Increasingly more businesses are seeking an online presence today. The increase of online shopping has led many businesses to migrate their products online, which has led to a surge in competition for products and services.
Learning how to use pay-per-click, or PPC, is a great way to add value to your company. With it, you can draw more traffic to your website, thereby increasing brand awareness. As more businesses seek to expand digitally, people with SEO skills are in high demand.
In this guide, you will find online resources, books, and relevant courses to pursue if you’d like to learn more about PPC. These resources will help you understand how PPC can add value to a business.
What Is PPC?
Pay-per-click is a model that advertisers or companies use to drive traffic to their websites. They pay the host of the advertisement every time it is clicked on. This is an excellent way to bring new visitors to your website if the organic reach of the page is low.
A basic PPC platform requires you to pay only when your ad has been clicked on. The most popular platform for hosting PPC ads is search engines. By posting your ad on a search engine, you can reach a certain demographic that would otherwise be difficult to make contact with.
What Is PPC Used For?
Building a PPC campaign requires that you take into account many factors, including which keywords to use, how to organize those keywords, and how to group ads for optimal conversions. Businesses, advertisers, and digital managers all benefit from PPC. Below are some of the main uses of PPC.
- Controlling marketing budget. PPC provides a definitive expenditure for each advertisement. Some other methods of advertising can make it difficult to establish how much you will be charged after your ad has run its course.
- Generating traffic. Through proper activation and campaigns, PPC can help your product move higher up on the search engine results page (SERP). PPC is an excellent way for beginners to win new clients from different demographics and locations.
- Bringing in profit. Displaying your ads to a target audience using PPC marketing can significantly improve your business. You can quickly establish a return on investment from the clicks.
- Boosting the ranking of your site. You can improve your SEO by using the right keywords. PPC ads will help you discover the most popular keywords related to your product or service. Then, you will be able to increase your SEO ranking using these search terms.
Components of PPC
There are different elements that form online advertisements. There are various ad formats for you to reach your desired target audience.
You can use the various components of PPC to increase your traffic and profit margin. For ultimate business success, develop a strategy that involves you using more than one tool. Below are some of the available components.
Search Engine Marketing
Search engine marketing is the most common type of advertising. These are created using relevant keywords that will cause your ad to show up along with certain search results. After selecting the keywords, you will set your Google quality score and funding to determine your placement.
Your advertisement will then appear anytime someone inputs a search query regarding your product using the keywords you previously selected.
Google Shopping
This is an excellent form of paid advertising for products. These items will appear on the bar above the Google search results in a carousel format.
Display Advertising
This type of advertisement does not depend on text. For example, you may find an image on one of Google’s partner websites encouraging you to purchase a product. Google approves these types of adverts before displaying them. They are instrumental in helping businesses build awareness.
Remarketing Ads
This is an ad that aims to re-engage your audience. Advertisements tend to bring in traffic from many locations, but these people may not be interested in purchasing your product or service. However, this is not a lost lead. It is possible to use the same ad to convert these viewers into customers. The cookies on a user’s browser may show them an ad again based on their search history.
Social Media Marketing
This is an excellent way to cast a wide net for new customers. The most popular social media platforms are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
From among these, you can choose the advertising platform that is the most relevant to your audience. Then, you can launch a campaign by customizing an ad based on the location, demographic, interests, behaviors, and education level of your target audience.
Learning PPC
The best way to start any new skill is by signing up for the best training platform. The best method for learning PPC will vary based on your preferences.
We understand that finding the right course can be a challenge, so we have compiled the information below from the best PPC course providers to help you in your selection process.
How Long Does It Take to Learn PPC?
It is hard to say how long it will take to learn PPC advertising, as you will need to study as you go along. Any person with a background in SEO knows that this process takes time. If you are a novice, it may take you months to feel comfortable enough with these concepts to be able to apply them in practical situations.
However, some students may be able to pick PPC up in a shorter amount of time. You should attend an online class, read books, or watch tutorials to gain a deeper understanding of the topics as you learn.
How to Learn PPC: Step-by-Step
- Obtain a PPC tool. There are a wide range of PPC tools available online. For example, you may want to use Google Ads Editor, Bing Ads Editor, WordStream Advisor or AdEspresso.
- Watch tutorials. Checking out online tutorials on PPC will give you a better understanding of the best tools on the market. You’ll get to know their potential impact, advantages, and ease of use.
- Enroll in classes. Online or in-person classes are an excellent platform for obtaining a new skill and for networking in your field.
- Read books. There are plenty of books on how to improve your marketing using PPC. These resources will help you learn PPC best practices from experts.
- Practice. You will become a better digital marketer if you use PPC tools frequently, so be sure to try your hand at a variety of programs to ensure that you improve.
