It’s tempting to play the pay-per-click game, especially with Google sending out $100 cards to help you get hooked. Before you decide to join the masses that rely on paid search for traffic, there are a few facts you should consider. Most importantly, trying to manage your own PPC campaign can have costly results. Hiring a professional will often increase your impressions, but rarely results in generated revenue.
A recent survey of 400 active searches conducted by Ask Your Target Market shows that very few people click on paid search ads. In fact, 33.3 percent of respondents stated that they rarely click on these links, while 23.8 percent stated they never click on the paid links.
Paid ads included in email marketing campaigns have even lower return on investment, according to the survey, with 41 percent of respondents stating they never click on the links found in emails. Mobile paid searches ranked the lowest for click through percentages, but did yield higher conversions of clicks to purchases, likely because people on the go are out actively looking to buy what they are searching for.
All in all, the results of the survey certainly show that time and money is much better spent developing organic backlinks and focusing on your site’s search engine optimization. If your site ranks high on local searches, your potential customers or clients can find you without needing to resort to using costly pay-per-click methods.
