With the average time spent on a smartphone per day standing at 5 hours, PPC advertising is a must-have tool in your marketing arsenal.

We discuss the best alternatives to Google AdWords.

4 Alternative PPC Advertising Channels to Google You Can’t Ignore 

1. Bing Ads

At just 3% of the global search market, Bing from Microsoft is small but cannot be wished away.

Bing users are mostly based in the US and use Xbox. The search engine enjoys a 38% market share in the US among console users. 

Bing is also used by Yahoo. Factor that in while making your decision.

Bing Ads are not only shown to search users and  users of Xbox but Outlook as well.

Cost:

Advertising on Bing is far cheaper than advertising on Google. Though exact facts and figures can’t be pinpointed as ad costs change constantly on the web, Bing is at least 50% cheaper for most keywords and often costs a quarter. Average CPC starts from about $1.5.

Advantages:

• Fewer advertisers favor Bing. Your ad can get noticed quicker as a result.
• Reaching out to a third of the US console market is a big deal, especially when done at a third of the cost.
• Microsoft, like Apple, serves a better demographic. More disposable income in hand means more purchases.

2. Facebook Ads

It is a social media app that has turned into an advertising behemoth.

Facebook has 2.9 billion active users and 1.9 billion of them use it daily. Those are a lot of eyeballs.

An average user spends almost 2.5 hours a day on Facebook.

Though Facebook has been through some controversies in the past few years, it remains a force to reckon with.

Facebook Ads are shown to Facebook and Instagram users.

Cost:

On average, Facebook charges $7 for showing the ad to a thousand users. The average CPC (cost per click) is $1.2.

Advantages: 

• Facebook does not always run ads of the highest bidder. They also factor in ad quality and relevance. When browsing Facebook, you must have noticed that you are more likely to click on their ads than that generated by Google.
• Facebook is far better at demographic targeting than any other provider. It is because most users voluntarily divulge a lot about themselves by providing birthdays, educational backgrounds, and relationship status. Google or Bing does not have access to that kind of personal data.
• Facebook ad placement is not solely triggered by keywords. It also depends on user behavior. Overall, the algorithm understands the best time to show the ads and constantly adjust its behavior to produce the maximum number of click-throughs.

3. Instagram Ads

You can use Facebook Ads for Instagram or operate a separate account for the latter.

The ads will appear in the feed and stories. With a billion active users, Instagram has an enormous reach.

Cost:

It is tough to know the exact cost as Instagram varies its rates widely across the world. However, it is certainly not much more expensive than Facebook. 

This makes Instagram one of the cheapest PPC platforms out there.

Advantages: 

• Three fourth of Instagram users are millennials. Appealing to those under 35 is essential since they are less likely to be weighed down by mortgage and other fixed expenses.
• Instagram offers excellent ad engagement with a tenfold increase in click-through rates compared to Google.

4. LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn is a social media platform for professionals.

It has a highly focused clientele of engineers and corporate managers.

The size is far smaller, as it has a user base of approximately 600 million of whom half are active, but the income of an average LinkedIn user is higher.

Of course, it is a mistake to advertise a patisserie or boutique on LinkedIn. The audience is more receptive to advertisement about courses, software, and similar high-value products that augment their skill set. 

Cost:

The cost per click is quite high at $5.6. This is nearly as high as Google’s highest paid keywords. 

For those with a smaller budget, LinkedIn offers pay-per-view and pay per send (mail).

Advantages: 

• The possibility of targeting top earners is exciting. It is better to show an ad to a few who can afford your products and services than many who are just window shopping.
• Like Facebook, LinkedIn too has access to rich information that it uses to target ads. LinkedIn not only knows the user’s age and work experience, but also what events and people they are interested in and even possible career changes.
• For those interested in B2B sales, in-mail advertising is effective and highly affordable.

5. Others

There are several more PPC avenues to explore. 

Reddit, Taboola, Outbrain, Pinterest and Twitter are some of the names that come to mind.

They do not have a significant reach and can’t offer high ROI. If you wish, set apart a small budget for using these platforms, but they can’t certainly be the spearhead of your digital advertising thrust.

PPC Advertising is the most popular form of advertising on the web. The model has been around since 2000 when Google launched AdWords.The model has been widely adopted by Facebook, Instagram and Microsoft. With help of the right PPC expert you can reach out to thousands of possible leads with a very humble budget.

Why is PPC Advertising Important?

The digital advertising industry is enormous. 

In 2020, over 350 billion dollars was spent on digital advertising globally. An estimated $137 billion of this amount was spent in the US alone. Though PPC is not the only form of internet advertising, it is certainly the most dominant.

To Sum It All Up

It is essential that your PPC ad campaign identifies the core client base and advertises to them using the correct PPC channel to ensure good returns.

There are at least four large PPC platforms that are an excellent alternative to Google.

If you are running an advertising campaign, you need to pay attention to their users. While Google is desirable, it is also expensive and a new startup might not be able to afford the choicest keywords there.

The post A Quick Guide for PPC Advertising on Search Engines Other Than Google appeared first on SiteProNews.

