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You Down with CPC?

December 9th, 2009

By Matt Cook
Point.Click Media

Most businesses owners would agree that advertising budgets can be a pain to manage. “How much should I be spending on advertising? Where should I be advertising? What mediums? What campaigns?” The list goes on. What a lot of people don’t realize is the research that needs to be performed before you ever think about putting your campaign together. Luckily Google has all the tools at your disposal to operate and manage your own web-based advertising campaigns, and allow you to pay as much or as little as you want.

Did he just say what I think he did?

I sure did. Google Adwords is a web-based revenue generating and revenue sharing advertising tool used to drive traffic to your website. You’ve likely seen them around, possibly without even knowing it. Adwords allows its users to specifically target their demographics and maintain all aspects of their advertising campaigns. This is great for not only helping to identify your market, but the Cost-Per-Click method employed by Google Adwords means you can set a minimum or maximum budget and operate anywhere in between.

So how does this Cost-Per-Click stuff work anyway?

As an AdWords account holder, you may purchase Google ads on a Cost-Per-Click measure. What this means is that you only pay when someone clicks on your ad and visits your webpage. The system works by bidding on selected keywords and having your ads displayed when users type in these particular keywords as a Google search term. The ads may also appear on various websites related to the keywords chosen. Here’s an example:

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As you can see, by searching for the keyword “watch hockey online” there are a slew of different advertisers who have bid on this keyword that show up next to the Google search results. Subsequently if I go to a website that deals with watching hockey online, I can also see that these same advertisers are carried over. That’s a lot of exposure!

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So what does it cost… really…?

It’s no word of lie that you can spend as much or as little as you want. Even if you have $1.13 left over from your coffee this morning, you can use that as your budget. Google allows you to pause or stop your campaign at any time. The best practice is to use Google’s keyword search tool to identify keywords with high search volumes but low advertiser competition rates. After all, you are bidding for position with everyone else.

Depending on your industry and/or product, the average cost for each click on your ad usually ranges anywhere from 10 cents to 50 cents for properly researched keywords. Some markets however can be extremely competitive. The real estate industry for example can pay upwards of $20 per click. PER CLICK, depending on the keyword.

For instance, how many real estate agents in North America are bidding on the keyword “real estate”? A LOT. That’s a lot of competition driving up your CPC (Cost-Per-Click) rates. Now, there are likely substantially fewer bidders for the term “real estate New Brunswick”, and even less for “real estate Moncton”. The more you target those keywords before you bid on them, the better deal you’ll get. Google has all the tools for you. Make sure you put them to good use.

If you figure an average of 25 cents per click, even with a $10 budget that’s 40 new potential customers who have displayed genuine interest by clicking your ad and visiting your website, unlike many advertising mediums that tend to throw out the largest net possible in hopes of catching a few fish. With Google Adwords you only pay for results. What more can you ask for?

If this introductory article on Google Adwords has piqued your interest, I highly recommend visiting the Google Adwords information page to learn more about the Adwords model.

If you’re looking at marketing your business on the web and are intrigued at the prospects of Google Adwords, contact Point.Click Media.

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Posted in Web Tools on December 9th, 2009

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