From its origins as a digital yearbook for Ivy League students in 2004, Facebook has indeed come a long way.
For instance, nobody could have envisioned that nearly 20 years later, it would supplant TV as an advertising platform for a fraction of a cost.
From the exclusive enclaves of Harvard–and later Yale and Stanford–today’s Facebook users are estimated to be nearly three billion from all corners of the globe.
Now, businesses may think that the primary purpose of creating a Facebook pages is to get as many likes or follows as possible. So, their marketing strategy is designed to achieving this goal.
After that, they no longer have any idea of how to get their followers to take the next step toward dipping into their pockets for their wallets.
The fact is that more than 9 in 10 of your visitors have no intention of buying. It is now up to you to convince them otherwise.
Sure, it is nice to see the number of followers tick up, and you may enjoy bragging rights over their competitors. But your social standing will not impact your profits in the long run unless you do something.
And that is where Facebook Retargeting ads comes in.
When you are personally managing your Facebook advertising/Facebook retargeting ad, you may have an idea of who your customers are based on their profiles. But do you know the reason why they visited your website or Facebook page?
You might say because they are paying customers.
How much are you betting that your assumption is correct? Are you willing to wager your company’s fate? Scratch that. You do not need to make that bet because it is essentially what you are doing anyway.
Make sure that the data supports your assumption if you are going to mortgage your future.
How can you convert them into loyal customers rather than one-time customers?
Facebook retargeting ads is an invaluable tool that will help identify the people who visited your website and then study their data to spot patterns and intent.
You can then use this data to create compelling ads to make them revisit your site and make a purchase.
Facebook Retargeting ads can help your company in a myriad of ways.
The first step is preparing a list of the prospects you want to target.
Creating the list is quite easy because there are multiple tools you can use, such as analytics, visitor profiles on your website, or your brick-and-mortar store. You can also gather data through your customer relationship management software.
You can prepare your customer list in the following formats before you can upload them on Facebook:
Your custom audience may also be identified by the country/city/state/provide where they are based. The Zip Code may also be entered as an identifier, along with the birth date and gender.
You can launch your Facebook ad campaign using the Facebook Ads Manager tool.
But first, you need to install the Facebook pixel. It is a small modification to your code, which is a powerful tool to track users and their online behavior after interacting with your brand.
Once they click on your ad, added an item to their cart, or visited your website, you ensnare the customer in your web of omnipresence.
Even if they leave, you can follow the cookie crumbs to easily track them across the Internet.
Everywhere they go, they will be reminded of you, like the one that got away, or perhaps an itch on their back that they could not reach to scratch.
Installing the Facebook pixel is quite straightforward. Before anything else, you need the following elements:
A. Creating a Facebook pixel
B. Add the Pixel
The next step is to add the pixel code into your website’s source code. You can choose to do it manually, use a partner integration, or email the instructions to your website administrator or engineer.
Generally, you only need one pixel across multiple business sites.
But there are times when you need to add multiple pixels, like when there are two separate ads on your website. The marketing agencies may decide to run separate pixels for their dynamic ads.
1. Head on to Ad Creation to create your dynamic ad. Make sure to select the audience who already interacted with your services and products on Facebook or other platforms. You can then retarget them first.
2. Next is to select your retargeting option. There are multiple ways to do this.
3. There is an option to identify the number of days where the last audience activity was recorded. Enter your answer.
4. Show Advanced Options if you want to include Lookalike Audiences in your Custom Audience targeting. Lookalike Audience refers to that underserved segment of potential buyers who share similar intent and goals with your existing customers.
The catalog is necessary to create your Dynamic Ads.
The catalog is a repository of all your products that you want to advertise on the platform. Facebook retargeting ads recommends creating a single catalog rather than different inventories to minimize confusion.
If you already have an eCommerce website from Shopify, you can integrate it seamlessly into your ad campaign. If not, you will have to create your business Catalog.
You click on Commerce Manager to get started.
With retargeting campaigns, you can tailor your ad according to the specifications of the customer.
For instance, you can target prospects who visited your website or competitor sites as they browse for products that interested them.
The question is, why did they not convert?
