Since the advent of Google's Adwords pay-per-click marketing has developed into the hottest method of internet marketing. Being able to write an ad and let the search engines do the remainder of the tasks for us is becoming an option that we as marketers are finding irresistible.
In theory the relationship between search engine and advertiser is a symbiotic one. The advertiser writes an advertisement, then pays a search engine to do the work in identifying potential customers for them through the use of keyword identification.
When browsers type into a search engine a keyword that is relevant to the advertisers ads the search engine displays the ads on the search results page.
In the real picture though the process is not quite so simplistic.
For the advertiser keyword selection can be more complex. It is not usually as easy as going to the keyword selection tools on the search engine site. The keywords there are well used and will most likely deliver many pages of search results.
The trend in web-surfers is to not look at search results past the first 5-10 pages. This makes it desirable for the marketer to have his ads show up on those first 10 pages. This means that he will have better odds at getting clicks.
The difficulty in this is that the right to be among these top search results is determined by the amount of money the advertiser is willing to pay "per click" for their ad.
Conventional ways to advertise allows a marketer to put up an ad for a set amount of time for a specific cost, no matter how many people end up seeing the ad. This way of advertising really added up and didn't produce well.
The concept of pay per click marketing then evolved. The advertiser was charged for the number of times their ad was selected. This way they were able to turn a greater amount of profit for themselves if an ad was chosen regularly.
After the initiation the idea came to be sure that the ads having the highest price per click are shown along with the highest search results so that the search engine would realize the greatest profits possible. This brought competition into play in setting the bid prices. Advertisers would try to outbid the competitors.
The expenses for a pay per click ad campaign can compound rapidly without the advertiser even realizing what is going on because when your advertisement is in one of the first ad spots on a search results page it can get a lot of unprofitable interest and very little paying customers. That is wasted advertising budget.
Pay per click advertising can be a dangerous minefield for the uneducated marketer to maneuver; it is not the simple endeavor advertisers would have consumers believe. Fortunately, there are a number of resources for assistance (as well as alternative methods of advertising) available on the web for anyone savvy enough to look.
About the Author:
Need to optimize or "fix" your Adwords & PPC campaigns? Kirt Christensen manages over $600k in PPC spending & knows what it takes to make your account hum! When it comes to adwords management services, he's the man!
