Facebook is a great source for buying website traffic that you can drive to your site and make money from. In this article I want to show you what you need to know before you start using this source in your niche market.First – You have to make sure you don’t forget to build a sales system first. One of the attractions about this source is the fact that you can get cheap traffic to your site.That is fine, but you have to realize that it was not that long ago when you could get cheap traffic from Google AdWords as well.The problem is that as more and more people start using this source to get visitors to their site, they will drive the prices up.If you don’t have a solid sales funnel in place ready to make you a lot of money, you are going to get into a lot of trouble. So make sure you are in a position to be able to afford to outspend all the other advertisers in your niche market so you can keep making a profit.Second – You have to realize that it is only one way to get visitors to your site. You have to realize that Facebook is simply one source that you can use to get visitors to your site.Don’t try and build your business on the traffic that you are getting as you can lose it at any time. Make sure you are focused on using other sources as you never want to put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to buying website traffic and making money online.Use this source, but make sure you don’t focus all your time and resources on it!

Using Facebook Ad creates an advert to appear in a small box in the right sidebar of Facebook pages, displaying information, promotions, an image and a link to your chosen destination.Setting up a Facebook Ad is quick and simple to do, working on either a Cost Per Click (CPC) or Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) basis by bidding on keywords. Using the personal preferences most Facebook users have provided when setting up an account, advertisers can choose from a range of options to target their ads specifically to as direct or broad audience as they like.These ads are run daily, according to the model you have chosen, and are set within a maximum daily budget – so you will never overspend accidentally. Facebook is used by a staggering 500 million people worldwide, so the audience potential in this medium is pretty high, whatever your targeted demographic.Ads are comprised of a destination URL (which can be your Facebook page itself, your website or blog, or any landing page you choose), a title (25 characters max), the ad’s body text (135 characters max) and an image. Facebook make it as easy as possibly by making suggestions for content and images via the link provided.You are then able to configure your targeted area and audience, by location (country/city), age (you are even able to target people on their birthdays), gender, marital status/sexuality, language, likes and interests, education and work information, and by existing contacts and friends on Facebook. You are given a running total of the reach of your ad, depending on your chosen demographic.Your ‘Campaigns and Pricing’ options include currency, country and time zone, campaign name, maximum daily budget, specific date scheduling or continuous distribution, and a choice between CPM or CPC, including your maximum bid. Facebook also make suggestions for budgets and costs, and give an example of estimated impressions or clicks per day for each price. Organise and manage this aspect according to your budget, aims and analysis of your marketing campaign. An SEO company can be invaluable in helping with this if you are unsure what you are doing.You are able to review your ad at this point, and ensure that all links, images and information are fully working and correct. Advertisements must comply with the Facebook ad guidelines.Payment options are via Visa or Mastercard credit/debit card or PayPal and billing is daily. You have access to conversion tracking and analytics of your ads. “Facebook Insights”allows you to see the actual results of your campaign, as opposed to just your targeted audience. You can use this to analyse and adapt your ads to make them most effective. Facebook ads can also be tracked with Google Analytics.Adverts can be used in a variety of ways:•To drive traffic to your Facebook page and increase the amount of ‘fans’ or ‘likes’ for that page (a ‘like’ button is included in the ad for ease of use, and the user’s actions are documented on their profile wall for doing so).
•To drive traffic to your website or a targeted landing page.
•To publicise a promotion, new product or service (i.e. a temporary campaign as opposed to a long-running one)
•To increase awareness of a brand or service.
•To hold a competition or poll.The social nature of Facebook means that it is most useful for strengthening brand reputation and awareness, building a steady, loyal group of fans and customers around your page or profile, which in turn will increase your authority and presence. Hard-sell ads are not necessarily the way to go – the basis of social media is the exchange of information and is not consumer-driven. Providing interesting information, fun competitions, games and promotions is a better way to generate interest in your Facebook page – and in turn, your company. Users of Facebook groups and fan pages want to be part of something that engages and amuses them, and the most successful business pages on Facebook do just that. Facebook’s own case studies can be found here.ROI is variable, dependent on the targeted audience and nature of the product or business and ad itself. The formula relies on testing and adapting accordingly, making changes as you see results to optimise the success of this type of advertising. A trusted, experienced SEO company can help to get this right for you.

From a drunken web development initiative born out of heartache in a Harvard dorm to the social media phenomenon and the most powerful marketing tool that it is today – such is the evolution of Facebook. Especially now that search is getting more social, every search engine marketing company is trying to milk this Mark Zuckerberg genius for what it’s worth.For anyone who was able to watch the movie “Social Network,” one of the most memorable scenes in the move was when Zuckerberg didn’t want to monetize the site through advertisements yet. Well, this is very far from what is happening today. Every PPC marketing company knows how essential it is to use this platform for its ad campaigns.Let’s take a closer look into this social media giant and get a quick rundown of Facebook by the numbers.Facebook Ad NationsIt really comes as no surprise that the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany are the biggest spenders when it comes to Facebook advertising. No surprise as well that a PPC marketing company in these countries may be more sophisticated in terms of practices as compared to other countries. Demand hones skills. What’s clear with the data is that the percentage of the population on Facebook is not directly proportional to its ad spending in the said social medium.Groups, Pages and Apps more than DomainOne of the main differences between search engine PPC and Facebook advertising is that 42% of all Facebook ads don’t lead users to a landing page which is the usual conversion process a search engine marketing company would follow. This may probably because this social network is more of a soft sell advertising platform that is focused on engagement rather than an in-your-face sales tool.At the end of the day, the key takeaway here is that if you or your partner PPC marketing company is planning to launch a Facebook ad campaign, be sure that you have a highly engaging page where real conversations are taking place.The More Fun, the BetterAccording to data, gaming and gambling apps are the most popular apps on Facebook and these interactive platforms get a lot of traction. This is where the creativity of a search engine marketing company will be challenged. How do you leverage on people’s insatiable thirst for entertainment and develop a social media campaign based on this? It’s not impossible as many brands have already done this in the past with tremendous success. With every PPC marketing company almost looking like cookie cutter, innovation will be the main driver of success.Clearly, advertising on Facebook is a totally different sphere a forward-thinking PPC marketing company should master. The internet is becoming more and more social and having a strong advertising presence in online social networking giants such as Facebook is necessary to say the least.