PPC advertising has been around for a while now and has established itself as the primary model for advertising on the web.
Of course, PPC advertising is 'Pay Per Click' advertising, which basically means that you only pay as an advertiser when someone actually clicks on your ad.
This is different from paying for a fixed spot in a magazine or on a website because you only pay when your ad generates views. For the advertiser, this is a very good deal because it essentially means that you only pay when you are successful.
An advert that sits on a website not attracting any clicks will actually cost you nothing and you will thus be able to ensure that you get a very high ROI (return on investment). This is even more true if you use CPA advertising, which is in many ways the natural evolution of PPC.
CPA essentially stands for 'Cost Per Action' or 'Cost Per Acquisition' and in this sense, you only pay when your advert is actually successful in doing what it is setting out to do. You only pay for an ad that converts – giving you guaranteed returns on that investment.
Well, in reality you will sometimes still pay per click but even then CPA gives you a figure for how much each action is costing you – allowing you to calculate your precise profit margin. This is the metric that every advertiser should be most interested in. Essentially, this is the point in which the ad becomes profitable and if you only pay for that then you have a situation where everyone is guaranteed to win.
CPA is a relatively new form of PPC but it is one that is rapidly catching on for obvious reasons. If you want to evolve your current marketing campaign in a way that can only improve your ROI and if you want to get one step ahead of the competition, then this is something you should be learning.
And if that's your plan, then you've come to the right place!