Over the years, WordPress has witnessed a growing and supportive community. In fact, WordPress has a market share of 37%. What makes this open-source CMS popular is because it’s easy to use and is highly flexible. Anyone can build a standard and good-looking website using WordPress in no time. What makes it even easier is the accessibility of a dashboard. You can create posts, web pages, schedule, manage day-to-day content, assign user roles, upload and manage media – without any hassle.  

Apart from this, WordPress plugins have enchanted developers and WordPress nerds for years. After all, these plugins form the building blocks of WordPress websites.

WordPress plugins have made a name for themselves when it comes to gifting enriching digital experience. Contact forms, pop-ups, on-page SEO, email opt-ins, optimizing site speed, image compression, and optimization – these are just a few of the significant functions modern-day websites demand.

There are more than 57,000 WordPress plugins developed to date which is quite an overwhelming number. 

With such an extensive range of options, webmasters often get challenged to find the best ones, and hence we have curated a list of some of the must-have WordPress plugins. Let’s dig in!

1. MonsterInsights Lite

Building a WordPress website is one thing, and growing it is another. You have to keep tabs on everything from page views, sessions, conversion rates, revenues, bounce rate, and much more. MonsterInsights Lite is the ultimate Google Analytics Plugin for WordPress websites. With features like precise and real-time tracking, readable dashboard reports, and conversion rates tracking, this is all you might need!

2. OptinMonster

Are you struggling to generate leads? Is your sales manager giving you a hard time with the sales target? 

OptinMonster can make your life easier. It is one of the most popular WordPress plugins used by aspiring WordPress Blog owners, small business owners, and even enterprises. OptinMonster helps you to optimize your lead generation efforts like a piece of cake. Be it getting more subscribers or curating customized ad campaigns based on geographical location – it can help you with almost anything and everything. You can boost conversions by 785% by converting links or images to Optin Forms.

3. Yoast SEO

Another most sought-after WordPress SEO plugin that should be on your bucket list is Yoast! When you think of SEO for your WordPress websites, the first name that pops-up is Yoast SEO plugin. You can enjoy tons of privileges, including creating automatic XML sitemaps, recommendations for SEO-oriented content, snippet views, or setting up canonical URLs to save your website from Google penalties. 

Not just that, but it even helps you curate reader-friendly content to rank higher in Search Engines. It promotes balance between both readers and spiders.

4. Pretty Links

What a pretty name it has, right? But, it’s not just the name – its functionalities are even more appealing. So, if you are an affiliate expert or just another curious learner trying to drive massive affiliate sales through your WordPress blog, Pretty Links can prove to be useful. From making your URLs look professional, clean, and conversion-friendly to tracking the number of clicks you receive, this WordPress affiliate plugin is worth consideration. 

5. Smush

Images drive our Digital world, be it just attracting users or influencing your end consumer to make decisions. 

That being said, images consume most of the space and form most of your website’s content. So, apart from choosing the best and high-quality graphics for your websites, you also need to ensure that your website’s speed isn’t affected. 

Smush is a WordPress Image optimization plugin to help you scan, cut unnecessary data, and scale your images before uploading them to your media gallery without compromising quality. 

Some of its key features include lossless compression, image resizing, lazy loading, incorrect size detection of images, Gutenberg block integration, and multisite compatibility.

6. Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed

How about the idea of getting a customized Instagram feed displayed on your WordPress website? 

Socializing has a new address these days, which we call Instagram, Facebook, etc. Your website visitors will be interested in connecting with your brand over these social media platforms because brand building is essential if you are looking for long term success. 

Smash Balloon is a WordPress Social Feed plugin to integrate and display Instagram posts on your website. Easy to set up, this plugin offers various features and functionalities, including displaying your one, or multiple Instagram account feeds, responsive and mobile-friendly layouts, built-in shortcode options, and many more.

With this go-to social feed plugin, you can beat the competition by showing your audience what you are up to on Instagram.

7. Envira Gallery

Are you looking for the best, premium WordPress plugin for your website galleries? Envira Gallery is the one! This plugin helps you create responsive photo and video galleries in minutes. 

It offers a drag and drop builder, pre-built templates, social media integration options, and image proofing for eCommerce stores. Envira Gallery is packed with features. 

So whether you own an eCommerce portal for your home-decor business or are a full-time professional photographer, this plugin will prove useful. From adding pagination, meta tags, or building your customized galleries – everything is easy.

8. UpdraftPlus

Are you scared of losing your website’s data due to a sudden malfunction, server breakdown, or worst case scenario, having your site hacked? UpdraftPlus is a solution to all these threats. It is an auto backup plugin for WordPress websites, allowing you to store directly on Cloud Servers, including Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, and so on. Not only that, but if you smell something fishy, you can restore your whole website instantly with a single click. Isn’t that cool?

Conclusion

There are thousands of WordPress plugins available, but you need to ensure that you choose the right set of plugins based on your niche. You might end up with other recommendations from fellow WordPress bloggers or Professional WordPress Developers, which might help you enhance your website’s overall performance and aesthetics too. 

We hope that this list proves useful for your website. Do let us know if you have any queries or recommendations. 

We would love to know which plugins you currently use and why!

The post Best WordPress Plugins for WordPress Websites in 2020 appeared first on SiteProNews.