If you’re new to pay per click marketing, then it can seem overwhelming at first. With countless options and features, understanding how PPC works is essential if you want to make money with pay per click.

Maybe you’ve tried pay per click advertising in the past with no success, or you’ve never created a campaign before. Whatever your experience with pay per click is, we’re here to give you everything you need to know in order to be profitable.

No matter if you want to boost your business with a new PPC campaign, or you want to earn extra money publishing ads. Whichever path you choose, understanding pay per click basics is crucial if you want to make money.

To help you bring home a bigger paycheque, we’re taking a look at how to make money with pay per click advertising. From advertising to publishing, we’ve got both sides covered in this informative guide.

Let’s begin with how to make money with pay per click advertising.

Make money with pay per click advertising

If you currently have a business and want to make money with pay per click, then you’ll most likely want to be an advertiser. Advertising with pay per click allows you to get your products and services out there to the masses using Google’s AdWords platform.

When it comes to pay per click advertising, there are several things you need to know about how to make a profitable campaign. The first is to understand which keywords to target and which to avoid.

Keywords are the most crucial factor in any pay per click marketing campaign. The keywords you target determine what type of users click your ads and how much you pay per click. If you go for the keyword “car insurance” then you’ll be getting lots of clicks from users interested in buying car insurance. By typing the keyword into Google’s keyword planner you’ll be able to see the important metrics such as the monthly search volume and suggested bid.

In this case, the keyword car insurance costs around £6.31 per click when targeting users in the UK. This might sound expensive to some people, but not every keyword costs this much.

To have the most efficient campaign, you’ll want to research relevant keywords that have a low cost per click. This involves using synonyms of certain words to see if you can find cheaper keywords.

The keywords planner tool will help give you an idea or what people are searching for and how popular the keywords are. Ideally, you want a keyword with good search volume and a low cost per click. Once you’ve picked a few for your new campaign, it’s time to start writing your ad.

Writing the ad

Before you start writing your PPC ad you need to decide if you are going to use the search display or the network display. The Google search display means all your adverts will appear on Google’s website when users search for a relevant keyword. If a user searches for automobile insurance, then your car insurance ad should be triggered and will be displayed within the results.

The network display is to do with 3rd party AdSense websites which we will cover later. Basically, your ad gets displayed on approved AdSense sites in the form of various banner sizes.

If you do pick this path then you won’t necessarily be writing an ad, but designing everything about it. This means writing the headline, picking the colours, icons and pictures all included within the banner. Compared to a text ad, this is obviously a lot more work.

If you do decide to go with an advert on Google’s search platform, then they are much easier to make. You simply enter a headline and a description of the advert. It’s that simple.

To help you write the perfect advert we have a few important tips you should know. The first tip is to make sure you include the target keyword within the headline and description. Not only does this improve your quality score, but it will also decrease the cost of your clicks.

Another tip is to make it catchy. Everyone loves an attention-grabbing headline that peaks their interest or curiosity. If you want people to actually click on your ad then you need to give them a good reason to. By having a strong headline that grabs the user’s attention, the click will come flowing in.

If you’re looking for some good examples of Google ads then be sure to check out our these 10 Google Ads That Will Inspire You.

The next time you’re thinking about running a PPC ad on AdWords, be sure you follow these 6 golden rules.

The golden rules of pay per click advertising

1. Don’t click your own ads; it will cost you lots of money!
2. Don't mislead users with your ads
3. Always include the target keyword in the headline and description
4. Be careful with the display network; you never know what site your ads will appear on
5. Find a variety of high and low volume keywords
6. Always overbid on the suggested bid to guarantee a good ad placement

Make money with pay per click publishing

Now we’ve covered how to set up a pay per click campaign and make money from it; it’s now time to explore the other side, publishing.

If you’re new to pay per click advertising, then this concept might not make much sense. You can make money from displaying pay per click adverts on your website? How on earth? If you don’t understand the difference between Google AdWords and AdSense then don't worry, it's not that hard.

To summarise the 2 branches of AdWords, AdSense is the one that lets you display ads on your site in exchange for money, while AdWords lets you run PPC campaigns. But how exactly do you start displaying ads in the first place?

Well, the first step is to apply for an AdSense account from Google themselves.

Before you apply for an account, you’ll want to make sure your site is looking active, clean, and accessible. Google doesn’t accept all websites as AdSense partners, so to increase your chances of being approved you need to stand out with an impressive website.

The best way to do this is to make sure your content is up to date, your site looks professional, and you have zero spam. Once Google has approved you, you’ll want to place your ads.

This can be done by copying and pasting the HTML advert code on to your website. If you use something like WordPress or Drupal then there are plenty of adverts that will do it for you.

After you’ve got your adverts placed on your site, it’s time to check the metrics. Since you get paid for every click, you want to try and get as many clicks as possible. This can be a tricky process that involves a lot of trial and error.

By moving your adverts around you’ll either notice an increase or decrease in your click-through rate. By trying out different placements, eventually, you’ll find the sweet spot which is where you’ll want to keep them.

To make sure you don’t get banned from Google AdSense, here are 5 rules you should check before doing anything.

The golden rules of AdSense publishing

1. Don’t click your own ads; you’ll get banned!
2. Don’t tell users to click on ads
3. Place your ads strategically within your content
4. Stick to a maximum of 3 ads per page, any more and you’ll get banned
5. Obey the terms and conditions at all times

There you have it, 2 ways to make money from pay per click. No matter if you want to bring in more money using AdWords or you want to generate a side income using AdSense, pay per click can do both.

With so much potential and so much money to be made out there, anyone can take advantage of pay per click advertising.