You can then tweak your ad to address the pain points of the customer, making them more likely to buy.
Using Facebook Retargeting ads, you can increase site visits by over 700%!
The first stage is to get them to click on your ad because the same data revealed that the customers are 26% more likely to make a purchase when they do.
After defining the parameters of your Custom Audience, you can then begin to launch your facebook retargeting campaign.
Go back to your main business profile page, and move your cursor to the top-right of your screen to select “Create an Ad.”
Simply follow Facebook’s instructions on how to start your campaign, including your budget, your audience, the frequency of your ad, and the schedule to display your ad.
You also need to outline your marketing objective to give Facebook an idea of your business goals. In this way, it can further hone on the types of customers you want to target.
For instance, eCommerce sites are for-profit organizations. Facebook will target the audience not only for their buying capacity but whether or not they are likely to engage with your business.
As you can see from the options, some websites are not interested solely in profits. They may want to expand their brand reach, generate leads, increase engagement, and website traffic.
Facebook is an affordable platform for marketers to display their dynamic ads.
You can already advertise for as little as $1.00 a day. In fact, it is recommended that you first low-ball Facebook, especially during the early stages.
The idea is to run analytics to determine which among your ads yield the most ROI. You can then rationalize your future budgets.
For instance, you can optimize your poorly performing ads or abandoning them together to focus on your more successful facebook campaigns.
You need to remember the three primary factors for how Facebook will present your ads to your target/custom audiences:
There is a reason why Facebook created the Lowest Cost option, and it is ideal for:
The Lowest Cost It is not the best determinant of the cost per action (CPA) rate, although Facebook claims that it will try to bring you the cheapest cost results.
The final cost will hinge on the bidding activity. The stiffer the competition, the higher the rates.
When launching your Facebook retargeting campaigns, make sure to create different types of content.
The idea is to test your ad using trial and error.
Different ads may have different outcomes depending on conditions, target/custom audiences, and frequency.
You can even take the shotgun approach. Launch simultaneous ads at once and see which one sticks. Analytics will give you a good glimpse of where you are successful and which areas you went wrong.
It is better to target your top prospects and customers first rather than deploy your ad to all your customers. You can get better results this way as your data will have less noise.
Facebook Retargeting ads is a novel way to advertise to your prospects without being too creepy about it. It is also a more affordable way to get the word out about your brand and direct your prospects to your sales funnel.
More importantly, do not forget A/B testing on all your Facebook ads to reduce guesswork in your future marketing campaigns.
%201.svg){kind=logo}
.jpg)
Launching an online course is easy once you’ve created your content. Filling your virtual classroom with motivated, paying learners is a little more challenging. Advertising strategies aren’t intuitive no matter how user-friendly a platform might be, and trying to guess at how to market your courses online can feel like you’re shouting into the void. But with a little knowledge and some expert PPC ad strategies, you can get your courses in front of people who are hungry to learn what you teach.
With precise targeting, a professional strategy, budget control, and regular tracking, a PPC ad campaign can transform your course into a thriving program. The key is knowing how to structure your ad campaigns for both clicks and hot leads that convert.
Unlike search engine optimization (SEO), which can take months to gain even a little traction, PPC provides you with immediate visibility right where your target users are hanging out. SEO is important but it’s a long-term game that should be executed alongside PPC ads for the best results. While you’re waiting, PPC generates immediate clicks and drives traffic to your website on the spot.
The best part is that when done right, PPC ads offer a high ROI compared to many other advertising methods. According to the data, businesses earn an average of $2 for every $1 they spend on Google Ads, making PPC a powerful resource for course providers. Here’s everything you need to know about mastering PPC to generate hot leads for your online courses.
1. Understand the learner’s journey
If you want your PPC ads to generate leads ready to buy and not just curious clicks, you need to align your ad strategy with how learners make decisions. Signing up for an online course is not an impulse purchase. It’s a journey that usually starts with curiosity and then moves to research and comparison. When successful, that journey ends with enrollment.
