Pay-Per-Click

Pay-Per-Click: The Basics

Let’s talk pay-per-click (PPC) – and what a paid search agency like ours is going to do for you. Here’s a little Q&A.

What is Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Anyway?

Literally put, PPC (aka Paid Search) is a digital marketing tactic that uses search engines, websites and keywords to display messaging during a user search query. Sounds fancy. But what it really means is that you pay to have your ads show up in search for keywords that matter to your website so that users will go to your website. The fancy work is all behind the scenes, but we’ll get to that.

PPC ads can be on Google, Bing, and – let’s be honest, it’s just Google and Bing. Because the two combined make up almost 100% of all searches. And their website partners, where all your text-based and display paid search ads go, too, are numbered in the millions.

Google AdWords

Billions of searches. Millions of keywords. Thousands of ways to use each keyword. Hundreds of ad groups. It’s clear why you’d want help with PPC management of your Google AdWords. If you haven’t dipped your toes in before, diving into your AdWords account is a lot like going down the rabbit hole.

Bing Ads

Combined with Yahoo Paid Search, Bing Ads makes up anywhere between 20 and 30 percent of online searches. So even if you don’t use it, a good chunk of your market does. Sure, Google AdWords and Bing Ads have the same end goal. But there are nuances to each that you should leave to the PPC management experts.

Fine, But What Businesses Should Use PPC?

Pretty much anybody, unless you’ve managed to come up with something no one’s ever heard of before. Because people have to know what to search for in the first place. And that’s the real kicker to PPC – people are already searching for your product. Repeat, they’re currently interested in what you’re selling. It’s what defines “pull” advertising: Prior existence of user intent, and that makes a big difference. With PPC, you’re using the right tool to be in the right place at the right time – in real time – as long as you’ve got the right PPC agency partner.

OK, I Get It. But Why Does My Business Need to Use PPC?

The thing about digital advertising is that it has a level of tracking other traditional forms of media can’t match. We’re not saying don’t focus on those traditional efforts, too. We’re saying PPC is a touchpoint you don’t want to miss.

Why? Besides the fact it’s where everyone is, there’s nothing else that will let you track your performance as seamlessly, giving you a crystal clear picture of how every single keyword is performing. How much you’ve spent. How many clicks you’ve gotten. How many views of your ad. How many users went to your website conversion page. Even how many perused around the rest of your site. Most importantly, how your ad performance can be better.

What’s a Good Paid Search Agency?

To start, the right paid search agency is probably named frank. But the right paid search agency is definitely more interested in ROI than leads. Because, to be frank, leads just don’t mean the same thing as conversion no matter what the other guys say. And they’ll say a lot. So make sure you hear this:

• Your paid search agency should be data-focused in their strategy.Historical data is great, when it’s put to use. There’s no point to having data if you don’t know how to use it, or don’t use it at all.
• That said, it’s more than about historical data. Your paid search agency should look at it from 30,000 feet before getting down to the grit.What’s worked, what hasn’t, what their industry experience is, and what the competition is doing.
• Your paid search agency should be profit-driven for you.That means you’ll know how much a keyword is really worth – in actual dollars, not just in data. You’ll know that a good cost-per-lead doesn’t always mean sales.
• Your paid search agency should be direct-response experts.Their experience should be conversion generation. Sure, they need the bells and whistles; AdWords certification, Google partnership, that kind of thing. But they need to have the experience in direct in the first place.

How frank Does Paid Search

Now here’s where the fancy work really starts. At frank, we have a unique way of tracking user paths. A unique ID, to be specific. And every single keyword you use has its own. We call it the frank ID.

The frank ID lets us track each user who clicks on your PPC ad and follow them around wherever they go on your website. Even up to 30 days later. So if they’re purchase-shy but end up coming around again, you’ll still know it was that single keyword that got them there in the first place.

The Proof

Every now and then, we don’t mind fluffing our feathers a little. Because we’re proud of the great work we do for our clients. And it helps to show that we know our stuff before we get on the phone with you. Check out this case study on our online career school client who was looking to move to the head of the class, but found their online marketing efforts not quite making the grade.

Services used:
interactive, paid search, search engine optimization