If you are looking for a foolproof way to acquire quality leads and build your business, you should try combining pay per lead and SEO.
Also known as pay per lead SEO, you only need to pay for leads that actually contact your business. That way, you get to save on digital marketing money while making the most out of your online presence.
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Pay per lead is a business model involving two parties: the advertiser and the publisher.
Here’s how each of the party functions:
An advertiser is a business owner or organization that wishes to promote its product or services through ads. In order to get more high-quality leads, advertisers must carefully select the publications they wish to advertise in.
The publisher, such as Google or Facebook, showcases the ads on blog sites, forums, or websites. These ads, which are usually related to the platform's content, help direct visitors to the advertiser's site.
For the publisher to be paid, the client must visit the advertiser's website and complete a specific action, such as:
So, even if thousands of people click on the ad, the publisher will not receive money if a client does not complete the prescribed action.
Compared to other lead marketing strategies, the publisher needs to be proactive with ad placement. Placing these ads in the most strategic places will help bring more conversions, which is advantageous for the advertiser and publisher alike.
Pay per lead is an excellent way to generate new and targeted audiences for the advertiser's website. It's best used by marketers who wish to get some personal information from their potential clients. After all, this type of data is useful for generating sales and fostering customer loyalty.
The pay for lead model is typically used, but is not limited to, the following industries:
While they work almost similarly, pay per lead is a better option.
Let’s take a look at these two comparisons.
With pay per click, you need to pay for all the clicks on your ad. That means you need to shell out money for accidental clicks and clients who are curious but not interested.
While the pay per lead model is costlier than pay-per-click, it actually offers a better investment return.
Here are the three reasons why:
The pay per lead campaign and SEO models are two distinct ways of promoting products and services.
As the name suggests, the former requires you to pay the publisher for qualified leads. As such, you get top-of-the-page positioning, which will vastly improve your visibility to potential clients.
SEO, on the other hand, provides organic traffic for free. While it can help boost your visibility for free, you still need to pay for the services of an SEO expert.
This is especially the case if you're not doing it by yourself. Add to that the fact that it will take some time before you see results.
A great thing about these strategies is that they work well together. By running pay per click and SEO campaigns synergistically, you get to enjoy the following benefits:
As pay per leads and SEO campaigns make you visible on both paid and free platforms, you get to cover all bases. No matter where the client looks, there you are.
Apart from lead generation, your heightened visibility can help you strengthen client trust and loyalty as well.
While SEO may have helped bring many visitors to your website, some of them may not be ready to make a purchase. This is why you need to run pay per lead ads as well.
Placing these ads on frequently visited websites like Google or Facebook can remind your potential clients to make a purchase later. As such, you still get a chance to close a sale even if the customers have long left your website.
Granted that you have the top-ranked website in your niche, it doesn't mean you should forego pay per lead services.
According to a study, a pause in search ads can lead to 89% of traffic loss. And even with the website's strong visibility in search engines, it could not compensate for lost opportunities.
You can pilot-test your keyword strategies into your ads before using them in SEO. Thanks to A/B testing, you can see which keywords work and which ones don't.
With the help of lead generation ads, you know which keywords work better on your search engine rankings.
Add to that, ads also give you an overview of important metrics. Factors such as clickthrough rate, exit or bounce rates, time on site, and conversion rate can help you re-evaluate your ad strategies and SEO campaigns.
The pay per lead rate is usually flat, with the cost per lead depending on the following factors:
To calculate the maximum amount you should pay for a lead, you need to come up with your gross profit first. This is derived by multiplying the cost of a product or service by the gross profit percentage.
For example: $500 (cost) x 40% (profit) = $200
Technically speaking, you should be willing to pay 100% of your gross profit to make a new sale. You need to multiply this with your lead-to-sale conversion rate to come up with your max cost of a lead.
To wit: $200 (max amount you’ll pay for a sale) x 30% (sample lead to conversion rate) = $60
Considering this, a report states that the cheapest leads come from the marketing industry at $35 a pop. Tech services follow this at $43 and HR at $45. The most expensive comes from the healthcare sector at $65 a lead.
Although the pay per lead model will cost you some money, you can always set a cap or limit on marketing costs. You can actually contest the validity of your leads with the publisher.
As such, you don't have to waste money on clients who probably won't convert.
Facebook is one of the best platforms to run a pay per lead campaign. After all, it has 2.7 billion active monthly users.
If you're considering using this model, you need to know how much you need to pay. According to the Facebook Business Center, lead costs are calculated by dividing the total amount by the number of leads.
As with most platforms, prices vary according to model and other factors, including your intended audience, budget, ad bid, ad objective, ad placement, and ad quality.
That said, a report placed the average cost per click at 97 cents. The cost per like is $1.07, while the cost per download is $5.47. On the other hand, the cost per thousand impressions is $7.19.
Like Facebook, Google is another great platform to run pay per lead ads. It is the search engine of choice in most countries, with the stark exception of China.
While this will cost five times more than your usual Google AdWords, it's sure to give you a couple of hot leads.
As with other publishers, Google pay per lead ad prices vary according to industry. The cheapest is Disaster Prevention and Repair at $1.06 per lead, while plumbing ads cost as much as $15.42.
Unlike other campaigns, there's no need for you to manage keywords and such. Google does this automatically by using the existing information in your business listing.
What's great about Google lead generation is you get to ride on the brand's stamp of excellence. As it is the world's most trusted search engine, its clients are sure to trust (and click) its ads, too.
Pay per lead ads and SEO is an excellent digital marketing combination for any business type, big or small. While they are different from each other, they get to complement the gap of each campaign.
While the former may cost you more than the traditional pay per click, it can help you bring qualified leads – and higher revenue in the long run.