A one-size-fits-all ad won’t work because a student who is just browsing isn’t ready for the same pitch as someone about to hand over their credit card. Understanding the different parts of the funnel, and tailoring your ad campaigns to match each stage, is what will make your course successful. A typical buyer’s journey for learners involves the following stages:
At this stage, your potential students are still exploring broad ideas related to the courses you’re offering. They may not know exactly which course or platform is right for them, but they’re actively looking for options. You’ll need to use a certain type of keyword phrase to capture their attention.
Searches like “learn coding online,” “how to get TEFL certified,” and “language courses for beginners” will work well at this stage. PPC ads in this phase shouldn’t hard-sell enrollment, but rather, focus on positioning your course as credible and informative.
Think free guides, introductory webinars, and blog posts that answer frequently asked questions about your topic. By nurturing your leads’ interests and providing value right off the bat, you’ll have an easier time becoming a trusted brand that people keep in mind as they move deeper into the journey.
During the consideration state prospects know what they want but they’re comparing their options. They’ve narrowed down their choices and are considering factors like price, flexibility, depth, instructor quality, platform, and accreditation. Ideal search terms in this phase are related to specific things that your prospects value or want to achieve like “affordable Python bootcamp,” “online MBA with scholarships,” or “best UX design course with certification.”
Your PPC ads should also highlight unique selling points for your course like “self-paced learning,” “industry-recognized certificate,” or “job placement success.” It’s at this stage where comparison charts, testimonials, and detailed course previews are highly effective. The goal is to show your prospects why your program beats the competition.
At this point, hesitation is minimal. Prospects are ready to sign up but might need one last push. This is where urgency, social proof, and simplicity make all the difference. Ads should feature strong calls to action like “Enroll Today,” limited-time incentives like “Save 20% - Ends Sunday.” This is the perfect time to showcase real student success stories. Landing pages for ads in the decision stage should remove all friction. Avoid long forms and distracting links. Just provide a clear and simple path to enrollment.
Keep in mind that most of your ideal market will encounter your brand multiple times along their journey across different devices and platforms, like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Mapping your PPC ad campaigns to these three stages ensures you’re showing up with the right message at the right time. When done correctly, focusing on all three stages with separate messages will turn casual searchers into qualified leads ready to buy your course.
The backbone of every PPC campaign is your keyword selection. You can write the most convincing ad copy in the world, but if you’re bidding on the wrong phrases you’ll either waste your budget or attract people who have no intention of enrolling.
Your goal isn’t just to drive traffic to your site. You need to drive qualified traffic – people who are serious about learning what you teach and are ready to invest in themselves. This requires targeting a mix of high-intent keywords, longtail phrases, and negative keywords.
Broad keywords like “data science” and “coding” cast a net that’s too wide. You’ll get clicks but most will be from people who are just curious or looking for free resources. To reach people who are committed, you need to target high-intent keywords that show purchase intent. Phrases like “enroll in our data science course” and “online JavaScript certification with ongoing support” will attract users who are actively seeking instruction.
You’ll pay more for high-intent keywords but they deliver more value and higher conversion rates, and that will increase your ROI when you choose the right ones.
Longtail keywords are used to target a smaller pool of people and that’s a good thing. Since these keywords are more focused, the traffic they generate is more valuable. Instead of competing for saturated, general terms like “learn graphic design online,” you target specific phrases like “best graphic design program for working professionals with evening classes.” The people searching with this level of specificity already know what they want, which means they’re more likely to convert.
If you skip targeting longtail keywords you’re leaving money on the table. Data shows that 70% of all online searches involve longtail phrases – it’s just how people naturally search when they know what they want.
Your negative keyword list is how you’ll preserve your budget and prevent wasting money on irrelevant clicks. Without a list of words you don’t want your ads to show up for, you’ll end up paying for clicks that never convert.
Build a negative keyword list of words that indicate someone is looking for something free or irrelevant to your course. For example, words like “free,” “PDF,” “torrent,” and “Reddit” are usually used in searches when someone is looking for shortcuts and freebies. Adding these and similar words to your negative keyword list will filter out tire-kickers and boost ROI by preserving your ad budget for relevant prospects.
