Cost-per-click advertising (CPC), alternatively called pay-per-click advertising, has completely revolutionized the world of marketing and replaced traditional marketing campaign strategies on ink and paper. The digital age and its new practices widened the gap between a generation that grew up on traditional advertising and a generation that grew up entirely on the new advertising landscape.

In turn, brands and companies now need to build their presence in the online world and develop effective strategies to improve return on investment. One of the most effective ways is to increase user engagement through CPC strategies. But how exactly does CPC work?

What is CPC?

CPC is a common method among advertisers where they bid on the odds that online users will click on their ads when they show up on top of search engine results or appear on displayed ads on social media pages. This way, every click amounts to a set value and the amount earned depends on how many people click on the ad.

How does CPC work?

Your cost per click is the amount you pay every time someone clicks on your ad. Thus, for campaigns, the CPC is determined by your max bid, quality score in terms of click-through rate and keyword relevancy, and ad rank, which are the other factors outside your control. How much you pay will affect how frequently your ad is shown on different platforms. It also often depends on which ad networks you’re working with, such as Google Ads and social media CPC, which have different ways of calculating CPC.

What are effective CPC Strategies?

The first thing you have to understand about investing in CPC advertising is keeping your CPC costs low while raising engagement and getting the most returns. Here are strategies you can use to lower your CPC:

Be more relevant by defining your target audience

One of the most efficient features of digital marketing is that you can zero in on your intended audience, which makes for a more accurate and targeted type of advertising, as opposed to traditional marketing, where there are no guarantees that your intended audience is actually aware of your ads.

Defining your target audience largely raises the possibility of more people clicking on your ads. First, recall who your products and services were originally intended for when you first launched them. Are they exclusively for women? Are they most beneficial for students? Do they target specific communities? Consider every factor: age groups, gender, occupation, marital status, hobbies, interests, and afflictions.

Geo-targeting is also an effective campaign, especially if you’re offering products or services meant for specific locations. Some areas have different conversion rates, so it’s up to you to compensate for other areas of the campaign to maximize your visibility.

Once you narrow down your target market, your ads become more relevant and have a higher chance of being clicked on by your potential customers.

Do keyword research

Before setting a budget for a CPC campaign, do keyword research first to see which keywords have the highest volume and have the most bids by other competitors and the value of each keyword and their combinations. A good rule of thumb is to never settle on keywords that have high competition because you’ll end up spending more without being assured of a high return on investment (ROI).

Instead, set a budget limit after your research, and choose whether to bid on fewer keywords to run more ads or run fewer ads and bid on more keywords. This will depend on the quality of your keywords, the nature of your target audience, and the location and specificity of your products and services.

Bid on long-tail keywords

Shorter, broader, and more generic keywords seem like they’re more profitable because they cover a lot of content. However, this can be your undoing because it’s easy for your ad to get lost in such high-volume keywords because too many people are using them. Instead, finding long-tail keywords that are highly specific will ensure that your audience will see your ad first.

Long-tail keywords have lower search volumes, yes, but don’t necessarily mean that you will profit any less. They’re bound to show up on specific search queries, which often reflect a user’s purchase intent. There is also lower competition, meaning there is a larger visible ad space for lower CPC, and the conversion rate for longer keywords is actually higher than generic ones, ensuring a high ROI.

Use an engaging call-to-action

Let’s be honest: how many people actually click on an ad that says “click here”? General call-to-actions don’t make the audience excited to see what’s next and even make them wary of what’s about to happen when they click on the ad. Adding a call-to-action to improve your click-through rate is all about letting the audience know how to take the next step, so make sure to add a few more details.

An engaging call-to-action will tell the user what will happen if they click the button. This is paired with how relevant and engaging your offer actually is. If you can, try to avoid the “click here” route. Be more conversational, even if the intention is to be transactional. Make sure to use words appropriate to your brand and product; for example, use refreshing and dynamic words for products such as bicycles and activewear. Something like “Limited time offer. Get your free gift!” and “Download the app and claim your free voucher!” are more enticing and will likely get more clicks.

How do you evaluate CPC strategies?

Do a split test

Keeping your CPC low in the long run means being extra observant about which ad campaigns are garnering more clicks and which ones aren’t working. To do this, create different versions of the same ad by using different texts, images, and videos. This way, you can target and retarget your audience and keep your ads fresh to encourage more engagement even from users who may have already clicked on the other version.

Results from split tests will be extremely beneficial to your data gathering and evaluation over time, providing you with your information about what kind of ad layouts and optimized copies gain more attention from your intended audience.

Set up conversion tracking

A campaign’s performance will be gauged primarily by its clickthrough rate. Re-evaluate your goals according to which keywords are getting the most impressions but few clicks and which keywords are getting the most clicks. Adjust your bids based on the keyword’s performance.

If you want to see whether the clicks are leading to actual sales, set up a conversion tracking account so you can see what happens after people click the ad, whether they purchase anything or sign up for a newsletter. This makes it easy to calculate the ROI.

Takeaway

Revolutionary ways of doing marketing campaigns such as CPC advertising is beneficial in that it doesn’t cost too much and has a higher chance of reaching your intended audience. However, the costs can build up if you’re trying to expand your reach and build up your relevance score to the online algorithm.

The thing is, there is no set formula to increase the profitability of your CPC and ROI because of several factors and the very nature of the pay-per-click advertising model. However, by following the steps listed above, you can definitely maximize your visibility, optimize your campaign, raise your return on investment, and reap the benefits of successful marketing strategies.