Everything About PPC Consultation & If It's For You

Did you know that PPC is the third-highest on-page conversion generator?

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It’s true. Since over 95% of consumers check the internet for local businesses (products, services, venues, etc.), it’s logical that they’ll click on an advertisement or listing that appeals to them.

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When an ad is clicked, it directs the visitor to the advertiser's website, product listing, or PPC landing page, generating a lead in the process.

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Yes, it’s that simple. And yes, PPC advertisements can lead to a 50% increase in conversions than organic channels.

Sounds like something you’d like to explore for your business, but not sure where to begin?

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Here’s a quick guide that’ll walk you through Pay-Per-Click basics and the why and how of PPC consulting.

What Is PPC?

PPC is short for pay-per-click. The full term is pay-per-click digital advertising. As implied by its name, PPC is an advertising model that requires advertisers, digital marketers, or business owners to pay a certain amount of money every time an Internet user sees their ad and clicks on it.

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Yes, for every click, the advertiser has to pay the online advertising platform responsible for displaying the ad in the search results.

List of Online Advertising Platforms

Speaking of online advertising platforms, these are the most popular ones being used today:

Search engine advertising platforms

Google Ads, formerly known as Google AdWords
Bing Ads

Social media advertising platforms

Facebook Ads
Twitter Ads
Instagram Ads
Pinterest Ads
LinkedIn Ads

Retail advertising platforms

Amazon Advertising
Walmart Ads

What Is PPC Management?

Pay-Per-Click management is the overall process of managing a business' PPC campaign or strategy. Alternative terms include PPC management service or campaign management, PPC consulting services, or advertising services.

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PPC management can be done in-house by a company's internal team. The company can also outsource the task to a separate PPC consulting services company.

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PPC management involves everything, from conceptualizing and implementing the ad campaign to tracking KPIs, maintaining partnerships, monitoring budgets, and even curbing click fraud.

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Doesn’t sound like something you have time to dedicate to? Then you need to consider the services of a PPC Consultant to help your brand or business.

Who or What Is a PPC Consultant?

A PPC consultant is a digital marketer that specializes in advertising. They are sometimes called PPC experts, specialists, advisors, digital marketing consultants, AdWords consultants, Digital Ad consultants, or Paid Search consultants.

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Came across Facebook Ads Consultant and aren't sure what that means? Think of it as a PPC professional who specializes in Facebook ads.

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PPC consultants, whether working alone or as part of a team or agency, typically perform the following responsibilities:

Plan online advertising campaigns.
Optimize their client's existing online ad campaign.
Perform keyword research and analysis.
Conduct competitor analysis.
Oversee landing pages.
Identify and analyze trends in online advertising, including keeping track of the constantly changing search algorithms of Google.
Maximize Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).

Does that sound a lot like SEO? In more ways than one, PPC and SEO are connected. But if you’re wondering how exactly they are related, check out the next section.

PPC vs SEO: Is There a Difference?

Yes, PPC and SEO are different. Each has its unique characteristics and set of advantages. And if you’re like most people, you’ll probably have spent a lot of time deliberating over whether PPC or SEO is better suited to your requirements.

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To set the record straight, one is not necessarily always more important than the other.

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Confusing?

Definition

"Pay-Per-Click" or PPC is an advertising model that requires advertisers to pay a certain fee each time an Internet user sees their ad and clicks on it.‍
SEO stands for "search engine optimization". Its purpose is to improve a website's ranking in Google's or any other search engine's displayed results.

Expectation of Results

Since PPC is a short-term strategy for generating leads, you will see results quickly.
SEO is typically a long-term investment since SEO results take time to manifest.

Duration

PPC usually involves campaigns that are relatively short or with a finite duration. But once a campaign stops, the results also stop.
SEO campaigns can be long-term. Similarly, results are long-lasting as well. An argument can be made that SEO is never-ending.

Cost Factors

PPC campaigns cost more money to run.
In the long run, SEO may be more cost-effective.

Stability of Results

PPC ad positions are prone to frequent changes.
With SEO, a website’s search engine ranking could remain relatively unchanged for a long time.

If you are considering utilizing PPC for your brand, here’s a list of benefits to help sway your decision:

How PPC Consultation can Help Your Business

Some businesses are hesitant about embracing PPC advertising. The most likely reason is that they’re intimidated by the complexities of this particular advertising model.

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If you can relate to that hesitance, we’ve got just the thing for you—the top benefits of PPC services:

Improve Lead Generation

The key to having better lead generation is visibility. You simply can't generate leads if your product, service, or brand is not seen enough by your potential customers.

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This is where PPC ads come in. With a PPC consultant properly optimizing the copy of your ad, your business should enjoy more visibility by being displayed on top of the search results page.

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As more Internet readers see your ad, the greater the chances of your ad getting clicked. And that’s how you can direct more visits to your website or product listing.

Increase Conversions

Conversions are directly related to how many leads you have generated through your PPC ad. Of course, not every visitor to your website will end up making a purchase, booking an appointment, or creating an account.

