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A Comprehensive Guide to Pay Per Click (PPC) Ads

Digital marketing is a huge field and there is so much for a business to explore. However, it is very difficult for a business to start its online journey and get tens of leads each day. The digital world is not a sprint, it's a Marathon!
But there’s one method that can help businesses get instant leads, traffic, signups, or conversions. That’s Pay-per-Click advertising.
It's an online advertising model that allows businesses to show their products, services, or brand image to their targeted audiences within a pocket-friendly budget. This article discusses PPC advertisement and what an organization or digital marketer must learn about.

What are Pay-per-Click (PPC) Ads?

Pay per click or PPC is an advertising method in which advertisers pay only for clicks and not on the views on their advertisement. This means the platform costs only when a user clicks on your ad and visits your website. In simple terms, you pay for each visit to your website.
PPC advertising is a shortcut to getting traffic and quality leads. Notably, search engines are not the only place brands can run their PPC ad campaigns. Social media platforms also offer PPC model advertising services to brands who look forward to it.

Statistics about PPC Ads

Google PPC ads have an average conversion rate of 1.91%.
Businesses generally earn $2 for each $1 spent on Google PPC ads.
47% of global purchases are done online.
85% of consumers prefer researching the products online before purchasing them.
Google ads and Facebook ads are the highest ROI platforms currently.
80% of the consumers prefer personalised ads customised to their location.

When to Choose PPC Ads?

Promoting a specialised product.
Targeting a specific niche audience only.
Looking for a strategic promotional approach.
Trying to generate sales quickly.
Trying to give an instant boost to the landing page.
Promoting offers and products on special occasions such as Christmas, New Year, or Diwali.
Brands who want to improve conversion rates and dominate search engine marketing.
New businesses with less organic visibility.

Types of PPC Ads

Search Advertising

These ads are shown on search engine result pages (SERPs) and use keywords to target the right audience. Search advertising offers a higher conversion rate and generates high-quality leads.

Social Media Advertising

Social media advertising is running paid ad campaigns on social media platforms. Though social media ads mostly use CPM, advertisers can choose the PPC model for some social media ads. Please note that not all social media ads are allowed to enjoy the PPC pricing model.

Remarketing

Retargeting or remarketing is an advertising strategy to target users who have already interacted with the brand previously but didn't purchase.

Shopping Ads

Shopping ads are specialised ads that show product details in SERPs and social media platforms. These ads include details such as price, image, description etc.

Nurturing Audiences with Pay-per-Click Advertising Campaign

Running a PPC ad campaign without proper strategy is like fishing without bait. To create a strategy, businesses must understand their target audience and set their goals first.
Not all audiences are the same and not all ad campaigns are created to serve the same purpose. The overall advertising campaign strategy goes through three stages of a sales funnel.
The three stages of a sales funnel are-

Top of the funnel
Middle of the funnel
Bottom of the funnel

Stage

Nature of the Funnel Stage

Content type

Top of the Funnel

Awareness

Visual ads, engaging video content

Middle of the Funnel

Consideration

Insightful content about products and services, retargeting ads

Bottom of the Funnel

Purchase

Product Demos, USPs, Demo

Loyalty

Repurchase

New product launches, referral programs, Special offers

Factors that Affect the Bidding Cost

Brands set their CPC at maximum when they choose PPC as their ad campaign method. Below are some of the factors that affect the bidding costs.

Ad Rank

Ad rank determines the ad position on the SERP results page. This is determined by Maximum Bid × Quality Score. Please note that search engines will consider competitor’s scores to decide your Ad rankings.

Quality Score

The search engines give a quality score based on the following factors.

The brand’s specific click-through rate is measured against the average CTR of the ads for the same position.
Keyword relevance for the ad.
Quality of the landing page.
Brand’s past performance on SERP.

Maximum Bid

This is the maximum amount a brand is willing to pay for a pay-per-click advertising campaign.

Benefits of PPC Ads

PPC advertising campaigns are cost-effective and promise quick results to brands.
Brands can easily control and test their PPC advertising campaigns.
PPC advertising campaigns allow organisations to target their ideal customers through keywords.
Modification in the algorithm shows little effect on PPC ads.
PPC advertising campaigns help websites with lower DA rank on the top results.
Utilising data from PPC ad campaigns can improve a brand's overall SEO strategy.

How to Build an Impactful PPC Ad Campaign?

1. Set parameters for the PPC ad campaigns

Find the ideal customer persona and get answers to the following questions:

a. Who does a brand want to target?

Select your most ideal customer category. It can be housewives, students, young adults, health-conscious people, businessmen, shopkeepers, school students, working women, pregnant women, fathers-to-be, elderly people, etc.

b. What is the theme of the PPC ad campaign?

An ad campaign theme is the core message of a PPC ad campaign. Focus on what you want to provide to your customers including benefits, offers, lifetime value, support, consultation, etc. Your theme should be simple, clear, and concise for people to understand.

c. How to measure the success of an ad campaign?

