This means these businesses have paid for those keywords in order to appear first.

 

Next, you need to know about ad platforms. Most search engines have ad platforms to enable businesses to make the most of SEM. For example, the most famous is Google AdWords from Google. Others include Bing Ads, Facebook Ads, and Yahoo Search Ads. Google Ads is a platform made by Google that allows businesses to pay to display advertisements, product listings, and service offerings on Google based on specific keywords.

 

Finally, we can learn about PPC. PPC is a common type of SEM and it refers to the cost you have to pay each time someone clicks on your ad, either on Google or another website. You decide the keywords that best represent your business and then you place a cost-per-click bid on the specific keywords you want to use.

 

It’s a great strategy to reach the people who are actively searching for the services you offer. So how can you make the most of PPC advertising? Here are some strategies you can implement to keep you on top of your game.

 

1 – Start By Picking The Right Keywords

 

Picking the right keywords is essential as it’s linked to how much you will have to pay for PPC advertising. To select the right ones, don’t use your instinct or pick the words you would use to search for your business. It’s better to use a tool created specifically to help you select the best keywords for your business. For example, you can use Google’s Keyword Planner to help you find words that relate to your business and help you reach more of your target audience. Why is it so important to invest time into finding the right keywords? If you don’t, you could end up using your budget on keywords that are too competitive. Or, you may find that you get lots of clicks but little to no conversions as you’re attracting the wrong audience with unrelated keywords. Or, no one can find your business as people don’t search for your services with the keywords you have picked. The key is to pick keywords that: are within your budget; are highly relevant to your service offering; have a high search volume; words that suggest intent to buy, such as ‘for sale’.

 

2- Determine Your Marketing Goals

 

Organizing your campaigns is key to getting good results from your PPC advertising investment. To understand your campaign type, it’s a good idea to consider what you are hoping to achieve. Here are some campaigns types and their main objectives:

  • Search network campaign – to bring new customers to your business.
  • Remarketing campaign – to encourage customers back to your site.
  • Display network campaign – to increase brand awareness.
  • Call-only campaign – to encourage people to contact you.

Once you have decided which campaign (or campaigns) you want, then you can start to develop your Ad Groups which are themes based on specific keywords. Each Ad Group will have between 10 and 20 keywords which are linked to the PPC advertising that appear in the search engines.

 

3 – Write Great Ad Copy

 

This is the headline and text that actually contains the keywords and will be displayed on the search engine. For example, your keyword may be, ‘house to buy in New York’ and your ad headline could then be written out as, ‘Are you looking for a house to buy in New York?’ Search engines like quality, relevant headlines in order to display the best content to their users. In addition to a headline, you will also need to write a sub-heading and a description within a certain number of characters. Writing great ad copy is an art, but being clear about your value proposition, creating urgency (with words such as, ‘highly sought-after’), and sticking to straightforward terms can help make an enticing headline and description.

 

4- Maximize Your Investment

 

Once people click on your ad, don’t make the mistake of sending them to your homepage. Instead, create a specific landing page that expands on the value proposition you offered in the ad. For example, if your ad was about properties for sale in New York, then it’s a good idea to send them to a page on your site that is related to the keywords in the PPC ad. This will help increase your conversion rate as you’re providing instant relevant content for those who click on your ad. This landing page should also include a strong call to action coupled with an exclusive offer that delivers value to the customer. What do you want people to do when they arrive on your site? If it’s to call you, then your call to action will be a direct request to call you on the number provided. You may want to make this more enticing by offering a free, no-obligation consultation if they call. Or you could be more original by offering a free e-book about the area they are moving to or an information pack for first-time buyers. With valuable offerings like these, your conversion rate will dramatically increase.

 

 

PPC advertising is one important element of the whole customer experience process starting from the customer’s desire to purchase something and ending at finally making the sale. It’s an important part of reaching new customers and can be highly effective if used correctly. For more tips on reaching customers and maximizing sales, visit the Leads using social media and check out the membership area for exclusive content.