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But with a PPC consultant helping you out, you can plan better and then utilize effective and reliable strategies to invite more conversions.

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These strategies may include setting up optimized landing pages, crafting high-converting sales copy, or leveraging testimonials from satisfied customers.

Reach More Customers

You have to remember how big a deal it is for any growing business to be displayed on the first search results page. Given the level of competition expected for page 1 results, showing up on top of the search results is like having the biggest and brightest billboard in Times Square.

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This is where your PPC consultant comes in—they can be crucial in helping your ad reach a higher number of prospective buyers.

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Moreover, your PPC consultant can help you broaden your audience reach by using a Google Ads strategy called audience targeting.

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Audience targeting may attract the following specific groupings:

Affinity and custom affinity audiences. This refers to audiences that are grouped according to their interests and passions.
Custom intent audiences. These are audiences who have searched for products using very specific keywords.
In-market audiences. These are the folks looking for information about a product or service they are likely to purchase.
Similar audiences. These are users with similar behaviors.

Boost Brand Awareness

It's often difficult for growing businesses to boost awareness for their brand simply because the playing field is too crowded already.

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It gets more challenging when your brand shares keywords with far more established players.

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But PPC campaigns can bring attention to your brand through the highly visible positioning of your ads in search results pages.

Plus, PPC gets quicker results, which is something your brand can use when you're starting.

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It’s good to study the advantages of PPC campaigns, but there may be other factors that you need to consider before you decide to hire a PPC consultant. Let’s tackle these in the next section.

When Should you Hire a PPC Consultant?

Having a PPC consultant working for you has its advantages:

If you can't afford an in-house PPC management team.

As mentioned earlier, PPC campaigns cost money. Not only do you have to budget for the advertising fees in publishing your ads on one or multiple online advertising platforms, but you also have to worry about the salaries of the PPC professionals in your team. That is if you build an in-house team.

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That’s why it makes a lot of sense to hire a third-party PPC consultant. This is particularly true if you’re only planning to run a campaign. Once the campaign is over, you don’t have to keep paying the PPC specialist.

If you're too busy running your business.

Your business will require your full attention. This is especially true if you own a small or medium-sized enterprise, as you will most likely be juggling multiple duties.

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Now, if you have a PPC campaign in mind, you might not have all the time in the world to stay on top of it.

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In situations like this, having a PPC manager handle all PPC-related stuff should give you the space you need to focus on running your business.

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Let the PPC consultant worry about the ROAS while you concentrate on the overhead.

If you want instant results.

SEO is cool, and all but the tricky part about it is that you have to wait for a few months to see some improvement in the number of leads or conversions.

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With PPC campaigns, though, you should be able to produce instant results in no time. This is useful when you’re testing a new product or service and trying to gauge the level of response from your target market.

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As soon as your PPC campaign goes live, you should see results weekly, as reported by your PPC specialist.

If you want to outduel your competitors, including those who also use PPC ads.

True, running a PPC campaign can give your brand, product, or service an edge over your competitors. But what if your competitors are launching their PPC campaigns too?

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The great thing about having a PPC consultant at your side is that you can let him worry about the PPC competitors.

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PPC specialists possess the means to conduct a competitor analysis. How will this help your brand?

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For one, you can use the PPC advisor’s feedback to make adjustments to your PPC ads. It could be a slight tweak in the copy here or an extra offer there.

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The point is: You are empowered to make the right adjustments if necessary because you have an expert working for you. Now imagine if it was just you running the PPC campaign. You might be able to pull it off. Or maybe you won’t. Is that a risk you can afford to take? Nothing beats having a PPC expert on your side!

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Next up: A glossary of the most common terms used in PPC advertising.

Common Terms Used in PPC

You might encounter many of these words when you decide to talk to a PPC consultant or hire a PPC management services company:

Ad group

This is what you use to organize your ads according to matching keywords for your PPC campaigns.

Amazon Advertising

The online advertising platform run by Amazon in its web pages.

Audience

Also known as target audience, it refers to the users or type of users being targeted by the PPC ad campaign.

Bounce

Any situation wherein a visitor lands on your website and leaves without visiting other web pages.

Bounce Rate

The rate at which visitors bounce from your website.

Broad Match

It is a keyword setting that enables your PPC ad to display only when a user searches for that keyword or a variation of that keyword.

Clicks

A metric that measures the total number of clicks your ad receives.

Click Fraud

Refers to the intentional clicking of a PPC ad so that the advertiser will have to pay more. Competitors often commit it.

Conversion

Any completion of a goal set by a PPC campaign’s objective. A conversion could be a sale, a booking, a subscription, or even a download.

Conversion Rate

It refers to the number of conversions for each ad interaction. It is usually expressed as a percentage value.

Copy

Also known as ad copy, it refers to any text present in the PPC ad.

CPA

Stands for cost-per-acquisition. Sometimes referred to as cost per conversion, it means the cost of a user completing an action that directly leads to a conversion.

CPC

Stands for cost-per-click. This refers to the amount of money you have to pay whenever a user clicks on your ads. When used on CPC bid management campaigns, you usually assign a maximum CPC bid. That number denotes the most money you're willing to spend to pay for every click of our ad.

