So you’ve finally decided to promote your business online. Now that you’ve finally decided to tap into the most effective business marketing media in the world, you need to know about some of the most cost effective means of promotion. Pay Per Click promotion is just what it sounds like.

How It Works

Pay Per Click promotion, such as Google Ad Words and Facebook ads, allow you to “bid” on a per click basis. Simply put, you:

• Set Your Bid Limit – bid on a specific amount that you are willing to spend on a click, let’s say $1.50. In this scenario, your ads will show up on the site (typically Facebook or Google, depending on where you start your promotion), however, you won’t pay a penny unless a user clicks on your advertisement and actually visits your site. So unlike a newspaper or magazine ad, you don’t pay a penny unless your advertisement actually draws traffic to your site.
• Set Your Spending Limit – If you’re afraid that your campaign might be TOO successful, no worries. Google Adwords allows you to set a specific daily spending limit, while Facebook allows you to set a campaign limit. So with Facebook, if you decide that you only want to spend $75 for this promotion, then Facebook will automatically end your promotion when you’ve set your spending limit.
• Target Your Audience – Have you ever noticed that the advertisements that you see on your Facebook profile are typically related to your interests? If you’re a hunter, and you include this information in your Facebook activities, then you’re likely to see advertisements of interest to you. Football fan? Christian single? Musician? Love gardening? You’re likely to notice that the ads that you see are targeted to you. As a potential advertiser, this could be of great interest to you, because you know that your promotion will be seen by those people who are interested in your products and services.
• Demographics – Are you a landscaper, hair stylist, auto technician, etc? Even though Facebook and Google are national and international websites, you probably wouldn’t be interested in promoting your services to someone half way across the country. As a web developer, I have clients in multiple cities and states. I have clients that I have never met, so geographic location doesn’t mean as much to me as it would to a business owner who needs to physically interact with his/her clients and customers. For this reason, PPC promotions also allow you to target your specific states, cities, and zip codes.

Help With SEO

One of the most powerful ways to raise your rank on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing, is to have high quality sites linking TO you. It’s kind of like high school!!! If the cool kids like you, and they all know your name, then you’re popular. If you’re the quiet kid who sits in the back of the room, then you may go through your entire high school career without anyone even knowing that you exist. Search engines see your website the same way. If other websites value your site enough to link TO you, then you’re seen as more valuable and more important. For this reason, PPC promotions can be a great way to make more links, or in-roads, to your site.

Is It Worth It?

You’re on the Internet right now! You’ve found this very page because somehow I’ve used the Web to get your attention.

• Consumers spend more and more time online, shopping, browsing, chatting, interacting.
• Online shopping is quickly catching up with in store shopping, because of the security, reliability, and convenience of shopping online.
• The Internet provides you, as a business owner, with an unprecedented ability to promote your business with pinpoint accuracy toward your target market. Not only that, but you have the ability to use means previously unavailable, such as video, animation, and graphic design.
• Unlike television advertising, your website is available 24 hours, 7 days a week, and your promotion will allow your users to interact directly with you.