Pay-Per-Click Introduction
Pay-Per-Click Introduction
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) or "paid" listings are the main money-makers on the big search engines like Google and Yahoo. Many affiliates find that PPC can help them achieve the amount of web traffic that they desire to help their website gain additional visitors.
The PPC search listings appear above and to the right of the natural (organic) search results. The natural results are located in the middle of the search page as shown in the screen shot below. The PPC listings are referred to as "Sponsored Links" on Google.com and "Sponsored Results" on Yahoo.com. The sponsored listings (PPC listings) are very desirable placements because they are usually the first links that the user sees when they receive their search results.
However, as is the case when it comes to securing a great location, these sponsored placements come with a price. (For more information on using search engines to drive free traffic to your website, click here.) PPC listings are powered by pay-per-click search engines. This means that every time a user clicks on a listing in the sponsored listing section, the website owner of the advertisement that was clicked pays for that click. Prices per click vary depending on the keyword phrases you have chosen in your account and the ranking you want to achieve with your listings (i.e. do you require the top PPC listings or are you content with being further down the list?). You can pay as little as $0.10 per click on keywords, but don't expect too much traffic at that price unless the keywords phrase is obscure.
Creating and maintaining a PPC account is not technically difficult. Once you familiarize yourself with Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing or the interface you will be able to take full advantage of the tools they offer and increase your traffic by adding additional keywords at your leisure.
1. To create your listings, first research the rules and guidelines of the search engine you want to use. Here are the links to Google AdWords Resource Center, Yahoo's Listing Guidelines and Yahoo's Resource Center.
2. Take the time to set up your PPC advertising account and determine under which keywords you would like to pay for clicks. This process involves some research as far as finding the keywords and phrases you will be using (You can obtain a list of the DentalPlans.com keywords from your Affiliate Manager). Whichever search engine you choose will easily show you where your ads will rank for your given budget, which you will then be able to adjust accordingly.
3. Your PPC listings must be monitored in order for you to maintain your rankings. If a competitor agrees to pay more per click for a specific keyword than you are currently paying, then you will be bumped out of your position for that keyword. For example, see the screen shot for this Yahoo Search Marketing account below. Our current bid is at 0.12 and we are in the second position. We are currently in this second position due to a competitor bidding an amount of 1.00 which was higher than we wanted to pay for that keyword. When this happens, you can then decide to either bid more than your competitor to be back into the number one spot, keep your bid the same and stay in second position or lower your bid.
4. If your advertising budget changes and you decide to spend less or more money on sponsored PPC listings that month, it is quite simple to go in and manage your account. Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing both enable you to scale your budget up or down with ease, allowing you to almost instantly change the amount of clicks your ads receive.
5. Another aspect of PPC marketing is the creation of your advertisement (ad). Each keyword or group of keywords must have an ad. This ad is only a couple of sentences which you should create as a call to action for the user. An example of a DentalPlans.com ad is:
Google AdWords Example:
Up to 60% off Dental Care
Dental Plans for You and Your Family
Join Today and Save! -Aff
Or
Yahoo Search Marketing Example:
Are you looking for a dental plan? Save up to 60% on your dental care with one of thousands of dental providers Nationwide. Plus, get 3 additional months free when you join today.
6. PPC listings can be created whether you have a website or not. A good way to drive potential sales to DentalPlans.com is by using your tracking link for each ad. When a user sees your ad in their search results and clicks on it, they will then be directed straight to the DentalPlans.com homepage while you will be getting tracked for their potential sale.
To save you the headache of doing all that keyword research for the search engines, DentalPlans.com has put together a vast keyword list that is currently available for download in your affiliate account. You can find this keyword list on the "Keyword Portal" page when logged in.
Choosing the right search engine marketing company will be a critical factor for your website achieving top search engine positions. SEOSTAR is the right choice for your search engine positioning campaign.
