Digital marketing attaches great importance to SEO. A proper search engine optimization for a website can generate natural or organic traffic for it. Marketers sometimes also choose to go in for paid advertising methods, one of which is Pay Per Click or PPC.
The advertiser would bid at a particular rate and pay for every person that clicks on the advertisement. The most well-known PPC program is Google AdWords, and it has been around for almost two decades now. Let us see a few pros and cons of advertising through this route.
Advantages of PPC
Pay Only As Per Use
Unlike an advertisement listed on television or in a newspaper, PPC needs the advertiser to pay only when a visitor clicks on an online advertisement. So, it is crucial to keep an average budget in mind when choosing a package. On the other hand, if the campaign does not produce results, the advertiser has the option of stopping it and shifting that budget elsewhere.
Visible Results
A regular SEO program will not show immediate results, and you will need to keep several factors in mind to make your strategies work. A PPC campaign, on the other hand, can be easily measured by the number of clicks, and the response is immediately and directly visible, which allows the digital marketing team to recalibrate their strategy and reallocate budgets if needed accordingly.
Adjustable Campaign
The benefit of going in for a PPC campaign is that it can be adjusted up or down based on the responses received. It might be necessary when your webpage or the advertisements have a high bounce rate, and the user just visits the first page and then leaves without too much interaction or any transaction on the page.
Measurable ROI
A big concern for digital marketers is to measure the return on their investments. On a broader level, it helps to determine the overall effectiveness of a campaign, but at a more practical level, a good ROI also helps the digital marketing team to ask for better budgets in the next year.
Customized Campaigns
Most PPC campaigns are highly targeted, which means that the marketer wants to reach only a specific segment of the audience. Marketers may take into account factors such as where the user lives, what language he speaks or understands, which device he uses for internet browsing, and so on. For example, an SEO services company in the Sunshine Coast might go for a specific campaign targeting only visitors who stay in that region. It helps to increase the probability of a positive response.
Disadvantages of PPC
High Involvement
Unlike most aspects of SEO or online marketing, PPC is a living and breathing entity which needs continuous attention so that corrective action can be taken accordingly and the roadmap can be suitably adjusted. A dedicated team, or at least a person, needs to be monitoring the responses on a daily basis to be able to close the loop for the clicks received and also recommend and execute changes in the plan if needed.
No Direct Relation to Revenue
While PPC campaigns usually consider the number of clicks as a measure of ROI, they might not translate into measurable revenue unless those clicks get converted into a lead pipeline and ultimately into actual sales. Therefore, PPC campaigns might deceive those who are not fully aware of what it is all about.
In-house Training
PPC campaigns are usually not a recurring program carried out throughout the year for years on end. Therefore, the employees of the digital marketing team might require some specialized training. Many organizations do not go for these additional training costs and use that money just to give the campaign to an outside agency to run.
Budget Might Get Overrun
If the costs keep piling up without showing a visible change in the ROI, it would just be a waste of time, money and effort. Since PPC involves payouts, it might be difficult to explain within the organization, whereas a regular SEO campaign might use up time and work of the employees but not eat into any budget, and therefore, might not need constant justifications.
Pay Per Click is a useful advertising tool used to generate traffic on a website, and if correctly implemented and rigorously monitored, can help in the overall digital marketing efforts. The organization needs to keep track of responses and the budget and tweak the campaign accordingly to produce the desired results. As we step into 2018, more innovations can be expected which will improve the effectiveness, but also demand more from the advertiser.
Author Bio: David Hamblin is a recognized expert in digital marketing, and has been tracking the evolution for years. He has long been associated with reputed SEO services company in the Sunshine Coast.