It’s true, Pay Per Click is a great way to find the relevant target, stay within budget and get the product sold. However, that means everyone and their grandmother is trying pay per click, which means tons of other people using the same keywords and text ads as you. Bad news for you right? Not necessarily, if you’re using it right.

Let’s break it down. PPC works like this:
1. Someone chooses a search engine.
2. The person creates the text add.
3. The person specifies the keywords.
4. The person specifies their cost per each click.

(Here is where the potential customer comes into play…)

5. Someone goes to Google and searches for the keyword or key phrases.
6. The search engine places matching ads on the results page.
7. Someone clicks on that person’s advertisement.
8. The advertiser is charged the clicking fee and the person who clicked on the ad is taken to the respective landing page.

Many will tell you success of a PPC campaign is dependent on:
• Impression rate– the rate at which your ad is seen by a person.
     o One person viewing an ad one time is one impression.
• Ad position– the position of your ad on the page.
     o The closer it is to the top of the list is better
• Click through rate– (CTR) the rate at which consumers saw your ad and actually clicked it
     o CTR = # of people who clicked the ad / (divided by) # of times ad was delivered
• Conversion rate– the rate at which people act on your call to action after clicking your ad
     o Conversion rate= # of call to actions fulfilled / (divided by) # of times your landing page content is viewed

Therefore, these important questions must be asked when evaluating your PPC plan-

How many times is your ad regularly seen by people? (How many impressions is it making?)

Is the ad visible near the top of the page? (Is my ad position in the best spot possible?)

Is the wording of the ad actually going to make people want to click on it? (Will my ad produce good CTR?)

And, are the clicks that you’re paying for actually generating sales? (Are my landing pages and calls to action doing a good job to create the sales I want?)