Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a combination of search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay per click (PPC)advertising.

What is Pay Per Click advertising?

Pay per click advertising, consists of a text based geographically targeted advertisementdisplayed on a search engines results pages. You see them every time you search for something on Google. The ads appear in similar style and presentation to real search results but they appear as “paid listings” or “sponsored results”. The ads are made up of key words or phrases chosen by the advertiser. When someone clicks on one of the ads then they are taken to the appropriate page on the advertiser’s site. This is known as a “clickthrough”. The advertiser is charged a fee by the search engine for every person that clicks on the ad. The costs of the clickthrough are based on the competitiveness of the phrase used in the advertisement. For example the key phrase “mobile phones” may cost $1 per clickthrough compared to “nail clippers” costing 10 cents. 

The advantages of PPC are many. For example, your ad is seen on the front page of the search engine. It can also be very affordable since you can tell the search engine to display a set number of ads per day - keeping costs down. The major advantage of PPC are instant results to qualified purchasers as soon as your ads go live. Instant high quality traffic is directed to your website on clickthrough since these visitors are using key words directed at your products and services. These visitors are prime candidates for conversion to purchase.

However planning a PPC campaign requires a degree of skill and careful management. It can be very expensive if you get it wrong as a bad choice of key phrases could end up attracting the wrong type of purchaser. Clickthroughs can add up quickly and many unskilled advertisers have discovered this to their dismay. Text ads need to be capable of captivating the user in a few concise lines. 

As said above, PPC can be very expensive or a waste of money if you get it wrong. There are few businesses with the type of skills to deploy and manage a successful PPC campaign. It pays rewards to have a PPC campaign expertly managed to produce the best bang for your buck.

Breeze Media have a wealth of experience and knowledge in successful PPC management. We can offer tis service on it’s own or as part of a combined search engine marketing campaign.