CPM

Means “cost-per-mille”, which means cost per thousand. This refers to the cost of a thousand ad impressions on a single web page.

CTA

Stands for “call-to-action”. It refers to any action you encourage users to perform, be it making a purchase, booking a reservation, or creating an account.

CTR

Stands for “click-through rate”. It is computed by taking the total number of clicks on your ad and dividing that by the number of times your ad is displayed (impressions).

CPV

Means “cost per view”. It refers to the amount of money an advertiser pays for a view of their ad. This is often applied to video ads on YouTube.

Destination URL

It is the web page URL where users will land after clicking an ad. The destination URL's domain should match the display URL’s domain.

Display URL

It is the URL that is shown on the PPC ad.

Exact Match

It is a keyword setting that enables your PPC ad to display only when a user searches for your exact keyword.

Facebook Ads

The online advertising platform run by Facebook within its pages.

Google AdWords

The original name of Google Ads, the online advertising platform run by Google.

Google Analytics

It refers to Google's free analytics suite, which analyzes data on PPC ads.

Headline

It is the first and topmost line in a text ad. Text ads are allowed to have three different headlines.

Hits

It is the number of times a customer lands on a web page.

Impressions

The number of times your PPC ad appears.

Instagram Ads

The online advertising platform run by Instagram in its social media pages.

Keywords

They are the words or phrases used by consumers when searching online via a search engine. In PPC advertising, you use keywords to indicate where your ads should be displayed.

Keyword Research

Also known as keyword mining, refers to the process of finding keywords that you can optimize for in your PPC ad.

Keyword Research Tool

Any software or online tool that can be used to conduct keyword research. Examples include Google’s Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz, among many others.

Landing Pages

These are individual and standalone web pages you have to set up in running PPC campaigns. These are usually dedicated web pages where visitors can land after clicking on a PPC ad.

Landing Page Experience

This measures the relevance and usefulness of your landing page for those who clicked on your PPC ad.

Lead

Any user who could be a potential customer but has not taken any action yet (they have yet to be converted)

LinkedIn Ads

It is the online advertising platform run by LinkedIn within its web pages.

Longtail Keyword

It refers to keyword phrases that consist of several words.

Negative Keyword

It is a keyword that advertisers normally don't want to incorporate in their PPC ad because it signifies low buyer intent.

Organic Search Results

These search results are displayed naturally on SERPs after a user enters keywords into a search engine. They are differentiated from Sponsored Results.

Pinterest Ads

It is the online advertising platform run by Pinterest within its web pages.

PPC Management

It refers to the process of optimizing and running PPC campaigns. Companies either create an in-house PPC management team or hire a third-party PPC service provider.

Prospect

It refers to any lead that fits the target market profile and possesses purchasing power.

Reach

The total number of people who can see a PPC ad.

ROAS

Stands for Return on Ad Spend. It measures the performance of a PPC ad.

Search Ads

These ads are displayed on the SERPs alongside organic search results and YouTube when a person searches for a business similar to yours.

Search Engine

A website used by people to search for information on the Internet.

Search Volume

The total number of searches monthly for a specific keyword.

SEM

Stands for search engine marketing. It is a type of digital marketing used to rank a website higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).

SEO

Stands for search engine optimization. It is the process of optimizing a website’s content to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).

SERPS

“Search engine results pages” is the page that lists the search results after a user has entered a keyword into a search engine.

Shopping Ads

These ads are displayed in the search results. They can also be viewed via the shopping tab.

Sitelinks

These are ad extensions that allow the display of other landing pages related to the main PPC ad.

Sponsored Results

Also known as Sponsored Links, they refer to any PPC ad shown on Google Ads.

Text Ad

Any text-based PPC ad usually consists of a headline, a description, and a display URL.

User Intent

The user’s intention when searching via a search engine.

Video Ad

Any ad shown in video format. They can be standalone videos or shown within other video content.

Visitor

Any person that clicks on your PPC ad and lands on your web page or landing page.

Get A PPC Consultant to Boost Your Brand & Grow Your Business

Hiring a PPC specialist can help improve lead generation, increase conversion rates, expand your market reach, and boost awareness for your brand through strategically placed PPC ads.

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These PPC ads can be displayed in SERPs thanks to various online advertising platforms that exist today, like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Bing Ads, Instagram Ads, Twitter Ads, Pinterest Ads, Amazon Advertising, and YouTube Ads, among many others.

Embracing PPC has its advantages, but you must also carefully consider factors like budget and the exact requirements of your business before you decide to launch a PPC campaign.

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A capable PPC specialist will not only handle the optimization and execution of your PPC ad campaigns but will also help you conduct keyword research and analysis on your competitors.

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Getting a PPC expert also means that you can focus on running your business while your PPC management partner takes care of all PPC-related tasks for your brand.

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elk marketing was recently awarded a spot on the Top Los Angeles PPC Companies list by DesignRush. We're also known as one of the Top Advertising Agencies in Los Angeles.

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