Nearly all businesses now rely on the Internet for customers to find their business, and in an ideal world, to provide a steady stream of leads that turn to sales. Getting found now needs work, and the chances of it automatically happening are almost similar to a lottery win. And the rules are constantly changing (often referred to as search algorithms), to try and stay ahead of those trying to manipulate search results. You may have come across the need for 600 word articles, fresh content consistently added to your website, SEO (search engine optimization), terms like Domain authority, bounce rate, page speed and more. It’s given rise to a new profession of ‘web professionals’ and a new cost to businesses. Most businesses just want to be seen on ‘page 1’ of Google. But now with the changes to layouts on search result pages, especially as mobiles now rule, it all seems so ever much more confusing. SEO guys are now titled as Digital Marketers, who in addition specialize in the next confusing ‘icing on the cake’ of Social Media. So you now need big articles, search term optimized, regularly updated or created, tagged properly, and a Social strategy, specific for each demographic of users valuable to your business.

WOW!!!

So we see alot of disappointed businesses who simply throw up a website with an about me page, maybe a shopping cart, a contact form, then wonder why the phone isn’t going nuts.

We all ready about the profits of Google, Social media platforms (People are leaving Facebook in droves, buy profits are up??) HOW? Advertising. They are making money from the challenges of getting found without you spending money, and generally alot of it. Stop spending and you are right back to where you started. The most common is PPC or Pay Per Click.

When you advertise, the whole search algorithm, page content length, bounce rate, Domain authority etc goes out the window. Now technically you can reduce your advertising spend if the content really supports your ad, and people hand around for a bit on your web page promoted through your ad, but essentially, you spend, you get found, you get traffic. With PPC, you essentially bid for traffic. Bid more than the next guy, and you come up above them. And whenever someone clicks your ad, you pay. Now the often overlooked bummer is that not everyone who clicks becomes a customer, but you still pay. Stop paying, the ad stops, and so does your traffic.

So when traffic starts to come via paid advertising, you really want to consider a few things:
How many clicks to your page end up becoming customers, as a percentage of total clicks.
What ad copy is giving the best conversion.
What is the cost to get a customer.
How many times is a customer going to reorder, once you have them in your system.
What can you do to improve the above.
How can you collate and analyse the required stats?

This alone can be a full time position in your business. Outsource or in-house, it’s what requiring serious online business dictates.

Since most businesses have an online presence–should you use PPC to bring in more traffic? Read on to learn more.

Pros of Pay Per Click (PPC)

One benefit of PPC is that traffic increases instantly. There is no waiting for Google to start listing your site (somewhere in google-land) It can take years and a lot of time to make it to the top of the free search engine results. But, when you use PPC, there can be traffic. The question remains: how much is a website visitor worth to your business?

Ad platforms do provide advanced targeting tools, allowing you to target prospects using criteria such as location, browser, and operating system among many others. This helps target your ad audience to a specific visitor profile.

Another advantage of PPC is re targeting. These are the ads that follow you wherever you go online. Essentially, if a client or prospect has been marked as relevant to your business or keywords, then one of your PPC ads might show during their normal online query activities, even though they are no longer searching.

The online landscape is constantly changing. People are becoming better when it comes to determining what they want to find through the online search engines. Long-tail searches are being used. For instance, instead of typing a search such as, “plumbers” users might now type or save searches in the form of a question such as, “gas plumbers in Brighton” That would be a long-form search or a long-tail keyword. As the cost is generally lower, then PPC may be a good and profitable return on investment.

PPC can be considered a short-term strategy to get the instant business that you can add complement other online marketing tactics.
Cons of PPC. If you’re new to PPC, then you can quickly lose a lot of money. For instance, you set up a PPC campaign blindly, and your website receives a large number of clicks but they are not the type of visitors you want. The unfortunate part is you still have to pay.

Additionally, just because PPC may produce instant results, it does not mean that those results are the ones you want nor are they always easy to obtain.
Whatever route you decide to take, it is important to always keep track of statistics, especially progress and results. Ensure you are creating quality content in your website and landing page to engage and reduce campaign costs.

Have you already got a database of users to engage?

There is a great old saying… Mine your own database. Don’t leave free business on the table 🙂
So maybe a first stop for you may well be: Let everyone you know, know what you are doing. Ask for referrals, ask for likes. Use a system like Mailchimp to personalize and monitor email merges against your list of contacts.

Even asking for help can yield traffic. Ask friends to share your posts to their social accounts can exponentially increase your exposure. Offer free ‘how-to’ information from your website, available after filling in name and email. All contact managers ie Mailchimp, Instant Contact etc have webforms and links available to help build your database. Then set about warming the relationship with relevant, helpful emails. Often building the relationship can position yourself as the expert in your field and lead to conversion. Not an overnight/instant strategy, but sometimes you need to consider the ‘long game plan’ too.

and Associate for direct business and referrals!

When ever a user searches on the internet, competitors, ads reviews, and a pile of other distractions can interrupt a potential client finding you and not someone else.
Associate takes search out of the picture. We don’t get too clever at your expense. Share your Associate card with others in order prospects can directly click and find you and your business, not a distraction. It used to be that people would enter a full internet address into the address field in a browser. But given that doesn’t make anyone money, aside from the business, most platforms are designed to search in order to show ads. Even putting in a URL (actual site web address) most= often now returns search results. And before they even find you, users find ads.
So always flick or share Associate. Direct connection = less distraction, less clicks and therefore better results.