Pay Per Click
Updated: July 01, 2010
Definition: Pay per click (PPC) is an advertising technique used on websites, advertising networks, and search engines.
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Advertisers bid on "keywords" that they believe their target market (people they think would be interested in their offer) would type in the search bar when they are looking for their type of product or service. For example, if an advertiser sells red widgets, he/she would bid on the keyword "red widgets", hoping a user would type those words in the search bar, see their ad, click on it and buy. These ads are called "sponsored links" or "sponsored ads" and appear next to and sometimes above the natural or organic results on the page. The advertiser pays only when the user clicks on the ad.
Conclusion
Pay-per-click should be viewed as more of a testing mechanism to chart the conversion rates for certain keywords, rather than a complete marketing tool. Social media is playing an increasingly important role in online retail, so it may be in the best interests of retailers to tap the blogosphere for product reviews, with the caveat of full disclosure if the reviewer is receiving product compensation for his or her time. The goal should be to facilitate discussion about your products, and not to influence the conversation
PPC campaigns must be used only for high-margined product!
Finding success in the realm of eCommerce requires patience, diligence, and a willingness to be flexible and constantly experiment with new methods and techniques to improve rankings and conversion rates.
One of the fundamental aspects is the balance between paid and organic search listings. Focusing too much on one or the other is not the most efficient way to achieve optimum search rankings, but a holistic approach that takes focuses on the interdependency of paid and organic listings has proven to be the most effective strategy in the long term
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