What is PPC?
Pay per click (PPC) is an online advertising model that allows you to pay in order to be listed on the top of search engines like Google and Yahoo.

  How it Works:
With PPC, you bid on “keywords” that your potential customers are using when they are searching for your products or services online. For example, if you own a massage therapy practice in the Bay Area, you would bid on the keywords “massage therapist San Francisco.” When the potential customer types those keywords, they will see your ad displayed on top of the search page. If they click on your ad, they will be taken to your website.

  The Benefits of PPC:

1. Targeted Reach: PPC gives small businesses the ability to catch people when they are actively looking for their products and services online. Businesses can target people on a local, regional or national level.
2. Control Cost: The business pays only when users actually click on their ads. PPC also gives businesses the flexibility to change their advertising budget on the fly, so they can start off slow and expand as they see results.
3. Flexibility: Unlike traditional advertising where you put a message out there and hope that it works PPC gives you the flexibility to modify your keywords, ads & message until you achieve optimum results.

  PPC Pitfalls:
As great as Pay Per Click seems its also a very dangerous territory to get into for small businesses that don’t have the expertise in running an effective campaign. As more and more businesses are advertising via PPC there is far more competition today than even a year ago. Small businesses that want to run their own campaign or have a novice running their campaign could easily find themselves wasting thousands of dollars without receiving a proper return on their investment.

  The Nextstep Advantage:
Next Step offers several PPC management options to fit the unique needs of each client. Next Steps PPC service includes setting the strategy, including budget, profit margin per sale, cost-per-lead (CPL), and return on investment (ROI) for each client. Next Step offers monthly reports on clicks, leads, and sales with a plain English explanation of the numbers so clients can track the effectiveness of their campaigns.

• Central focus on conversion, not just traffic. If the campaign is not converting, we investigate why and test different approaches or recommend changes outside the campaign to ensure conversion.
• Experience. We’re not newbies to the game of internet marketing. We’ve been managing a variety of campaigns since the dawn of PPC. We know what works and what doesn’t.
• Up-to-date. We always stay on top of the latest internet marketing research and techniques to continually improve your PPC campaign.

  Download our Pay Per Click Plans to learn more (pdf)