If you are growing your online business from scratch then the chances are that you are counting the pennies and always looking to squeeze the best ROI from your shoestring budget and like many you may think it is costly and Rejected paid advertising? Think again! it is more effective and less costly as you think

Why do you have a website or blog?  Whether you sell a physical or digital product, a service, or you generate income through affiliate sales?  There is no escaping the fact that whatever your business model is, every online business needs traffic to their website to get subscribers and sales.

The reason that big companies are pouring thousands of $ into paid advertising because it works. There are now more ways than ever to spend your marketing dollars and for a new business with a limited budget and the learning curve may not be as big as you think. Follow this blog series to find out more about Online advertising and how to get a good return on your investment (ROI), even if you are only able to invest a small amount.

Paid Ads are not just about traffic, there are a number of other reasons why you might consider using paid ads. You might run some paid ads to test your marketing copy, to see which performs best, for example. If your objective is brand building and you have rejected the idea of paid advertising? Think again.  Paid Your ads will show on the network thousands of times and with PPC (Pay per Click) you only pay if someone clicks.  but you won’t pay for all those people to see your brand.

Let’s look at some of the top places to Run Paid ads, which we can call PPC Networks or pay per click platforms, to get the best PPC results. The Term ad Networks refers mainly to Pay Per Click (PPC) ads. The cost is referred to as Cost Per Click (CPC).

You may hear the term CPM, This actually stands for cost per thousand not million (M is 1,000 in Roman numerals) but, most advertisers pay on a CPC basis.

There are two main  PPC networks, and you have no doubt heard of these:

Google AdWords dominates understandably as the oldest and most established ad network. It shows ads on the google search results pages (SERPs) and on a network of other blogs and websites. Maybe even yours? through Adsense, anyone can apply to run ads on their own sites. It is possible to make money from your own website or blog by joining the Google AdSense program. The cost of pay per click advertising on Google is related to the search results and is a bit different to paid advertising on facebook. At its simplest for Paid advertising on facebook shows adverts to an audience based on audience demographics that you choose whereas generally,  pay per click advertising on Google displays ads based on keywords

Google paid search comes in two main flavours textual ads and a banner network of display ads. AdWords tends to be the most expensive because they have so much traffic. But, so their ads can get really good results (if set up correctly). The system is quite complex but due to its popularity, there are lots of courses and information online to teach you how to use the system.

Bing, is the result of Microsoft’s merger with Yahoo!’s ad program several years ago. As you can imagine attempting to compete with Google is no easy task. So you can expect to get less traffic from Bing, but should not be ignored completely as it tends to be cheaper and a bit easier to use.

Do you know your PPC acronyms?

CPA: Cost Per Action. Also stands for Cost Per Acquisition.
CPC: Cost-Per-Click. Also commonly known as Pay-Per-Click (PPC).
CPM: Cost per Thousand
CTR: Click Through Rate
PPC: Pay-Per-Click
SEO: Search Engine Optimisation
SEM: Search Engine Marketing
DA: Domain Authority
PA: Page Authority
SERP: Search Engine Results Page or the text that you enter to appear on the results page

Social Media

You can advertise on social networks as well (Yes individuals and small companies too). Most of us have spent time on social networks, so are already familiar with their interfaces so creating ads on them is not difficult. Social Networking site’s ad programs are highly targeted, not surprising when you consider the huge volume of personal data that they can tap into to match your interests and habits to advertisers. This form of advertising is growing really quickly, but considering how targeted the audience for your ads can be it can provide a relatively low Cost Per Click (CPC). I have used this with varying success.

Facebook

The largest social network in the world and has an easy to use ad system. You can create ads easily even if you are a complete beginner. You can create ads based on your goals, such as getting subscribers, sales, or growing the number of followers.

Facebook ads offer some stiff competition to Google AdWords because the ads are cheap, the system is easy to use, and the traffic selection is more granular which can mean more targeted and all your ads will have an image. You can get the same amount of traffic for less compared with Google the only requirement is that is that you need to have a Facebook business page (which I would recommend anyway) to run ads.

Instagram

Owned by Facebook which allows you to run ads on Instagram or Facebook or both. You need quality images to help market your business. In most situations I would advise against trying to sell digital products through ads on Instagram, although this seems to work for tangible products facebook doesn’t seem to like it, and neither do the users.

YouTube

The video-sharing site is the world’s second largest website. It is also owned by Google, which means its ad program is run through AdWords. It allows certain formats of ads. These can include banner ads and even video ads.  It is now no longer possible to monetize your own videos (with other company’s ads) unless you have a significant following.

Tip: Use these sites for building a following and connecting with your target audience and use ads on these sites to reach more people. “salesy” Posts tend to get less interaction than a good image or a famous niche or motivational quote. You can then drive people to your site or offer, but always give first.

Twitter

Hugely popular with people of all ages. Twitter ads are similar to Facebook and Instagram ads. You can promote your twitter account for followers, boost tweets that have done well to get more traffic or create ads from scratch. It is also very user-friendly.

Pinterest

More than just a collection of images on a certain subject and therefore requires a strong visual. Upload an image and pin it to one of your pinboards. Then boost the post, share the board and so on. It is really easy to use. You must have a Pinterest business page to run ads. You can read more about driving traffic with Pinterest in this free eBook.

LinkedIn

Is a Social network for grown-ups is focused around work and business. It is used mainly for networking and job searches. Since it was acquired by facebook the tone and style of content and posts has changed. Running ads here could drive a lot of traffic, new customers and clients, and all sorts of new business-related opportunities. It may not suit every niche but it is a really targeted platform.

Tip: When advertising on Social networks make your adverts look and read more like posts than adverts. Pay for post boosts, it is cheap and can reach a large number of new prospects

Rejected paid advertising? Think again!