SEM, or Search Engine Marketing, stands for a kind of online marketing which is focused on promoting websites by moving them to the top positions on SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). Nowadays Search Engine Marketing has gained much popularity on the Web, and most business owners use the main SEM strategies, such as Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click. As an effective advertising technique, Pay Per Click (PPC) is generally applied to websites, search engines and ads networks. PPC advertising is becoming more widespread day after day, being characterized as quite efficient and affordable. As a powerful marketing tool, PPC can boost up your traffic and is especially effective when a website doesn't have a good organic ranking yet. That is why many site owners resort to PPC at the beginning, attracting prospects and making them buy the product.
As it is clear from the title, the advertiser pays only if a potential customer clicks on the link. Such ads are usually called “sponsored ads” or “sponsored links” on SERPs and occupy the most noticeable place – either above organic results or near them. While nany advertisers use such sources as Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing, there also exist Kanoodle, LookSmart, AskJeeves etc.
One of the most important factors of a successful PPC campaign is choosing the right keywords. The webmaster should not only find quite relevant keywords, but also take into account what users search for and create PPC ads accordingly. Such an approach implies an in-depth keyword analysis being conducted: you have to determine your niche and target market, to know how many competitors you have and who they are, as well as to define what search patterns are the most popular ones. Without a professional analysis of the niche and choosing relevant keywords, a website owner is likely to lose money rather then earn it. So, before starting a PPC campaign, one should make sure that everything was prepared in a proper way.
Another potential danger while choosing such SEM strategy as PPC is the so-called “click fraud”, when a user or a special computer program clicks on the ads without any intention to buy the product. “Click fraud” can result in considerable financial loss for the advertiser and is restricted by the law.
To launch a PPC campaign one will need around $50 for the first month of advertising in Google AdWords or Yahoo! Search Marketing. Generally one click costs $0.01-$0.50. Actually the more popular a search term is, the higher price the advertising provider will charge.
To make money by PPC one should follow several fundamental steps:
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First perform in-depth research of the niche and know the potential competitors. •
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After that concentrate on choosing the most effective search terms for the ads.
Then create a converting ad copy which will provide a higher clickthrough rate.
Find appropriate landing to place the ads.
Use tracking software to analyze the PPC campaign and to see its dynamics.
As you see, Pay Per Click is a powerful SEM tool, as it doesn't require much costs and can attract many buyers (provided the campaign is run properly). Most SEM experts recommend PPC search engine promotion as an ultimate advertising technique, especially for new companies. Combining SEO with PPC and getting both organic and paid traffic, one can succeed in search engine marketing and boost up his/her income.