Which is more effective, pay per click or display advertising?
The debate has been going on for almost ten years now. The truth is, most people don’t click on the ads at all, PPC or display. But with display advertising, you pay for the space up front. With pay per click, you pay only after the visitor has visited your website. But when you pay has nothing to say about which method of advertising is more important.
PPC is actually a better deal for most advertisers because you can adjust what you are willing to pay for an action. You don’t get that many options with display advertising. However, online display banner advertising is very good for branding of your company and website.
If your ROI is down, you still pay the same. With PPC, if your ROI takes a downturn then you can lower your keyword bids or shut off your advertising completely. That makes pay per click much more flexible an option for most advertisers and that flexibility often can turn into a profit. All you really have to manage is your budget and ROI. Everything else takes care of itself.
You are right with PPC being better then display as it is very flexible. Take the company called, eZanga.com for example, they offer customized PPC ad campaigns. With eZanga’s anti-click fraud technology, Traffic Advisors, fraud is detected real time rather than after the fact, therefore increasing ROI.
I dont think you can compare PPC and display in such a way, you are comparing two very different entities. The major benefit of PPC is its flexibility and accountability whilst the key benefit of display advertising is its brand building properties.
In my opinion the future of display advertising however is a move towards a more flexible framework, especially in the current economic conditions. I have blogged about this at the link below, Id like to know what you think so feel free to comment.