Internet advertising comes in many shapes and sizes. One of the more popular types of advertising or the more commonly used forms of Internet advertising is pay per click or PPC advertising. Some call this “cost per click” advertising (CPC) advertising, which is basically the same thing.
What is it? PPC is a keyword marketing form of Internet advertising that you pay for based on how many people click on your ad. So if you have an ad based on keywords, you will pay for that ad based on how many people click on that ad.
You do not pay based on how many people BUY something from you or take action; this is another form of Internet advertising known as “cost per action” Internet advertising. There is also a form of Internet advertising known as cost per lead or CPL advertising. These are all similar forms of advertising, but again PPC advertising is the most common.
Getting Started in Pay Per Click Advertising
The cost of pay per click advertising can vary from person to person and business to business. Generally how much you pay for this form of Internet advertising depends on how much you can pay for each click compared with how much other business owners are paying for each click.
Pay Per Click Pricing
Usually, different search engines set different minimum ad prices. For example, Yahoo! typically charges 5 cents per click. Keep in mind this is a minimum amount, and most pay per click ads cost more than this. You will have to pay enough to keep ahead of your competition if you want your ad to make you any money.
Internet advertising via pay per click advertising is not always inexpensive. In fact it can be somewhat expensive if you are not careful. You have to watch how much your clicks are costing and find out whether the cost if beneficial or prohibitive.
For example, some clicks can be very expensive. They can go up to $10, $20 or $30 or more for each click. Unless you are Donald Trump or some other multi-millionaire, the chances are high you don’t want to pay that much per click. So be sure you track your data and your results to ensure you don’t pay too much for any one click.
Most people end up paying less than $5 per click. Some will pay as little as 10 to 15 cents for each click.
