A great way to drive traffic to your site is through Facebook or Banner advertising. Ads in either of these methods can be made on a Cost per Click (CPC) basis or Cost per Impression (CPM).
Traditional practice is the following;
CPC is most often preferable for advertisers that want viewers to actually click on the ad and then are taken to your website. You only pay if someone actually clicks on the ad.
CPM can be preferable if you are just trying to build a presence or brand. You pay for every 1,000 people who see your ad. They do not have to click on it for you to get charged.
However, there is another way of thinking. Justin Brooke, author of SEO Lies, offers this advice;
“My final tip is to get you to pay per impression – DO NOT pay per click. Here’s a little example to explain why you should choose CPM over CPC.
CPC MODEL -> 1,000 views @ $0.50 cpc x 10 clicks = $5.00
CPM MODEL -> 1,000 views @ $0.50 cpm x 10 clicks = $0.50
Most marketers get scared and pay CPC to insure they get the clicks, because on CPM you can pay for impressions but never get a click. Even if I only get 5 clicks out of 1,000 views and I’m paying $0.50cpm that’s still 5 clicks for just $0.50.”
Justin goes on to further state that;
You, “Just need to start out slow and test different ads to see which ones get clicked. Then once you know what catches their eye you’ve got just about all the traffic you can shake a stick at coming your way for pennies!”
Good advice. Remember, the key to a successful ad campaign in any medium, whether it be internet, print, etc., is to test,test, and test again. Always monitor your ad campaign results and modify it as necessary.
