Did you know that, every time someone performs a Google search to find a new product or service, up to 60% of the results they find on the first page can be paid advertisements? Amazingly, out of the 10 search results that you will see on the first page, 6 of them, the first 3 and last 3, are available for purchase. This only leaves 4 positions on the first page open to you and your competitors for organic ranking and SEO. Thus the budget you dedicate to Web marketing will determine your market share within your main competition. For example, if a potential client searches for “SEO services for small business” on Google, advertising on the first page is a very good investment for us. So the main question then becomes, how much does it cost to advertise on Google? The answer is made up of many factors, which I will explain in this article.
The Pay Per Click Model
Google Ads is not the only way to advertise on the Web, but, as with many other services they offer, they are the best. Their most popular advertising model is PPC or Pay Per Click. PPC means that you pay for the visitors who actually click on your ad to visit your website, rather than the number of times your ad is viewed, or, as they call it, the number of "impressions." For example, if we advertise “Affordable Web Design Services”, they could show it 30 times, but if the ad is only clicked once, we only have to pay for that single click. The overall process consists of creating an advertising campaign for each of the services your business offers, then we select a list of the best keywords within your market. Each keyword represents a possible match in a Google search. The cost per click, or CPC, will vary for each keyword depending on the competition, the demand and your budget.
The Bid Process per Keyword
The pricing for Google Ads is comparable to a blind auction, where all the bidders submit sealed bids. For each customer search on Google, a lightening-fast auction is automatically started for the available advertisement spots. For example, if someone searches “Small Business Consulting Services”, and we have set our bid for this exact keyword at around $1, we will compete for the 6 spots available with our competitors' bids. If a business has bid $2, they would rank above us, and if 5 of them have set higher bids, then we may get into the last spot on the page. Determining the price per click for each of your services will depend on the market opportunities and the competitors who also advertise for that service's keyword. The goal for a business that is interested in growing their market share on the Web is to find the right spot to invest in, the right service, and, therefore, the right keyword.
Your Budget & Targeted Market
But how much does it actually cost to advertise on Google? As you can see, the pricing will differ, depending on many factors. When we launch a campaign for a client, it's an ongoing process, where we manage your account weekly to follow the search results and improve them. The most important and reassuring thing to remember is that you always set your monthly budget, so you will never spend more than that. You can also start a campaign for a few months, then, if you have enough clients, pause it. You can always start it back up again after a few months, if you need to. The Google Ads system is well crafted and is adaptable to your needs. It also gives us the tools to target a specific market by location, gender, income and many other demographics. Right now, Google Ads is simply the best tool on the market to help you get more clients calling, and it will only grow stronger in the years to come.
For more information about starting a Google Ads campaign, schedule your free consultation.
