Everything Your Travel Brand Needs to Know About Pay Per Click

Being a travel brand means operating in a hyper-competitive market. You need all the marginal gains you can get to show travellers that you’re the brand worth using. When it comes to the web, it’s all about using the tools at your disposal, including pay-per-click, otherwise known as PPC. In this guide, we’re telling you everything there is to know about using PPC to promote your travel brand and get some big wins.

What is pay per click? 🔥

PPC is a paid advertising method used for search engine marketing (SEM). The advertiser (that’d be you) creates an advert online and only pays when people interact with the content, either through impressions or clicks.

Over seven-million advertisers use PPC, as it can be a way to qualify high-quality leads ready to interact and convert with your travel brand. The end result can be more business, thus increasing revenues.

Most PPC ads appear on search engines like Google and Bing (but mostly Google), though you can also run PPC campaigns on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. On search engines, they’re the results you see at the very top of the page, and they’ve got a little “ad” sign next to them.

Why pay per click can help your travel brand 🧳

PPC is a cost-effective concept for driving traffic to your website and finding higher-quality leads. You can set the budget (more on that in a bit), which means a campaign will never go over the amount you’re willing to spend. This is great if you have a set figure in mind and don’t want to over commit to PPC.

Social media PPC can also be tailored to your customer personas. That means you can target only people between, say, 35-45 if that’s your target demographic. With SEM, however, the audience is broader as it’s search engine related.

Different types of pay per click 🃏

So search engines or social media? They’re the two primary options for PPC, with search engine ads offering a broader range in their reach and social media PPC more segmented. As a travel brand, social media might be more appealing, as you can define target personas. However, if you want to place at the top of Google, then a broader approach might work. The best PPC options include:

Google Ads

People Google stuff; that’s what they do. And if you want them to find your website, they’ll need to Google something relatable, such as “travel agents to Thailand”. Now, there are two ways to achieve this: with great content that ranks organically or through PPC – or maybe a little both.

Bing ads

Ok, so people don’t use Bing as much, and yet it’s still a worthy place to advertise. It’s a slightly lower cost-per-click (CPC) than Google, and there are still six billion monthly searches on Bing.

Facebook Ads

Facebook ads have blown up over the years, becoming an increasingly popular way for businesses to promote their offering. Its specific targeting options offer you the chance to narrow down your target market and return higher-quality leads.

How much does PPC cost? 💰

The average CPC on Google is £1.95p ($2.50), while Bing is around £1.25p ($1.65). Let’s say that, on average, you should expect to pay between one and two pounds ($1.30 and $2.60) every time someone interacts with your PPC advert.

The cost of the ad depends on the keywords you’re bidding for, with some more expensive than others. You can use tools like Google Ads to determine the cost of a PPC advert, and the price will always be displayed before you commit.

How to get started 💪

When starting a PPC ad, there are a few things it should include. You’ll want to set parameters, so it’s got the best chance of reaching the right people. Therefore, think about who you want to target, the theme of your campaign, how you’ll measure success and the type of campaign you’re planning on running.

Within the dashboard of your chosen method for PPC (Google, Bing, Facebook etcetera), you can create your goals and metrics. This will help you keep track of your campaigns and let you tweak things along the way should you need to. Finally, choose the type of campaign type: search ads or display ads.

Search ads

The most common type of PPC, search ads refer to the text ads you see in search engine results on Google and Bing. Going down this route means you’re competing for space at the top of the page and want to give your brand more visibility for your chosen keyword.

Display ads

Using a display ad allows you to implement an image on websites across social media. For example, you can pay to show up in your target audience’s social feed on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Click, click, click

Using PPC can be a helpful way of turbocharging your businesses’ visibility online. You have plenty of control over the ads, which means you’ll be able to see how they perform in real-time and change accordingly. When done right, PPC is a bonafide way for increasing your reach and getting more customers.