There are several parameters to measure the success of PPC advertising campaigns. Basically, they are specific actions and it can be personalized from campaign to campaign. Some of them are conversion rate, clicks, traffic, engagement, ROI, views, impressions, etc.

d. What type of ad campaign should fulfil the goals best?

Not all ad campaigns are suitable for all targets. Choose ad campaign types that best fits your immediate goals. (Read Point-3 to get detailed information about goals and their best suited ad types)

2. Create goals and goal metrics for the ad campaign

Not all ad campaigns are equal. All of them have a specific goal and measure success differently.

Brand awareness campaign:

Number of people who saw your ads.
Number of viewers who interacted with the advertisements.

Lead generation campaign:

Measure the success of lead generation ads with personalised metrics. Consider specific user actions such as sign-up, purchase, contact, call, website traffic, social media engagement, etc as success metrics.

3. Choose a Campaign Type that fulfils brand goals

Choose an ad campaign type that is the best for the brand's goals.

Search Ads - Best for driving sales, leads, and traffic.
Display Ads - Great for building brand awareness in new markets and retargeting.
Social Ads - Good for awareness, social media engagement, and conversion.
Remarketing ads - Best for retargeting consumers who have interacted with your business earlier.
Google shopping ads - Best for generating sales.

4. Perform Keyword Research to choose the high-traffic keywords

Here are some tips for choosing the right keywords:

Choose 5 keywords for each ad group. Make them extremely relevant to get a high-quality score from search engines.
Select keywords that resemble the specific theme of the ad group.
Do not stick with the initial keywords. Monitor the high-performance keywords and choose the best ones among them.

5. Set up Google Analytics for tracking

Google Analytics is free to use and a super powerful tool for measuring ad campaign insights. This tool provides data on ad performance, user interaction, and content relevancy.

Best Practices to Follow While Creating A PPC Ad Campaign

1. Write strong PPC ad copy

Follow the tips below:

Create an intriguing headline.
Mention the target audience and their challenges.
Introduce the service or products as a solution.
Highlight the benefits.
Use 2nd person words to talk directly to the customers.
Use action words such as ‘Discover’ or ‘Grab’ or ‘Check Out’, etc.
Add emotions to the ad copy with storytelling and trigger words such as ‘Hurry’, ‘Secret’, etc.
Write in simple language.
Include a CTA.

2. Create and optimize your landing page.

Follow the tips below:

Optimise it for search engine and user experience.
Use visual content to improve engagement.
Use multiple and clear CTAs.
Add social proofs.
Add contact information.

3. Do A/B Testing of Your PPC Ads

Follow the tips below:

Set solid goals such as clicks, purchases, or signups.
Analyse test results.
Watch the variables such as UI design, copywriting, questions, offer, etc.
Collect enough data for accurate measurement.
Test for a significant time. It is generally a week or two weeks long.

4. Practices to Maximize Your ROI

This can be done by following two major factors in PPC ad campaigns.

A. Lowering inputs.

Set an ad budget before starting the campaigns.
Create relevant ads to maintain a lower CPC.
Focus on improving quality scores.

B. Increasing outputs.

Focus on landing page optimization.
Go for quality leads only by running specific ads by choosing high business intent keywords.

5. Target the Right Audience

Here are some to target the audiences.

Focus on ideal audience demographics such as age, gender, marital status, location, occupation, etc.
Use relevant keywords that relate with your target audience.

6. Adjust your bids

Select the best-performing bids for best results only.

7. Schedule the ads based on specific days and times

Use smart ad scheduling for the best conversion results from the ad campaign. Choose a time when most of the target audience stays online.

8. Use the site link extension to provide store hours and location

Use the site link extension to add store locations and hours to the ads.

9. Track the conversion rate

Track the conversion rate with the help of Google Analytics or by adding a thank you page.

10. Monitor keyword performance

Follow the tips below:

Select your keyword match types.
Add negative keywords such as ‘Free’ in your ads to eliminate unwanted clicks.

PPC Metrics to Track

Clicks - number of clicks received on the ad.
CPC - Price to pay for each click on the ad.
CTR - Percentage of clicks against the total views.
Ad spend - Amount spent on the ad campaign.
Conversion rate - The percentage of people who aligned with the goal and became a lead or customer.

Best PPC Tools to Use

Here are the best tools for creating, tracking and measuring the ad performance.

Google Ads Keyword Planner - to do the best keyword research.
SEMrush - for competitor analysis and keyword research.
SpyFu - for in-depth and detailed competitor insights.
Google Ads Editor - campaign management.
WordStream - to optimize and report the ad campaign.
Google Analytics - to find a detailed analysis of website traffic data.

Conclusion

This article shared a complete go-to guide for PPC beginners. This guide is helpful for students learning PPC, individual coaches, and businesses who want to grow online and generate leads.
This article discussed valuable PPC-related topics such as the definition of PPC ads, statistics about PPC, types of PPC, and tips to make the ad campaign more impactful and promising.
Are you searching for a PPC ad expert to enhance your online visibility and gain quality leads?
Choose Vigyapan Mart advertising agency for a complete 360-degree solution to PPC ad campaigns.