I have written before on PPC advertising and why it is so effective, but today I would like to insert a P.S. to my other postings. PPC is great at driving traffic to your site to generate phone calls, and immediate purchases in your online store, but there is another strategy that can be deployed when using PPC advertising – using it as a medium to grow your email marketing list.

Say someone clicks on your ad, they look around your site and say to themselves “hey that is great, but I don’t need this RIGHT now” so they bookmark your site and probably forget about you. Imagine now, if that same person clicks on your ad, and as they start browsing through your website sees a box on the side of every page inviting them to join your email marketing list – perhaps for the promise of something – a white paper, 10% off your first order, free shipping, etc.

Now the person has signed-up for your email list. They have given you permission to keep in touch with them. When they are ready to purchase your product or service, all they have to do is click on your latest email. They will feel more comfortable doing business with you than the first time they met you with their click because you have built a rapport with them through your relevant emails. Perhaps they even get a better deal because you have been sending them specials. Perhaps they have even forwarded one of your emails to a friend and you got a referral out of them. You see my point – using PPC in combination with email marketing can be an effective way to target your “I’m ready to buy now” customers AND those customers who are “just looking.”