Article Surfing Archive

If you are a website owner that allows Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising on your site, but there doesn't seem to be much return this article will try to explain a few reasons why.

First, let's review what PPC is for those who may be unfamiliar with the term. PPC is a type of advertising that businesses purchase when they want focused advertising that has potential to bring traffic to their website.

The PPC ad itself is rather small and may feature less than fifteen words with no graphics. Part of the ad is in a separate color and underlined. This is the location visitors will click to visit the business link featuring a product they may be interested in. It can appear like all links within your page design.

Many businesses will use PPC ads on their website as a means of offsetting costs associated with site upkeep. Certainly websites with lots of content enjoy the premise behind PPC advertising.

The idea is simple; sign up for a PPC account and allow ads to be placed on your site. When someone clicks the ad you get some money in your account.

However, there is a problem with this concept. The predominate dilemma is if your site has relatively few visitors PPC companies may not credit your account even if someone clicks on the PPC ads. If your website is new and hasn't really taken off yet you may not experience much benefit from placing PPC ads on your site.

Another problem some websites have with PPC is in ad placement. If visitors see your ads in the typical ad locations they are likely to ignore them. This is why you see major website experimenting with alternate ad locations. They also use this idea on those little notice that allows you to skip an ad screen that many websites use to start your online visit (you'll notice that skip welcome screen never seems to be in a standard location, nor do they feature standard color or font size).

You should consider making the PPC advertising part of your content. Adjust the font and color of the PPC ads to match the color and fonts of your text. In many cases readers will simply assume this is extra information about whatever it is you are talking about. If you've focuses well enough on your keywords the PPC ad will directly relate to the text.

The last tip for PPC ad placement is related to the previous tip. Work to blend your PPC ads with your site design. In many cases PPC ads stick out like a sore thumb in site design. They should blend ' not clash.

I have never been a big fan of PPC ads for use by a business that will likely get great results from solid Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies. However, for those who accept PPC ads it can be a positive financial experience. You just need to remember to market your site well to bring in substantial site visitors and then work to make PPC ads look like they are part of your content and less a part of standard web based advertising.