Here at BlitzLocal we implement many different tools to bring our clients the most business via the internet as possible. Among other tools, we customize  Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns to better suit our client needs. Many advertisers will reference PPC as common knowledge, but if the client is unfamiliar there’s no reason to let it slide.  I will be covering PPC basics so that there is no guessing involved, and we can all feel a little more informed.

First allow me to define some common terms heard in Pay Per Click.

Pay Per Click (PPC) – Advertisers pay a provider for certain keywords when their ad is clicked.
Cost Per Click (CPC) – The amount advertisers pay for each to bring one visitor to a website.
Keyword – A specific term that is searched on the internet. For example, a dentist would pay for the keyword “root canal”.
Bidding - Advertisers competitively bid on certain keywords relevant to their target market to advantage the client .

How to build a PPC campaign

Here is a basic example of how to build a PPC campaign. For this example I will use a local Denver Cosmetic Surgeon.  

First, we need to determine who the target market is. Using the cosmetic surgeon example, people searching for cosmetic surgery will be our target market.
Second, we create subcategories of our parent category. A Cosmetic Surgeon can do a number of procedures, the procedures we want to target for more business. Some subcategories for a Cosmetic Surgeon would be Botox, Laser Hair Removal, Face Lifts, Breast Augmentation, and Chemical Peels.
Finally, given all subcategories we can create keywords.  Keywords are specific to each subcategory.  Some keywords for the subcategory Botox may be “botox procedure”, “facial botox”, “botox doctor”.

When we are done building our keywords for the PPC campaign, the end product will look like this.

Parent Category: Cosmetic Surgery > Subcategory: Botox > Keyword: botox procedure
Parent Category: Cosmetic Surgery > Subcategory: Botox > Keyword: facial botox
Parent Category: Cosmetic Surgery > Subcategory: Botox > Keyword: botox doctor

Pay Per Click and Cost Per Click

Pay Per Click refers to paying a PPC provider such as Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter for certain keywords.  Obviously PPC campaigns are not free, so we must optimize spending to create the most efficiency when it comes to bringing in new visitors. Bidding on keywords measures the greatest efficiency. Weed out the bad keywords and invest in the ones producing results.  When it comes to bidding there are plenty of options, but an Analyst report stats and give you need-to-know information.

Thank you for reading the basics of Pay Per Click on the BlitzLocal blog. If this has interested you please look forward to a 12 Week Series on PPC coming in September.  With Scott Richter’s all around expertise prepare to have your PPC socks knocked off.

Original at Want to Build Effective Local PPC Campaigns? BlitzLocal