What is Pay Per Click Advertising?
Pay Per Click (PPC) is an Internet advertising representation used on search engines, advertising networks, and content sites, such as blogs, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers bid on keyword phrases related to their target market. Content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system.
The websites that use PPC ads will display an advertisement when a keyword query matches an advertiser's keyword list, or when a content site displays relevant content. Such advertisements are called sponsored links or sponsored ads, and appear adjacent to or above search engine results pages, or anywhere a web developer chooses on a content site.
There are two primary models for determining cost per click: flat-rate and bid-based. In both cases the advertiser must consider the probable value of a click from a given source. This value is based on the type of person an advertiser is expecting to receive as a visitor to his or her website, and what the advertiser can gain from that visit, usually revenue, both in the short term as well as in the long term.
In the recent times there are many PPC advertisers in the market, however, Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter are the three largest network operators, and all three operate under a bid-based model. Cost per click (CPC), varies depending on the search engine and the level of competition for a particular keyword.
Advertisers are inclined to PPC advertising because it is simple, the advertisers have the upper hand in the control of their ad campaign and they get better feedback on the performance. The growing importance of online marketing makes PPC a significant ground for them to use and master.
Many large campaigns need to be planned ahead and managed well. It might seem simple but this is a way, where many companies waste thousands of dollars. The specialty of PPC advertising is the speed at which the advertiser can reach the target audience and the high quality of sales leads that can be generated.
Yahoo purchased Overture Search in 2003 October and renamed it Yahoo Search Marketing, which has a selection of specialized Pay Per Click advertising programs. These major PPC advertising programs offer an astounding reach to highly targeted consumers.
Basically, the advertiser pays a rate that is specified for every visitor who clicks through from the search engine site to the website .It is a very simple and quick process. Each unique keyword phrase has its own bid price. As with other forms of advertising, targeting is the key, and factors that often play into PPC campaigns include the target's interest which is often defined by few points such as the search tenure that they have entered into a search engine or the content of the page that they are browsing, their intent of purchase, the location for geo targeting and the day and time that they are browsing.
