Pay Per Click Advertising Platforms

Pay per click (PPC) is an advertising model used on the Internet to direct traffic to websites. The company that wants to advertise pays the hosted website whenever someone clicks on the advertisement. It involves the searcher, hosted website, and the Advertising company:

• Searchers – People click on paid ads more often than any other online advertising.
• Engines – Search Engines are forced to be the middle man and cater to the searchers and the advertising company. The search engines want to provide relevant results, while offering a revenue driving advertising channel.
• Advertising company – Companies looking to advertise are offered a unique way of putting their message in front of an audience who is actively seeking their product.

When a company wants to advertise through paid search, they typically work with a search engine and bid on keyword phrases that would be commonly used by their target market. Content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system. The major benefit of using a PPC platform is that they provide immediate results. However, it will cost you a bit of money if you want to dominate in the top paid search results. There are about four established and commonly used pay per click platforms. Today, we will discuss some of the most commonly used platforms and their benefits.

The first and most recognizable being Google AdWords.. Google has the largest search engine and can provide a high volume of traffic. Therefore, your ads are getting seen by the most people. They are also getting seen by people who are in search of your product or service. This means that you will have the highest conversion rate when they click on your Ad. This is a very effective way to Advertise. Another benefit is the analytics and measurement tools that Google provides for you to track your campaign. This will allow you to see which keywords are working and which are not. Google AdWords has a lot of benefits and is very commonly used. The biggest downside to using Google is the expense. If you are trying to make a significant impact on a small budget, Google AdWords may not be the place to start.

The next platform we will discuss in the Yahoo-Bing Network. The Yahoo-Bing Network is another popular search engine that can be used for pay per click. This search engine may not be as popular as Google, but it can still be effective. First off, it is lower priced, so it may be a better option if you are on a tighter budget. Secondly, the competition is a lot less fierce than Google, so you are more likely to be recognized by consumers using this search engine. However, you will not get nearly as much traffic when compared to Google.

Facebook is the largest social network and they allow you to advertise and promote your product or service to all of their users. Facebook, just like Google, will have a high volume of traffic. Facebook knows their users demographics, interest, etc. This helps you to target your customers in order to have a higher conversion rate. The only downside to advertising on Facebook is that the amount of times people click is much lower than on a paid ad through a search engine, such as Google. This is because people are not logging on to Facebook to actively search for products. If you are looking to promote your brand more so than sell a product, Facebook will be a great platform to use.

Advertising.com (Sponsored Listings) is becoming more and more popular lately and it is owned by AOL. Sponsored Listings allows you to choose which websites you would like to advertise on. They have a listing of the websites available and you can choose from there. A lot of the websites on the list have high traffic volume. Therefore, your ads will receive a lot of impressions. A great benefit to Sponsored Listings is that it is completely transparent and you are informed of exactly how your ad will appear, where it will appear, and when. The one downside to Sponsored Listings is that consumers on these web pages may not be searching for your product or service, so it is an impulse click, which results in a lower conversion rate.

If you are looking to start a pay per click campaign in the near future, this will help you in your decision of what works best for you. Feel free to check back in periodically to learn more about different Marketing techniques and strategies.