Digital Marketing

PPC – Is it still worth it?

Author
Lola Connelly
Published
11th May 2022
Length
5 minute read

Seeing results from your PPC advertising isn’t always easy. Your campaign needs to be effective, powerful and viable at targeting the right audience at the right time. And what’s more, PPC is not free.

Are the results worth it?

PPC (Pay-Per-Click) can earn you quality leads as well as a massive return in investment (ROI). But you may be thinking, why choose PPC when there are many other digital marketing tactics available? Search engine optimisation (SEO), social media and email for instance, are all hugely beneficial for businesses, provide positive and worthwhile results and unlike PPC…are free. Answering the question as to whether it is worthwhile really all depends. Keep reading as we not only go through the pros and cons, but how you can make it a rewarding asset.

 

What is PPC?

Before getting into the benefits of PPC we need to define exactly what it is. Hubspot defines Pay-Per-Click as:

“A form of advertising that allows you to pay a fee to have your website on the search engine result page (SERP) when someone types in specific keywords or phrases to the search engine. The SERP will display the ads you create to direct visitors to your site, and the fee you pay is based on whether people click your ad.”

Many marketers turn to PPC with the comfort of being seen by target audiences, hitting the top of the search engine results page and appearing in users’ social media feeds. Furthermore, you’re only paying when you get a click on your ad. With more and more businesses being in competition with each other, PPC is worth considering even if it’s just to ensure your business is seen by valued audiences.

 

The Pros of PPC

First of all let us go through what makes PPC worthwhile. There are multiple reasons as to why PPC is an exciting and profitable decision, however in order to be successful it is helpful to understand the exact benefits.

Target the perfect audience

PPC ads are effective, as they will solely focus on your target audience based on the keywords you have bid on, as well as Google constantly adding new targeting methods in Adwords. This is a unique and clever practice which will cause your ads to be placed directly in front of potential customers. And there is nothing better than having reached someone resulting in a direct response.

Track their every move

With Google Analytics, you are able to view high-level performance details such as, impressions, clicks, and conversions. Compared to other marketing channels this is not always readily available, or is not as clear. There are numerous benefits for ad tracking, which you can find out all about in our blog.

It’s quick

The second your PPC ad goes up, you can start bringing in revenue and analyse results. SEO, however, can take between 6-12 months before you start seeing any extra traffic. And don’t get us wrong, SEO is an effective marketing tactic which is worth investing in, but keep in mind that it will take time. Furthermore, PPC is fast at targeting people outside of those who already know about your brand, so you are not limited to existing audiences and customers.

You’re in Control

Whilst there are multiple benefits surrounding PPC, the most valuable is having the ability to immediately change, stop and pause keywords that are not working for you. You have the flexibility to optimise, even when your ads are running. And if you have a small budget, you have a lot of budget flexibility and choose what you are willing to spend.

 

The Cons of PPC

Like with any positive marketing tactic, there are always going to be negatives and PPC is no exception. Here are the cons you need to be aware of before considering:

Once you stop paying your visibility disappears

As soon as you stop bidding, the ad will stop and will disappear immediately. Not only this, but traffic and sales that have come with it will stop as well. This can be troublesome when you have lost the top spot of the SERP and have relied on the PPC campaigns for your sales. SEO may take longer over time, but will never disappear.

Expenses

The fact PPC is not free, is one of the main reasons as to why so many people avoid it. If you are a small or new business, you are looking to save as much money as possible. And PPC can build up on costs quite quickly. Also, depending on your industry you may have to pay a fair amount when it comes to clicks, especially when you’re in a competitive industry. Speaking of competition, some businesses may even deliberately click on competitors ads, just to drive up their advertising costs!

Reputation

Recently, people are becoming more and more sceptical of advertising, and many believe it may not be as effective as it once was. For instance 50% of users can distinguish between paid and organic search results. And depending on how you look at it, this means many people are going to scroll past PPC ads in favour of organic results.

 

How to Make the most of your PPC Campaigns

The highest quality PPC ads will win you the top slots on the SERP, and this is what you need to aim for. There are many ways to get the most out of your investment, and we recommend you use them all:

Optimise your landing pages

Something as simple as having the right landing page to attract and grab your audience’s attention can make a difference. The landing page is a crucial part to the user’s journey, so they need to see relevant offers, information, and the focus of at least one unique selling proposition (USP) straight away to avoid them immediately bouncing off your page.

Keywords and negative keywords

Not only do you need to use keywords, but also negative keywords. In other words, you do not only need to target your desired audience, but also who you want to avoid. First of all, targeting relevant keywords applicable to your business will get people to click on them.

 

Continuous analysis

You want to make sure that your campaign is always relevant, which means you have to continually review and analyse your ad through Google Analytics. This could mean adding/deleting keywords or even making some adjustments to your landing page. We advise that you set some time aside to review your ads, and analyse results. Keep up-to-date with changing search trends, it may make a massive impact into your ad performance.

Is it still worth it?

In short, whether PPC is worth it or not will depend on a lot of variables. It can depend on seasonality, the economy and your industry. We advise you to take in all the pros and cons and discuss whether it will be beneficial in the long run for your business. Either way, PPC can really help you in the short term to leap ahead of competition and ensure you’re always at the top of the results page whenever anyone searches for your brand name.

Overall, PPC can be an excellent short term strategy when you are looking for that extra boost, but keep in mind what you need to do to make the most out of it. Wanting to find out about other digital marketing approaches. Go read our most recent blog to find out.

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