According to SearchCatalyst, an affordable search marketing company for SMEs, PPC or pay-per-click advertising is one of the easiest and fastest ways to generate leads if managed correctly. Although more costly than SEO – PPC involves bidding on keywords which vary greatly in price depending on popularity – PPC is an effective way of driving highly qualified leads to a specific site. So long as adverts and landing pages are tailored accurately to search queries based around paid-for keywords, PPC campaigns can lead to elevated sales and low CPAs.

PPC is a great tool for generating leads quickly for several reasons. First and foremost, by paying for keywords advertisers know even before the user has landed on their page, that they are interested in the content. Unlike other forms of advertising such as banner ads, which receive large numbers of page impressions but lower click-throughs, PPC ads are already preaching to the converted in a way. If someone is searching for ‘hotels in Paris’ and the site in question is for a Paris hotel users are highly likely to convert. On the other hand, a banner ad for a Paris hotel on a news or email website is less likely to see so many conversions.

Long-tail keywords, i.e. ‘sub’ keywords related to the main target word but less popular and therefore cheaper, allow PPC campaign managers to greatly expand the breadth of a search query. In the above example search terms such as ‘reduced hotels in Paris’ and ‘last minute Paris hotel’ could generate clicks but at a lower cost than ‘Paris hotels’.

Getting a PPC campaign right takes time and skill. Although many firms try to manage their own PPC campaigns, in truth it takes a specialist search marketing agency to make the best of a campaign. For companies that have already begun alone, SearchCatalyst can run a PPC audit designed to point out and fix faults to improve conversions. For those wanting to delve into the world of PPC, SearchCatalyst also offers PPC help and plans tailored to each company.