Paid Search

A short term fix AND a long term solution.

Paid Search is a catch-all term for any form of Search Engine Marketing where the advertiser pays for a user action. The most common form of Paid Search is Pay-Per-Click Marketing (PPC), which was popularized by the Google Adwords platform. Other common Paid Search models are Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA) and Cost-Per-Thousand (CPM).

PPC

Pay-Per-Click Marketing (PPC) is just what it sounds like: a form of online marketing in which an advertiser pays when an ad is clicked. Google, Yahoo, Bing, LinkedIn, Facebook, and many other publishers have PPC platforms where advertisers can serve ads to users, only paying when the user clicks on the ad.

CPA

Cost-Per-Acquisition is a model where the advertiser pays only when the user "converts," meaning the user purchases a product, fills out an online form, makes a phone call etc. This model is not as widely available as the others mentioned here. It is a risky proposition for publishers because they assume all the risk so many will not offer it as an option. CPA models can also be costlier to the advertiser because the publisher will charge a premium in exchange for taking on that added risk.

CPM

In a Cost-Per-Thousand model, the advertiser pays for ad impressions, not clicks or conversions. So if your ad is shown a thousand times, you pay the negotiated CPM rate whether anyone clicked on the ad or not. This is the most similar model to traditional advertising.

Paid Search is a short-term performance initiative that can also be part of a successful long-term marketing strategy. By producing a great deal of data in a short period of time, Paid Search campaigns allow advertisers to evaluate things quickly. If certain pieces of the campaign are not working, these can be identified right away and removed with budget being shifted to more profitable areas of the campaign.

Smart Paid Search campaign managers are constantly testing new keywords, ad groups, ads, ad positions, and bid amounts, choosing the most effective methods, testing those against new methods, and so on. A Paid Search campaign, when managed properly, should get more and more profitable over time.

While most Paid Search campaigns are designed to drive profit, these campaigns can also be utilized for Reputation Management, Branding, and PR.

The eBoost Way

Over the last few years, as businesses have discovered the huge profit opportunity in Paid Search, the industry has become more and more compartmentalized and click costs have risen. Now more than ever it is vital to have a firm with the experience, knowledge, and perspective needed to drive your campaign profitably and sustainably.

eBoost Consulting takes a data-driven, strategic approach to Paid Search. The first order of business is to outline realistic goals and projections based on sound data. We then choose the Paid Search platforms most likely to reach our target customer.

We set up each Paid Search campaign to be a tightly knit, highly relevant grouping of ad groups, keywords, and ads. Why is this important? Google Adwords in particular places a high emphasis on quality and gives every ad a Quality Score between 1 and 10. If you show an irrelevant ad and send the user to an irrelevant landing page, you will have a low Quality Score and Google will charge you significantly more per click. After all, it is Google’s goal to serve relevant search results and that extends to ads. Their customers demand it.

On the other hand, if your ad and landing page are highly relevant to the user’s search query, your Quality Score will be a 9 or 10 and you’ll pay much less for that click. Not only that, but that user is much more likely to buy your product, fill out your contact form, or take any other action you want on your website. Relevance is a win-win for all.

By forming tightly knit groups of relevant keywords, ads, and landing pages, we are able to raise Quality Scores which means our ads show up higher and we pay less for every click.

With quality score established from the beginning, we have a strong foundation to build on. We then set out to maximize ROI by constantly testing and optimizing each ad group within the campaign. We are always testing and adjusting:

  • Keywords
  • Bids
  • Ads
  • Landing Pages
  • Budget Allocation
  • Location Targeting
  • Time of Day
  • Seasonality

At eBoost Consulting, our goal is to leverage both short term and long term initiatives to make the most of your business now and in the future. Paid Search is a great initiative for both immediate return and long term ROI, and helps establish a continued long term web presence for your brand.

Next Steps

eBoost Case Studies

Paid Search Case Study

A television lift mechanism company was higher end than many cheap competitors but was not yet recognized among its' higher end competitors. The lack of brand awareness was affecting web traffic and ultimately sales. ... read more »

eBoost Articles

Saving Money Through Increasing Quality Score

Your max Cost Per Click (CPC) is of course a factor but it isn't the whole puzzle, simply a piece. The formula that determines your ad rank is as follows. ... read more »

Did You Know?

Average order value from PPC traffic = $117.06