In the world outside the Internet, advertising is a thing of absolutes. If you want your business advertised on TV or radio, you pay for that advertisement no matter how many people watch or listen to it - or how many miss or ignore it. There's no guarantee that the money will be well spent. With Internet advertisements, however, a business model has appeared that makes it possible for every cent to represent added traffic and profit for websites. Pay Per Click Advertising, most commonly known as PPC, has become one of the most common advertising models on the Internet, and with good reason.
PPC allows you to advertise your website, business, or product, but only pay for it when the ad is clicked and you receive traffic from it. Thus, if the ad isn't clicked, you are not charged for it! By the same token, websites which host
PPC Advertising are paid "per click." For each person who clicks on the ad on their site, they receive payment through the advertising network they are associated with.
There are two different ways to determine exactly how much is paid per click - a set price, determined by the website upon which the ad will be displayed, or a bid, usually handled through advertising network auctions. The flat rate
PPC prices tend to vary depending upon the traffic the specific part of the website receives.
Bid based PPC, however, tends to vary in price depending upon the demand for the keyword the ad is attached to. The most commonly used
PPC providers all operate on a bidding system. Although other
PPC providers exist, the most commonly used include
Google AdWords,
Yahoo! Search Marketing, and
Microsoft adCenter.
When
PPC is purchased through an advertising network, which is usually related to a search engine, it is displayed when a person enters the keywords defined by the purchaser. This allows the ad to be displayed to its best advantage and ensures that it reaches its target audience. To learn more about
Google AdWords, read our previous post! At WebsiteBusiness.com, we are just here to help you get ahead with your site!
Above image from http://www.flamemultimedia.com/pay-per-click-advertising.html.
