Pay-per-click advertising is an essential digital marketing strategy to employ, whether you’re a small business or a large corporation. If you’re not doing PPC in the current digital landscape, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to grow your (or your client’s) business. Whether it’s through search or social (or a combination of the two), the PPC campaign is one of the most effective ways of marketing on the web.

One of the main benefits of doing PPC marketing is that you’re guaranteed to have your website, content, or product put directly in front of your target demographic. Whether or not that will result in a positive ROI is a different story altogether, but in today’s increasingly competitive marketplace, it’s imperative to do everything you can to get the attention of potential customers.

PPC is the biggest online marketing model currently out there, and there is one potential drawback you need to know about: click fraud. Why should you care about click fraud? Click fraud is when a malicious entity detracts from the quality (and ROI) of your PPC campaign. Click fraud withstanding, it’s time to get into the nuts and bolts of PPC strategy.

Use One of The Top Four PPC Platforms 

Now that you know why you should be doing PPC, you’re probably wondering where exactly you should start. The top four PPC platforms at the moment are Google Adwords, Bing Ads, Instagram Ads, and Facebook Ads. It’s not necessary to be using every single one of these platforms, but these are some of the major PPC tools that nearly every business doing PPC is using. Knowing the best PPC bidding strategies is essential to dominating these platforms.

Google Adwords

Google is the top search engine in the world, meaning there is ample opportunity to get your ad in front of your target audience. The only downside though, is that ad spots can be pricey (depending on your niche and specific keywords).

Bing Ads

Bing has remained in the number two spot (right behind Google) for several years, making it a solid option for your PPC marketing campaign. Because it’s slightly less competitive than Google, ad spots will also be slightly less expensive. The only drawback to this is that your ads will be reaching a smaller audience than they would on Google.

Facebook Ads

Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world, with over 2 billion people using it per month. What does this mean for your business? Unlimited advertising opportunities. One of the main benefits of Facebook’s advertising platform is that it features very powerful targeting tools (making it much easier to get your ad in front of your target demographic).

Instagram Ads

Instagram is the top social media platform in the world (behind Facebook). The platform is actually owned by Facebook, so advertising on Instagram is actually done via Facebook’s Ads Manager. This means that you get all the benefits of Facebook’s powerful targeting tools while being able to get your ads in front of an audience that might not be on Facebook.

The Basics of PPC Strategy

Knowing why you should be doing PPC and where you should be doing it is great, but without actionable strategy tips, you won’t get very far. The tips posted below will allow you to maximize your advertising budget and get off to a good start.

PPC Copywriting 

Without a good copy, your ad will not be clicked (it really is that simple). You can budget and target all you want, but if your copy isn’t compelling it simply isn’t going to matter. There’s a reason why copywriting is in high-demand, it’s difficult to write excellent copy.

The secrets of PPC copywriting are as follows:

• Speak directly to your target demographic.
• Offer them a solution to a problem.
• Include your keywords.
• Split test different copy styles.

That’s a vast oversimplification of a complex skillset, but putting those tips into action will undoubtedly result in increased conversion rates.

Landing Page Recommendations 

After the ad copy, the landing page is the most important aspect of any PPC campaign. The landing page needs to be targeted towards the ad’s demographic, properly designed, and actually be relevant to the ad. If your landing page is poorly designed and doesn’t have content relevant to the ad, your conversion rate will suffer. Ensure that the page’s design is clean, the content is relevant, and (depending on your end-goal) there’s a form with a strong CTA (for capturing emails, going to a sales page, customer data, etc.). As always, it’s recommended to split-test your landing page’s design and content.

Now that you know the basics of PPC stratification and implementation, it’s time to start developing your own strategy. Using the tips we’ve provided should provide you with a solid base to start with. Remember that PPC is all about effective copy, targeting the right demographic, and having a quality landing page.