So it’s the evening after a long day at work, perhaps even a long week at work.  You decide you’re going to treat yourself to that one item you’ve wanted for ages.
Why not? It’s been a long week after all!
So you open up that Google search and quickly tip tap the magic key words that will bring you what your heart desires.
Up it pops in front of you; the Google search results.
Your options.
What you’ll have is the top ten search results that Google believe are most relevant to the term you’re looking for.  Geeks like me will call those ‘organic results’.  This is because they’ve naturally ranked there.
Above those you’ll see one, two, maybe three results in an advertising section.
To the right of your screen you might also see more search results.
These are known as PPC adverts – nothing technical here – they are there because those websites are paying for each time someone clicks on their advert.
Pay Per Click advertising can be a valuable tool for local businesses and here’s how and why.

New websites and businesses

If you’re a new business or website you’ll be the new kid on the block in a variety of ways.  Think of it from a search engine’s perspective; your competitor has been around for ten years, it’s a known quantity and yours is new.  It’s going to take time to understand what you’re about, to trust you and also to know you’re out there.
You’re simply not going to immediately compete with those more established websites.  There are ways you can reduce the time it takes but in the meantime PPC advertising can be a useful tool to give you visibility where Google isn’t yet ready.
This will be artificially putting your new business in front of new customers, which is what every new business wants and needs!

Capitalise while SEO work is coming to fruition

SEO (search engine optimisation) work takes time to have an impact and come to fruition.  This is because Google takes time to understand the changes and activity you’re undertaking and reflect on how that impacts where you should be ranking.
This can be one to three months in order for full results to be felt so during that time it may be prudent to also undertake PPC advertising, tapering off your expenditure as time goes by and your organic rankings increase.
This will give you greater visibility over a greater length of time.

You can’t rank for everything

Unfortunately no website can rank for absolutely every key phrase that counts.  If you try to rank for everything you’re more likely to begin ranking averagely across the board; think of this as being a Google Jack of all words, master of none.
You need to have focus and PPC advertising can fill in the gaps left by that focus.  In this circumstance you’ll end up ranking higher for certain key phrases and advertising for others.
Overall visibility will be increased.

You can’t conceivably rank for those phrases

Sometimes competition is too fierce to rank.  In these circumstances you’ll need to assess how much a click is worth and weigh that up against the expenditure you’ll need to exert in order to rank for the phases organically.
If you’re up against national players or others with big budgets PPC will sometimes be able to give you visibility that otherwise would be prohibitive to achieve.

Seasonal and tactical advantages

The Westcountry has a lot of industries that are affected by seasonal fluctuations in demand.  By advertising in peak and pre-peak periods you can give yourself a bigger slice of the pie and take advantage of that demand.  This can be particularly useful as a competitive activity.

Competitive activity

What are your competitors advertising? Search is competitive and you should always be monitoring what other people are doing.  Your activity should fall into two categories as a result of monitoring your competitors:
Reactive: Seeing what they’re doing and reacting to it in order to avoid them gaining competitive advantage.
Proactive: Seeing what they’re doing and moving into new areas of opportunity before they can.
No matter which of these methods your business is using ensure that you’re always keeping on top of your performance and analytics; don’t let it slip or you’ll be wasting budget that could be spent and utilised elsewhere.
For more information on how we can help you implement effective PPC campaigns as a local business please give us a call on 01566 784860 or email mark@mihidigital.co.uk