If you have not been running PPC campaigns long, then you may not be familiar with cost per click (CPC).
CPC is the actual price you pay per click. CPC shouldn't actually be measured on an individual, you should only look at PPC on a daily, weekly, or monthly average, and here is why.
If you are bidding a maximum of 50 cents per click, you might have a daily average of 44 cents CPC. That means you might of had some 50 cent clicks, and you might have had some 20 cent clicks. CPC can also be viewed individually with most PPC providers.
CPC is a great tool because it tells you the actual prices you are paying.
If I am selling widgets and need my my average CPC to be under $1, I might set my maximum bid price to $1.25 and just watch my CPC to see if it stays under $1. If it is consistently going over $1 then I go drop my maximum to $1.10 and keep adjusting until I get my CPC under $1.
Without knowing CPC I would only know my daily costs and not have any idea of how many visitors I received and how much I paid for each visitor.
See more information about Bizrate-Shopzilla, PriceGrabber and MSN adCenter.
