In December 2006, 6.7 billion searches have been made in sites such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. Millions of people use these search engines for all kinds of information needs. As a result, PPC advertising has become one of the fastest growing means of online advertising. Thus it could disastrous for any company to overlook PPC advertising in their online marketing and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) plans.

The basic idea of PPC campaigns is that you are only charged when a user clicks on your ad but besides this PPC advertising provides certain unique advantages which has added to its increasing popularity and its rising importance as an efficient marketing tool.

Some key advantages offered by PPC campaigns are:

1. Low cost and Immediate results: Compared to traditional mediums of advertising you incur only a fraction of costs in PPC advertising. Typically a PPC campaign requires a small budget to start with and in PPC campaigns since you are charged per click and you pay only when a user click’s on your ad. A campaign can be up and running within a day or two and once the campaigns are running your ads are immediately listed on the search engines, thus providing almost instant results.

2. Keyword Specific: PPC campaigns are keyword specific and thus you have the ability to choose keywords and phrases relevant to your company’s products and services thereby reducing the cost incurred due to irrelevant clicks. Apart from cost advantage another important feature of PPC campaign is that since its keyword specific you can get detailed information about the search volume for the keywords relevant to your business and thus helping you create better targeted ads and only attract those consumers that are interested in your products/services.

3. Getting Market Insight: PPC campaigns provide you option of promoting your products/services only to the regions of your business operation or interest. You can run your ads for certain set of keywords in particular region and for another set of keywords in another region and by monitoring your results you can gain insight into the market of a particular region or a country. This can help you identify new business prospects and also help you in shaping your future marketing strategies for a particular region.

4. Understanding Consumer Mindset: In PPC campaigns you get access to comprehensive data with regards what a consumer in a particular region is looking for and whether your products/services are relevant to them and satisfy their needs. It also helps you determine consumer mindset when it comes to your products/services. This can help you understand whether your products/services are in demand and whether you need to offer new in-demand products/services. Thus you can develop your business in more efficient way by offering only those products/services that consumers are looking for. So your business model can be more in tune with the consumer expectation.

5. Generating awareness: PPC advertising is also very useful for both newly launched brands as well as for upcoming brands. With specifically targeted campaigns you can generate awareness about your products/service as well the advantages you offer and that also to only those consumers who are interested in products/services similar to yours and in only those regions where your products/services are accessible. Thus it can help you build a brand image for yourself even before launching your product/services and also create brand awareness about your products/services.

Thus PPC advertising offers certain unique features making it more advantageous both in monetary as well as strategic terms. And since it can be designed according to your own business scenario and consumer preferences, it could be a very important aspect of your Search Engine Marketing (SEM) campaign and can hardly be overlooked in your internet marketing strategy as well in your overall marketing strategy.

About the Author Nikunj Parikh Visit:Search Engine Marketing (SEM), internet marketing,PPC advertising, PPC campaigns, online marketing