What if there was a secret to making your paid marketing efforts more fruitful? What if each coin used in paid search gave you more value? Do you want to be ahead of your competitors? Then, this article is for you.

With millions of businesses out there competing for the same clients, it’s never been more important to advertise online, and pay-per-click marketing is the most effective method to promote and grow your business. In this article, you’ll learn the basics of pay-per-click marketing, as well as strategies and tips for conducting pay-per-click marketing right.

What is Pay-Per-Click Marketing?

Also known as Search Engine Marketing (SEM), pay-per-click marketing is an online marketing technique that involves using paid advertisements that appear in search engine result pages (SERPs). It aims to increase your website’s visibility and make it well-positioned when clients search for a keyword related to your brand.

Why is SEM Important?

With the current digitization, the number of customers researching and shopping for products online increases daily. This is why SEM marketing is an essential online strategy for expanding your company’s reach. In fact, the highest number of new visitors to your website comes from search engines.

The greatest strength of SEM is that it offers you the opportunity to place your ads in front of your motivated customers who are willing to purchase your products at the ideal time. No other form of advertising can offer this, which is why search engine advertising is so effective and a robust tool to promote and grow your business.

Another advantage of SEM is that you only pay for impressions that generate results. This means that you’re able to account for every dollar your entity spends on marketing. A bonus is that each visitor incrementally increases your website rankings in organic search results, opening channels for more clients.

How Does SEM Work?

Search engine marketing uses an auction-based system where advertisers bid for keywords specific to the products or brand. Advertisers with the highest bids get their ads displayed first when users type a particular search word.

They use complicated algorithms to ensure that sponsored ads are highly ranked at SERPs to gain more visibility and prominence than organic results. Let’s assume you are looking for a particular product or service online. You go to a search engine and type the keyword for what you are searching for. On your search result page, you will find company ads with keywords that match your search.

These ads appear in relevant locations search that you will locate them with ease. The paid ads are particular to your search, making it more likely that you will click on them. For your ad to be highly ranked, you’ve to be the highest bidder of that specific keyword.

The Foundations of Search Engine Advertising

Keywords are the backbone of pay-per-click marketing. They determine which searches display your ads, meaning that you can easily miss your target customers without proper keywords to identify your products in the search engines. Using the right keyword also makes your ad rank higher and costs less.

It is why you need to conduct comprehensive research while choosing the keyword to be used in your SEM campaign. You can begin by making a list of the keywords specific to your business and those that prospective customers are likely to use when searching for your products and services. Once you have a list of keywords, the next step involves narrowing it to remain only with the appropriate keywords to appear in your ads. You can use applications and online tools to narrow down your list to the most competitive keywords.

Step by Step Guide to Building an Effective SEM Strategy

The steps to make your SEM campaign successful are straightforward:

• Perform keyword research

• Make a list of the keywords related to your business

• Create a search engine advertisement and set up your marketing campaign

• Select the most relevant keywords

• Design an ad that will appear in SERPs

• Select a bidding technique and a payment policy for each click you receive

Conclusion

Now that you know the basics of SEM, it is time to plan and design your paid search campaign. Initially, it might appear complex for you, but by following the information in this post, you will become an SEM pro with time translating to more customers in your business.