Understanding Cost Per Click Advertising

Cost per click advertising is often abbreviated as simply CPC, or CPC advertising. All three of these terms mean the same thing. Cost per click is a newer term that is used by companies to describe a method of herding customers towards websites, starting with where those customers typically like to go online, and ending up at the websites the marketers wish to direct the customers to. Some companies even offer tutorials to their clients for how to conduct cost per click advertising campaigns, such as Click Booth 101 and other similar programs. Because cost per click advertising is cost effective, it has become a popular choice for solopreneurs and small businesses to drive customer traffic towards their websites and online stores. Here, gain a better understanding of cost per click advertising and decide if CPC is the right strategy for achieving your business goals.

How CPC Advertising Works

Cost per click advertising is simple in premise, if slightly more complicated in execution. Most businesses start by identifying who their ideal customer is. Next, they identify where their target customer base most frequently can be found online. Large social media platforms such as Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, and others are popular places to conduct cost per click advertising campaigns, and many of these platforms have built-in mechanisms to set up CPC campaigns to fit any budget. For more specialized cost per click campaigns, it may be necessary to identify where a group of target customers congregate, such as on a website that attracts a high volume of accounting students or professionals, and set up a cost per click campaign by advertising on that website to drive traffic back to your own website or online store. These types of campaigns often deliver a higher result in customers per dollar because they are so targeted towards a group of people who are more likely to become your customer. If you see phrases like “sponsored link”, “sponsored ad” or other similar terms in the margins of your internet browser, then understand that what you are looking at is an example of CPC advertising at work in real time.

Setting Your CPC Campaign Budget

There are a number of major internet search engines that have become very popular for their cost flexibility when conducting cost per click campaigns. Google AdWords, Microsoft adCenter, Yahoo! Search Marketing, Facebook and MySpace are all examples of major online portals that offer micro-campaign capability where you can set your budget by click, by day, by month, or other targeted means to control your advertising costs. This means that advertising is no longer out of reach for even the smallest business or newest solopreneur. You can monitor your costs as you monitor your results, adjusting your advertising strategy as you see what works and what doesn’t work well to reach your target customers. Best of all, most of these campaigns allow you to cancel at any time, or within a few days’ time, so if you discover that a campaign isn’t working well, you don’t have to spend money you won’t see a return on.

 

About the author:

Sally Marensky is an internet entrepreneur who has been on both sides of the fence when it comes to internet marketing. As a customer, she is a savvy shopper who knows how to target her customers online. As a consultant, she advises solopreneurs and business owners for how to build a profitable online presence.


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