When it comes to online advertising, there are a lot of options to choose from. But when it comes to finding the right mix for your business, paid search should be one of your top priorities. In this blog post, we’ll discuss what paid search is, the pros and cons, and how you can get started with your own campaign. We’ll also take a quick look at the different platforms available and explain the differences between them. So read on to learn more about why paid search should be part of your marketing strategy!
What Is Paid Search and How Does It Work?
Paid search is one of the most effective ways to get your message out there. It’s relatively inexpensive, and it can help you build brand awareness in a short amount of time.
Plus, if done correctly, paid search can deliver immediate results for businesses looking to grow their presence online or offline!
But before we dive into why paid search is so great, let’s talk about what exactly paid search marketing entails.
Paid search (or PPC) is when advertisers pay for an ad placement on Google or another website based solely on whether someone clicks it. For example, if you’re running a campaign targeting “dog grooming” as the keyword, then your company will appear whenever someone searches for that term.
The result is exposure to potential customers who might not have found your business otherwise-which can mean more money in the long run!
So how does this work?
Well, there are two main types of paid search campaigns: those which use keywords (like Google AdWords) and those that don’t need any keywords at all but instead target specific audiences (like Facebook Ads).
The first type relies heavily on bidding wars between competitors-but this doesn’t mean it’s not worth your time! If you’re willing to spend the money, you’ll get more exposure than if you didn’t pay anything at all – and that alone can make up for some of those costs in terms of sales.
The second type of campaign doesn’t use bidding wars at all, so it can be a good way to build brand awareness without breaking the bank (especially if you only want people who are interested in your product/service). And unlike other forms of advertising such as TV commercials or billboards-which rely heavily on visuals and emotions that may not always resonate with viewers-paid search ads tend to have higher conversion rates because they target specific audiences based solely on what they’re searching for online.
Pros:
Targeting – You can choose which audience will see an ad based on demographics like age and location, interests & topics related to their searches or social media activity, etc., plus much more! This means no wasted impressions from irrelevant users.
Increased Visibility – Paid search ads are placed at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs), meaning they’re more likely to be seen than organic results.
Measurable Results – Unlike other forms of advertising, paid search campaigns can be easily tracked and monitored. This means you can see how much traffic your ads are generating, how many leads they’re turning into customers, and what the return on investment (ROI) is.
Cons:
Competition – The higher the demand for a keyword, the higher the cost per click (CPC). So it’s important to do your research and find keywords that have a good balance between high traffic and low competition.
Cost – Paid search can be expensive, especially if you’re bidding on high-traffic keywords. It’s important to set a budget that you’re comfortable with and make sure your spending is aligned with your goals.
Time commitment – Like most marketing activities, paid search requires ongoing maintenance in order to achieve the best results. This includes adjusting bids, targeting new keywords, and testing different ad versions.
Now that we know a little more about what paid search is and why it might be a good fit for your business, let’s take a look at how you can get started! The first step is deciding how much money you want to spend on advertising each month. This will help determine the type of campaign you should launch (keyword targeting vs. audience-based) and set realistic expectations for your results.
How to get started:
Research – Before launching a paid search campaign, it’s important to do some research on the keywords you want to target or audiences that might be interested in your product/service. This will give you insight into what people are searching for online, so you can create ads that resonate with them! Then, using the Google Keyword Planner tool (or another similar service), determine how much it would cost per click if someone clicked one of these terms when searching on Google AdWords — which can help guide how much money should be allocated towards each keyword bid price before starting out with this strategy.
Writing – Once the research phase is complete, you’ll need to create your ad copy and set up a budget for how much money will be spent on each keyword or audience segment (if using an audience-based campaign).
Monitoring – Finally, as mentioned earlier in our blog post about tracking results from paid search campaigns, it’s important that after launching any type of advertising effort you continue monitoring its performance. This way, if something isn’t working out well or needs improvement—such as bid prices being too high because they’re competing with other advertisers who are bidding on similar keywords—then changes can be made sooner rather than later so that money isn’t wasted.
ROI – Ultimately though, the most important thing is making sure there’s a positive return on investment (ROI) from this type of strategy in order for it to continue being viable long term –all efforts would just go toward paying off debt incurred during setup and not actually growing sales revenue over time, which should always remain top priority! This means tracking metrics like cost per acquisition (CPA), lifetime value (LTV) vs customer acquisition costs as well as other related KPIs which vary depending upon your business model but will typically include things like conversion rates, or average order value, etc. If any one of these numbers looks negative after launching then steps need to be taken immediately so that it isn’t wasted resources going into something which won’t benefit the company at all.
Paid Search Platforms
Google AdWords – This is a platform run by Google where advertisers can bid on keywords that trigger ads in search results or display them across its network of websites such as Gmail and YouTube, among others. This makes sense because people who use these services are likely interested in topics related to what you’re offering; if they weren’t, then why would they visit those sites? When someone enters one of those terms while searching for information online, your ad could show up at the top of the result positions depending upon how much money has been allocated towards bidding on each term relative to competitors bidding too.
Bing Ads – This is another platform from Microsoft where advertisers can bid on keywords, similar to how Google AdWords works. The difference here though lies within targeting as these campaigns are focused mainly towards people looking for something specific using search engines like Yahoo! or MSN (which both utilize this technology).
For example: if someone wants information about cars then they might type in “car reviews” into their browser’s address bar instead of going straight through one particular site such as Edmunds because it doesn’t have any new content yet today but might be updated later tonight with fresh articles that could help answer their question faster than waiting until tomorrow morning when an article gets published there first thing after waking up.
Facebook Ads – Although most marketers think of social media as a way to connect with people they already know (or want to get closer with), Facebook Ads offers another option: targeting customers based on their interests or behavior. For example, if you sell shoes, then maybe it would make sense for your business because those users might be looking for new footwear right now! This allows marketers to reach out directly through channels like Instagram Stories, where there will always be an audience waiting.
Twitter Ads – Although similar in nature marketing approaches and objectives vary slightly between different social platforms, such as Twitter, which focuses more on real-time conversations than anything else. so here we have less control over who sees our pushes but still have access to these conversations by placing targeted ads that can help drive sales from potential customers. Ads on Twitter show up as Promoted Tweets which is a way for businesses to get in front of more people without having to increase their organic tweets because, like Facebook, there’s an interested audience waiting that’s constantly growing.
There are many different platforms available when it comes to advertising your business thru paid search. It can be overwhelming at first, but if you take the time to understand how each one works, then it’ll make the process much easier! The main thing to remember is that these platforms are all designed to help you reach out to new customers; so don’t be afraid to try something new!
Conclusion
With all that said, there are also some downsides to using paid search. For example, if your budget isn’t big enough, then there’s no guarantee you’ll get any results, even though they may be more relevant than other types, like display ads.
But it can also work too: if the right keywords are chosen then this type should perform well because people will see it and think ‘that looks interesting’, which leads them down a path of clicking on those links rather than just ignoring them altogether!
And finally, paid search is much cheaper to run in comparison with organic content creation so more businesses can afford these ads as part of their marketing strategy. This means that we’re seeing an increase in demand for skilled writers who know how best to leverage these channels effectively by using SEO techniques such as keyword research or guest posting opportunities.
