How to Set a Pay Per Click Budget for Your Plastic Surgery Practice

This is a very common question that I am often asked and I can never give a straight answer. The nature of Pay Per Click (PPC) has become a very dynamic, almost organic function. If you understand the efforts that go toward a successful Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaign, you realize that SEO is a moving target. The same holds with PPC. Many of the algorithms associated with SEO have spilled over into how paid advertising works. In the infancy of PPC, the algorithm was pretty much one-dimensional – whoever bid the highest for a specific keyword was #1 for as long as they maintained the highest bid. As time moved on the strategy evolved and more and more algorithms were established. The most revolutionary enhancement was the ability for advertisers to market their ads in a very specific geographic market. For example, if you wanted to get found under the term “Plastic Surgery,” the only way you could do that via PPC in the past would be to buy that term on a worldwide level and pay for visits on a worldwide basis. As we all know, healthcare is typically something purchased locally, so you would have to pay for a lot of non-local or untargeted visits. So, what Google has done is geographically indexed the ads so they only appear in the local market. Rather than just being found under a local search term like “Plastic Surgery San Diego” you can now appeal to a much larger audience without having to pay for a lot of untargeted visits.

So back to our original question: how much is it going to cost me?

With the Pay Per Click model continually evolving, the best practice is to start out small and advertise for one procedure. Focus on one specific geographic market with a budget of around $250-$500 to start and build upon the success of each campaign. Pay attention to the phone leads and email leads. Keyword driven search engine marketing is the best form of marketing, hands down.
If you would like to learn more about this topic and other related Search Engine Marketing strategies, contact Rosemont Media for more information.