The Best PPC Courses and Training
You should utilize all the best available resources to learn how PPC works. If you learn from the right courses and website, it can improve your career prospects significantly.
As demand for PPC knowledgeable workers increases, more classes have cropped up to teach business owners, developers, and marketers. We have narrowed down the list to only the very best courses.
Best In-person PPC Classes
There are many advantages to studying in a classroom. Students are better able to understand new concepts if they can ask questions of their instructor and communicate with their peers. Below is a list of the best in-person PPC courses.
Google AdWords for Beginners 2020
- Provider: Udemy
- Cost: $11.99
- Time: N/A
- Prerequisites: N/A
In this course, you will learn about the fundamentals of AdWords, managing budgets and bids, keyword research, optimization strategies, and how to create successful ads. The course is currently discounted, as it usually costs $129.99.
Ultimate Google Ads Training 2020: Profit with Pay Per Click
- Provider: Udemy
- Cost: $11.99
- Time: N/A
- Prerequisite: Website and landing page
This is an excellent course if you want to learn how to consistently drive traffic to your site, advertise products and services, remarket previous website visitors, and use conversion tracking to determine the value of an ad campaign.
Best Online PPC Classes
There are many courses available online that live up to the same standards as in-person classes. The list below features the best online platforms and classes for you to choose from.
Google Ads Essential Training
- Provider: AdEspresso
- Cost: $29.99
- Time: 3 hours
- Prerequisites: N/A
This PPC training course will help you learn about digital marketing and PPC basics, Google Ads glossary, Ad Copy rules and best practices, campaign and ad group structure, optimization, and bidding options.
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Complete Google Ads Course
- Provider: Skillshare
- Cost: $15
- Time: 8 hours
- Prerequisites: N/A
This course covers Google search ads basics, campaign and ad group structure, reporting and optimization, Google Display Ads, and how to create an ad campaign. It will also teach you how to install Google conversion tracking and evaluate the performance of your advertisement. This is a great beginners’ course.
Best Free PPC Courses
Don’t be dismayed if you can’t afford any of the courses listed above. There are also some free courses available to help you learn PPC. Below is a list of the top courses you can join at no cost.
Boost Performance with Optimization Score
- Provider: Skillshop
- Cost: Free
- Time: N/A
- Prerequisites: N/A
This is a great course to try out if you want to improve businesses by increasing your conversion rate. In it, you will learn about Google Ads Display, Google Ads App, Google Ads Video and Google Ads Search.
Diploma in Google Ads
- Provider: Alison
- Cost: Free
- Time: 10-15 hours
- Prerequisites: N/A
This is a great course if you’re specifically interested in how to drive more high-quality traffic to your site. You will learn all the skills and techniques you’ll need to make your business more successful and profitable. You will also earn a certificate at the end of the course.
Best PPC Books
Reading books may seem like a traditional method of study, but it can be quite efficient. These books below provide information that’s hugely beneficial in learning PPC best practices.
The Complete Guide to Facebook Advertising
This guide will help you create the perfect Facebook ad. The number of Facebook users is ever rising. This book will help you achieve higher conversions on your paid placements.
Google Ads (AdWords) Workbook: Advertising on Google Ads, YouTube, & the Display Network
McDonald has come up with creative ways to teach you the basics of Google Ads, keywords, search networks, and how to understand metrics and tools within Google Ads.
Digital Marketing in an AI World: Futureproofing Your PPC Agency
This book will teach you about how artificial intelligence is affecting ad agencies. Marketers must develop new skill sets to remain essential in a world where AI is on the rise.
Best Online PPC Resources
These online resources will be a great help in supplementing your studies on PPC. You will learn some of the existing best practices, and what to avoid.
Google Partners
This website has study guides and videos that will teach you all about Google Adwords and Google Analytics.
Google Adwords Community
This is the best website to check if you have any questions, challenges, or tips for others regarding Google AdWords.
SEMrush Chats
These Twitter chats usually take place every Wednesday at 4 pm GMT. In these chats, you will learn about PPC marketing from experts.
Google Inside Adwords
This is the official site for Google Adwords news, updates, and recommendations.
Should You Study PPC?
Internet usage is always rising, with an all-time high of 4.7 billion users recorded in October this year. Along with this rise, technology, digital marketers, and consumer behavior are ever-changing. It is inevitable that companies must seek a greater online presence to survive.
Today, there are over 1.95 billion websites searchable on Google. Competition is increasing, and people with skills in managing PPC ads will be necessary to help a company improve its web presence, brand recognition, and online sales.
So, yes, if you are interested in marketing, you should study PPC. It will give you advantages in your current job, and increase your chances of gaining new employment.
Google is the most popular search engine results page, and businesses and organizations will continue to use it to promote their products and services. Learning PPC will guarantee you job security in the future.
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