PPC In A Different World is Not Pay Per Click But Just As Important

The definition of PPC in search marketing circles is “Pay Per Click” – which is an advertising model, wherein a website and owner pays a set amount (bid price), whenever someone clicks on their ad. Google Adwords is such a business model, and mind you – representative of the biggest portion of Google revenue today.

PPC can also mean:

• “PowerPC” A range of processors developed by an alliance of Apple, IBM and Motorola
• Petroleum Planning Committee
• Program and Policy Coordination
• Personal Programmable Calculator or Personal Programming Center
• Pollution Prevention and Control

However, it’s important to define the word in context. The principles of understanding should not be assumed. The “seek first to understand, then to be understood” comes to mind. Try to talk about PPC (Pay Per Click) with the Pollution Prevention and Control people, and you’ll see a confused bunch.

So, why this crazy definition path?

I think that the PPC that matters the most to all of us, both in personal life and in business — is the Production & Production Capability (P+PC), – as stated in the 7 habits of highly effective people, by Stephen Covey.

I relate this to business specifically, where I see a lot of advertising and marketing tactics gone bad – especially over time. It’s not a set it and forget it, type o’ deal.  You need to continually test and grow your golden goose.

Mr. Covey talks about several key principles in the book, but the one that struck me today was about the Goose (Production Capability) and the Golden Eggs (Production (of desired results)).  A constant monitoring and management of balance is imperative for long term success.

Back to the world of ‘online’

For the real advertising assets (relevant clicks that bring leads) and the advertising system (Adwords) to work, you need to balance and watch efforts to results. For example, a rich budget and efficient system that produces clicks (Production Capability) but no leads to real business conversion (Production) will lead to a stagnant or worse, dead business.

Therefore, make sure you test and validate all efforts in your online advertising, and if using Pay Per Click systems, make sure to track your front and back end results. Testing landing pages, ads, conversions and tuning your copy writing are good places to begin. Think about AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire & Action).

Important: before you start, make sure you have a Golden Goose…and continue to treat it well.

Here are two great tools to validate your starting CPC and CPM advertising models:

1. ROI Calculator Tool
2. ROAS Calculator Tool

What things do you test in your online campaigns?

Do you know how much your spending compared to your actual return?

Related articles

• Pay Per Click versus SEO – Arch Enemies or Kissing Cousins? (searchenginejournal.com)
• PPC Ad Sitelinks: What They Are & How To Get Them (searchenginepeople.com)
• What is PPC and How Does it Relate to SEO? (ecommerce.suite101.com)