PPC Advertising: Highway robbery, or profitable tool?

If you’re in the real estate industry, you know that successful marketing can mean the difference between life or death. In order to survive, you need as many people as possible to view your property listings.

Marketing your business online is essential in today’s computerized society. There are many tools out there to assist you with just about every aspect of online marketing, but many of them come with a hefty price tag.

Before you go out and spend your hard-earned money, you deserve to know: Is it worth it? Let’s take a look at PPC, one of digital marketing’s most popular tools that also brings the best Return On Advertising Spend (ROAS):

What exactly is PPC?

PPC stands for pay-per-click and refers to search ads. It’s a way of getting customers to visit your site. Rather than attracting those visitors naturally, however, you are paying for them.

Every time your ad is clicked, you pay a small fee to wherever the ad was originally posted. Every. Single. Time. As you might guess, this can get pretty expensive.

So, why would you want to spend your valuable money on PPC when there are other (and cheaper) marketing options out there? Let’s discuss:

What makes PPC different?

Advertising can be tricky - especially when it’s online.

Most advertisements get thrown onto a page wherever there is room. This could mean your ad is posted completely out of context.

Your services as a real estate agent could be advertised to those who have no interest in even buying a home. For example, it could appear on Facebook next to a video of the world’s cutest puppies.

With PPC, your ad gets displayed to your ideal audience: people who are actively searching for homes at that exact moment. However, relevantly placing your ad is only half the work.

When a customer lands on your page, the content must be applicable. It must direct the customer to take the next step towards purchasing your service or product.

Khurram Shahzad, Digital Marketing Manager at InspectionGo , has years of experience in digital marketing. “PPC Ads are valuable,” he says, “but only if you are doing it right. And the most important part of doing it right is to have the right landing page with relevant content and call to actions. If you don’t, there will be clicks to the campaign but no conversion.”

But how can we know whether or not ad placement is actually bringing in business? There’s a solution for that, too:

Track your PPC progress

Because PPC can be so expensive, it’s important to make sure you’re actually benefiting from paying for it.

You can understand your PPC stats by installing an analytics system that allows you to track the online metrics involving your website’s traffic.

Google Analytics , for example, can tell you how visitors found your site (what website they were on when they clicked on the ad), as well as if that click resulted in a sale or lead. When you’re able to track what’s working and what’s not, you can knowledgeably invest money into PPC advertising.

Overview

Overall, PPC advertising can be extremely helpful in reaching your audience and growing your business. Although it may cost more than the average marketing tool, it can still produce a wide profit margin by ensuring your ad is relevantly placed.

Monitoring your PPC stats through an analytics system allows you to track your progress and invest money wisely. It can also help you to create a monthly PPC budget.

If you’re hesitant about implementing PPC advertising, talk to an expert. There are many professionals out there who specialize in online marketing and can offer you personalized PPC advice.