Whether your business is new to online advertising, or you’re a publisher looking to drive more visitors to your site’s content, the two most impactful ways to increase your online marketing ROI (return on investment) is either by using Google’s AdWords or Facebook’s Ads. While there are other online advertising approaches, these two stalwarts dominate not only in online revenue, but most importantly, in overall reach and ability to deliver consumer focused ads directly to the most interest parties. Both use PPC (pay per click) approaches which are predicated on visitors and users clicking on the displayed advertisement. Each click is registered and charged accordingly. However, deciding upon which approach to use must always start with assessing the pros and cons of each platform’s PPC advertising approach.

Facebook currently has over 500 million users  classified free ads  and is considered today’s preeminent social media platform. With over 60 billion page views per month, and an average time spend per-user of over 26 minutes per day, Facebook has the ability to segregate its users into demographics key to advertisers and publishers. This includes providing the ability to focus targeted ads towards a consumer’s age, geographical location, interests and activities. Facebook’s strength for online advertisers and businesses in general, is in its ability to engage Facebook users with information that interests them most. Users are then able to recommend products and services to other Facebook users. However, Facebook’s main strength is in the time its members spend online. More time spent online, means higher incidence of having PPC success. One major drawback is that Facebook’s advertisements typically appear on sidebars and users are able to disable those ads completely. In addition, since the user’s focus is in the middle of the screen and on the content itself, sidebar ads are often ignored.

Google’s PPC approach is focused mainly on keywords used by visitors to its search engine. Users search for information based on keywords which are then targeted by Google’s advertisements on various websites and blogs. Google’s strength is in matching these keywords and phrases to advertisements most likely to generated clicks. Unlike Facebook, where users only see Facebook advertisements on Facebook, Google ads appear on multiple online sites. Again, sidebar advertisements on most websites and blogs are largely ignored and while advertisers can’t control how their ads are displayed on these sites, publishers can. The most impactful ads are ones that are embedded within the website or blog’s content. By strategically placing ads in the middle of the content, visitors are more likely to click on ads because they’re directly in the visitor’s field of vision.

When choosing between these two options, it’s important to understand that both approaches can be used in unison. The most successful advertising campaigns combine both approaches and use keyword sensitive Google Ads while driving Facebook users to the company’s website or blog.

This article was written by Lee Samson who runs Samson Web Design, a web design, and search engine optimisation company based in Sussex, UK. If you are looking for web design or SEO advice or web design costs for any web based project get in touch using the link.