The Value of Pre-Qualifing PPC Visitors

B-to-B advertisers know that when your universe of potential buyers is limited, and when each visitor comes at a significant cost, you must ensure that the right people are clicking. They cannot be content with reaching just any curious Web surfer, but need to focus on qualified and interested customers, suppliers or partners.

This is where ad copy comes in. Many marketers have learned through experience to be very specific with their search advertising text. Using a measly 95 characters, marketers must try to explain just who should -- and who shouldn't -- click on their ad.

Some ads should be designed to reduce response. For example, one of our clients provides loans to small businesses. In order to qualify for a loan, the prospective business must accept all major credit cards and have been in operation for at least one year.

Current ad placement algorithms are based on some combination of maximum bid and Quality Score/Quality Index. A major factor in determining "quality" is searcher response, or CTR. So, today, the networks are rewarding popular ads, which is to say ads with the highest response rates.