PPC, CPM, CPA or CPD – Know The Best Ad Type To Choose
If you are just getting started in Online Advertising, knowing the best type of advertising can be challenging at first. What this post will do for you is to break down the different types of advertising and their use cases so you can make better informed choices.
…so here we go.
PPC – Pay Per Click
This type of advertising allows you display your ads on all the sites on our network, based on your targeting preference (keyword, location and device type); while your account is only charged when a prospect visits your website from your ad, based on interest. The beauty about this type of advertising is that you enjoy 2 services at the cost of one, such that:
1. You consistently have your ads displayed – buying mindshare at no cost
2. You only pay for clicks which are gotten from people interested in what you are offering.
So in other words, you don’t pay to have your ads displayed – which is free advertising in a sense; you only pay when someone interested in your offer clicks on your ads. So no clicks on your ads, no charge to your account and yet you still get to display your ads for free.
Below are five traits of businesses that usually see great results and strong ROI from paid search marketing. If any of these apply to your company and you’re not yet engaging in PPC Advertising, this marketing channel is worth exploring.
High Customer Lifetime Value
Some industries can afford to spend quite a bit acquiring new leads and customers because the lifetime value of a new client is so high. For example:
- Multi Level Marketers and other industries like banks etc: When a marketer acquires a new client, they can potentially be worth thousands or even tens of thousands of naira over the course of many years, especially if they go on to refer more clients.
- Specialized Medical Services: Professional medical services or even herbical medical services with proven results that are rare to come by are perfect for PPC Advertising as the prospects who take on these offers go on to testify about the potency of the service.
- Colleges & online degree programs – Universities spend a lot on PPC because a new student is worth a lot over the course of his/her education. The same applies for other types of training programs.
- Cable and Internet service providers, utilities – People tend to stick with one provider of phone, cable, or Internet service and pay that monthly bill for a long time. Any recurring service (subscription-based software, for example) could fit the same model.
High Margins
Sometimes it’s not about “lifetime value” so much as the high margins on a single purchase. Think relatively big ticket items like:
- Lawsuits – A lawyer can make a lot of money off a single case, which is why keywords like “personal injury lawyer” are so expensive – even if that client only needs your services for the one lawsuit, the margins can be very high.
- Construction Companies – The service offered here can be very expensive, so catching someone who needs this kind of work done can be a big win.
- Computer equipment – Servers, copiers, etc.
- Home Appliances – These days people usually do comparison-shopping online before buying something like a washer and dryer. Same goes for purchases like mattresses and large furniture.
- Cars – We’ve seen used car franchises have a lot of success with geo-targeted PPC.
Hard-to-Find Products
If your e-commerce business carries products that aren’t easy to find just by walking into a Mall like Shoprite or Game, you’re probably a good candidate for PPC advertising. People often use search engines to find weird items that aren’t carried in many brick and mortar stores, such as unusual hobby supplies or rare records.
Diverse Array of Products
Retailers like Amazon (which spent over $55 million on AdWords in 2011) and eBay ($42.8 million) that carry a wide array of products have found a lot of success with PPC. Often, retailers like this advertise on tens of thousands of keywords, paying a small amount per click by bidding on long-tail keywords or using dynamic keyword insertion. Long-tail keywords have lower competition and, accordingly, lower costs per click, so advertisers can turn a profit even on lower-cost items.
CPA – Cost Per Click
With this type of advertising, your account is only billed when the action you desire is taken by your customer.
This action can be when someone registers on your website or when a customer purchases a product from your site etc.
CPM – Cost Per Impression
With CPM, your account is billed anytime your ads are displayed 1000times irrespective of how many clicks it gets.
This type of advertising is perfect for those who don’t have a website and want to promote an upcoming event or their business, where they display their contact details.
CPD – Cost Per Day
Cost Per Day ads (also known as Sponsored Ads) is a much precise form of advertising where you are charged daily to place your ads on Publishers’ sites. This type of advertising is best for niche sites with good readership.
For instance, if you sell car accessories or even cars, it makes logical sense to have your ads run on a blog that writes primarily about cars and has good readership. Ads placed on niche sites are more likely to have more conversions that ads displayed on non-niche sites.
So using the CPD model will allow you display your ads on the space the Publisher has put up for sale for the duration you want.
You can visit our Sponsored Ads Marketplace and go through the sites listed there with the details of their ad spaces.
Once you identify a site you are willing to engage on a CPD basis, pay for the ad space through your NG Adverts advertiser account. We are only umpires making sure that you the advertiser get value for your ad spend and the Publisher gets paid to display your ads.
So there you have it; which from the list are you likely to go for?
