| Quite a few years back when I was in directory | | | | of the advertiser's website, or even a phone call to the |
| advertising, we all had to take a class in Pay Per Click | | | | company. |
| Advertising. It was mandatory because the Yellow | | | | Make a good impression |
| Pages Directory companies were beginning to see the | | | | Every time your ad shows up after a search query, |
| emergence of search engines for what they were; | | | | you have made an impression. The number of |
| competition. | | | | impressions you get is connected to your ad budget |
| The major phone directories were teaming up with the | | | | and the competition for your chosen keywords. If you |
| major search engines; Google and Yahoo to sell PPC | | | | Googled "yellow daffodil print T-shirts", you would see |
| to their customers. I had created quite a few websites | | | | that there are over 7,000 search results in the organic |
| by the time I entered advertising sales and even used | | | | searches and eight PPC ads for designs and T-shirts. |
| Google AdWords. but like most creative types, I did | | | | So it all starts with the impression and then the click. |
| not get too involved in the math of Pay Per Click. | | | | The ongoing goal of every PPC campaign is to |
| If you are just getting up the nerve to investigate PPC, | | | | increase the click-thru ratio (CTR). That means getting |
| I'll give you a layman's version of how it works. Search | | | | more clicks each time surfers look up your keywords |
| engines direct surfers to web pages based on the | | | | and find your ad. |
| keywords in their searches. If I want to find "yellow | | | | Tracking your progress |
| daffodil print T-shirts" That is most likely what I'll type | | | | The measure that advertisers use to gauge their ads |
| into a search engine. | | | | effectiveness is the Click-Through-Rate (CTR). This |
| There will be two types of results that come up on the | | | | refers to the number of clicks divided by the number |
| major search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN | | | | of impressions. |
| etc.; organic search results; the result of websites that | | | | If you improve your ad's CTR by improving your ad's |
| have "yellow daffodil print T-shirts" in their web copy or | | | | relevance to the surfers who are searching for your |
| headlines. The other search result will be advertising | | | | keywords you will then get better conversion. That |
| with the term "yellow daffodil print T-shirts" in their | | | | means more people see your website and all things |
| headline or ad copy. | | | | being equal; you will convert more people to your |
| The first goal of every pay-per-click (PPC) ad is get a | | | | website's goal. |
| targeted lead to click on the ad and go directly to the | | | | Always keep in mind that the goal is to achieve the |
| advertiser's website. The second goal is of course | | | | conversion. Your goal is not to spend the most money |
| conversion; however that is defined by the advertiser it | | | | on PPC ads (I hope). Your goal is to get your visitor to |
| might be a sale, a subscription, a complete examination | | | | take the desired action that benefits your objective. |