Simply put, Paid Search Services is an Internet Marketing strategy where advertisers pay each time their ad is clicked, displayed, or a specific action is done in response to the ad. If you have heard about digital marketing, then, you must have heard of CPC, CPM, CPA, and CTR. If you have no idea what these letters mean, here’s a quick summary of their definitions:
- CPM: Cost Per Mile is the cost of every 1000th ad impression. You pay when your ad is displayed and seen by people.
- CPC: Cost Per Click is the average cost every time a user clicks on an advertisement. You pay when your ad is clicked. This is the most widely used and also known as PPC or Pay Per Click.
- CPA: Cost Per Acquisition is the cost every time a conversion is made. Conversion may mean a purchase, a download or a free trial. This is also called Affiliate Marketing or for commoners: Referrals.
- CTR: Click-Through Rate is the efficiency of clicks actually going through to the ads website.
These abbreviations are what you need to know when talking about your budget. But digital marketers don’t refer to ads based on how they are paid. Here are the types of Paid Search Services strategies and how they are paid:
- Search Ads: CPC
- Display Ads: CPM
- Affiliate Marketing: CPA
Search Ads
Search Ads also known as Search Engine Advertising and PPC. These can take two forms: Text Search Ads or PLA’s. Here is another quick summary if these don’t ring any bells:
Text Search Ads
Your ad shows as text or text link that professional marketers like JAF Digital Marketing will use to promote your brand or products. These are controlled by search engines like Google or Bing and your ad shows in their results page.
PLA
This stands for Product Listing Ads and is also known as Google Shopping Ads. The biggest difference with Text Search Ads is PLA is used to advertise products and the ad is displayed with an image of the product with product information.
Like what the name describes, your ads, whether shown as text or image, appears on search results. This is a great way for your business to appear on search engine result pages (SERPs). This type of advertising works well because search engines like Google will display your ads for potential customers looking to find your products and services.
A lot of businesses use Search Ads to promote their products because they work. Your company automatically appears at the top of the search engine results page when a potential customer searches for a service, a product you offer, or even the name of your competitor.
Display Ads
Display Advertising, on the other hand, has nothing to do with search results. They appear across different websites. While Search Ads target customers who are looking for the product or service you offer, Display Ads show up based on the customer’s browsing pattern. Display Ads is all about brand awareness.Â
Display ads can appear in the following formats:
- Text
- Banner
- Gmail
- Apps
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is a popular strategy to drive actual sales. Commoners may be familiar with the term Referral Links. This works by promoting a product and earns a commission from each sale. The sales are tracked via affiliate or referral links from one website to another.
Alternative to Paid Search Services
For small businesses, it could be daunting to commit to advertise on a wide scale. If you feel you are not ready to deal with major search engines, you can still build brand awareness by organic marketing.
While Per Play marketing is effective and widely used, a good organic marketing strategy can still be effective to put your name out in the wide web. Talk to us about search engine optimization (SEO) or social media campaigns. JAF Digital Marketing, a leading digital marketing strategist in the Philippines, can help you choose which marketing strategy works for you.
