Isn't GOOGLE PPC?

Yes sir, you are correct. Those ads on the right-hand side of your search results are PPC ads.


Joe

There is also a CPM model to pay for impressions; depending on the effectiveness of your ads, CPM can convert better vs. a cost-per-click model (since you're paying per 1000 impressions per bid, instead of bidding per click. Cost per impressions boils down to actual placement as well as attractiveness of your ads on the publisher network ("other people's" sites). This is more on the "adwords" side (you pay them) instead of the "adsense" side (they pay publishers). Publishers don't make too much from CPM I don't think, haven't seen much of that on my own blogs, but we like the clicks when they happen! The gamble, is that IF, and only IF, your ads get far more attention than average in a CPM, each individual click could end up being far cheaper than a CPC model.

Contrast this with a pure Cost-per-click model, you're paying only for clicks, not impressions. Guarantees you are only paying for people that are (hopefully!) interested in where they're landing (and buying).

In the end, the gamble with impressions-based advertising is strictly, DOES YOUR AD CONVERT well enough to justify x1000 impressions at $x.xx, versus paying $x.xx for that single click.

When you have collected enough data on both methods and done proper split testing, you'll eventually work out what YOUR personal "CPA" is, Cost Per Action, how much it costs, on average, to get any given individual to "buy". The theory is: with enough data, you can optimize your cost/benefit ratio to increase your actual revenue, and decide which ad method costs you less, ultimately.

My ad copy sucks, so I do a little better on PPC, but might give another go at CPM after learning more about other people's ads that do/don't work.