Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Training: Learn PPC with WordStream

Looking for PPC training resources to help you learn PPC, fast? You’ve come to the right place!

Pay-per-click marketing (often shortened to PPC) is an effective and affordable way to promote your products or services—or, if you’re at an agency, your clients’ products or services—to the most valuable audiences possible.

On the search side of things, Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising (Bing Ads) both offer PPC platforms that enable you to target relevant keywords and make compelling offers to motivated users at the right moments.

Check out the full illustration of how the Google PPC auction works.

And on the social media side of things, Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads allow you to create specific, customized audiences and get your best ads in front of your ideal customers.

When done correctly, PPC can help a small business catalyze an immense amount of growth. Likewise, adding PPC as a service offering can help a digital marketing agency bring in tons more revenue year over year.

There’s only one problem: When you’re on your own, PPC is difficult and time-consuming.

Everything we do at WordStream is motivated by our goal to help small businesses and digital marketing agencies succeed with PPC. That’s why we’ve assembled a master list of all the PPC training resources you need to start succeeding with online advertising. Let’s dive in!

Guided PPC training courses

In the following sections, we’ll connect you to a ton of individual PPC training resources (blog posts, articles, etc.) that you can browse at your own pace. If, however, you’d like a more guided PPC training experience, we recommend checking out PPC University and Growth Academy.

PPC University

Ready to hit the books? If you’re looking for a free, carefully structured learning experience, WordStream’s PPC University is the resource for you. With in-depth yet digestible lessons divided across four courses—PPC 101, PPC 102, Advanced PPC, and Social Ads 101—PPC University offers the accessible, comprehensive PPC training you’ve been searching for.

Best of all: You can take your PPC training on the go! Equipped with a library of free, downloadable whitepapers, PPC University is perfect for aspiring digital marketers with jam-packed schedules.

PPC training resources: Search engine marketing

Search engine marketing (SEM) is the branch of PPC that focuses on turning active user intent into valuable website traffic. As you’ll see throughout the PPC training experience, PPC and SEM are often used interchangeably. Terminology aside, the basic goal is to earn top sponsored search results on Google and Bing and entice your prospects with relevant, intent-matching offers. Check out these resources to learn everything you need to know to get started with SEM:

• SEM: What It Is & How to Do It Right
• What Are Keywords & Why Do They Matter for PPC?
• What Are Keyword Match Types & How Should You Use Them?
• The Definitive Guide to Negative Keywords
• How to Create More Effective Ad Groups for PPC
• What Is Quality Score & How Does It Affect PPC?
• PPC Bid Management Guide: The Best Bidding Tips from 18 PPC Experts
• Ad Text Optimization: How to Improve Your PPC Ads

As you can see, a lot goes into advertising in the sponsored search results—and those are just the basics. If you have access to an existing Google Ads account—perhaps you’ve inherited one at your company or a prospective client wants you to run theirs for them—you can find out where your immediate attention is needed by running our free Google Ads Performance Grader.

PPC training resources: Social media marketing

Social media marketing (SMM) is the branch of PPC that focuses on using robust audience targeting solutions to deliver relevant ads that spread brand awareness and (like SEM) drive valuable website traffic. (To be clear, Google and Microsoft also give their advertisers access to audience targeting solutions; SEM isn’t solely based on keywords.) The basic goal is to blend seamlessly into users’ feeds and stop their thumbs with thoughtful, valuable offers. Check out these resources to learn everything you need to know to get started with SMM:

• Does Facebook Advertising Work? [DATA]
• How to Compete in Facebook Ads
• How to Create Killer Facebook Ads Campaigns with Your Existing Assets
• 21 Facebook Advertising Tips to Try Right Now
• The Complete Guide to Advertising on Instagram
• Instagram Marketing Strategy 101
• How Much Do Instagram Ads Cost? Plus 8 Tips for Saving Money
• The Complete Guide to Instagram Analytics

Though a totally different animal than SEM, social media marketing also requires a wide range of knowledge and skills. Run our free Facebook Ads Performance Grader today and you’ll find out where your efforts are most urgently needed!