Pay Per Click advertising is a way for people to get their websites in the search engines fast, but it can be very costly. If you have the margins to absorb this type of strategy, it may be the quickest way to get revenues and traffic launched.
That said, you really have to understand what the actual cost of your transaction is before you do this. That is, you have to know that you can make this transaction profitable, otherwise it is pointless.
With Pay Per Click, your listings will either be on top or on the side page of each search a user does. It’s true, the click through rate can be very high with Pay Per Click, but you also have to be careful as many people will click even though they weren’t actually searching for what your offering. That all goes into the price of your transaction.
Pay Per Click through Google Adwords and others have you bid against other people to win top spots on the keywords your targeting. The more competition the more you will pay for each click that users make.
The bids are constantly changing and someone can easily outbid you taking you down the ladder in a matter of minutes. The best solution is to consider taking a number two through five spot instead of trying to be the high bidder. This keeps the cost of the click from going out of control.
The good news is if nobody clicks on your advertisement, you pay nothing. Sure, the idea is to get people to click on your link, but you have got in front of your audience, even if they don’t click this time. The more they see your name and your advertisement, the better the chance they will come to you in the future.
The real question you have to ask yourself is, “Can I afford to finance the pay per click advertising until I make the profit return from my efforts?”
It can be up to 90 days or more to get a return on your investment. In the mean time you have paid for your advertising and are floating that money. Unless you’re return is immediate, you need to add this into the cost the equation.
I no longer use pay per click advertising in any of my marketing efforts, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.
Have thoughts on Pay Per Click? Tell me about it.