Once you have the right keywords that generate impressions, your ad copy has to do the work to get clicks. Your ads need to grab people right away to prevent them from scrolling and possibly clicking on another course provider’s ad. For e-learning, your ads need to inspire people. Instead of talking about your course you want to highlight what your course will do for the learner. This is accomplished with benefit-driven messaging, emotional triggers, and strong calls-to-action (CTAs).
· Benefit-driven messaging. Most course providers list features like “40 hours of video content” and “downloadable PDFs,” but these details aren’t going to capture attention at first glance. In fact, telling learners they’re going to need to sit through 40 hours of content right off the bat might be a deterrent.
Instead, your ads should highlight tangible outcomes like “land high-paying clients with our program,” or “start a new career as a web developer in just 12 weeks.” Benefits speak directly to a person’s goals and aspirations, which is far more compelling than a list of specs.
· Emotional triggers. Emotional triggers are the heart of every marketing strategy, including PPC ads. People make emotional buying decisions and buy courses because they’re chasing a dream, avoiding a fear, or seeking transformation.
Great ad copy taps into these emotions and creates a sense of urgency. For instance, “Don’t miss the enrollment deadline” plays into the fear of missing out, while “Join 10,000 successful graduates” leverages social proof. The right emotional triggers will give people a good reason to act now rather than bookmarking your page and forgetting about it.
· Clear CTAs. Irresistible ad copy includes a direct, compelling call-to-action that tells the prospect what to do next. Generic instructions don’t cut it. “Learn more,” “Click here,” and similar phrases don’t communicate urgency or value. Choose CTAs that direct prospects to sign up for your course. For example, “Start your free trial” and “Reserve your seat today” work well.
In a crowded marketplace where hundreds of course creators are competing for the same attention, clarity and emotion will generate better results. Lead with benefits and tap into people’s emotions and your ad copy will generate serious leads.
Generating clicks from your ads is only the first half of the equation. Once a prospect clicks your landing page needs to convert them to a paying customer or your ad spend goes to waste. Your landing page is like the final pitch where prospective students choose whether to enroll in your course or move on. If your landing pages create any confusion, friction, or distrust, your prospects will lean toward other course creators. On the other hand, an optimized landing page can become a conversion generating machine.
Your landing pages should be simple and clean without too much information. The page content should be specifically designed to direct people to sign up for your course. You want to eliminate navigation menus and sidebars to prevent people from clicking away from the page and getting distracted. Each landing page should have one end goal, either to get sign-ups/purchases or apply for acceptance if required. Too many options will create cognitive overload and reduce the chance of any action.
It’s crucial to include trust elements on your landing pages. When people are thinking about investing their time and money in an online course, they’re naturally going to be skeptical. This is where trust signals can help. Testimonials, instructor bios, refund guarantees, and case studies will help build your course credibility. The goal here is to reassure people that your program is legitimate and worth their investment.
Clicks are important but they’re somewhat of a vanity metric when measured on their own. The only time clicks matter is when you’re looking at your conversion rate. If you generate 100 clicks and get 40 people to enroll that’s much better than generating 1,000 clicks and only getting one person to enroll in your course.
The metrics that matter most are your conversion rate, your cost per lead (CPL), and lifetime customer value (LTV). For instance, you’ll want to track completed signups, demo requests, and enrollments rather than overall clicks.
Cost per lead is a simple measurement that can tell you how efficient your campaign is. For instance, if you’re paying $50 per lead but your average enrollment fee is $500, your margins are good. If your CPL is too close to your revenue then your course might be priced too low or you need to adjust your targeted keywords.
For e-learning, many students invest in more than one course or renew their subscription, which increases their lifetime value to your business. Tracking LTV will help you determine how much you can afford to spend acquiring each new student. For example, if your LTV average is $1,500, it makes sense to spend $200 to acquire each lead. This long-term view helps you maintain profitability and allows you to outbid your competitors who aren’t willing to spend much.
PPC ads require fine-tuning and you can’t just “set it and forget it.” What works today might underperform tomorrow or not perform at all on other platforms. Even small changes can make a huge difference in conversions and that’s why it’s important to test variations. For example, Dell is just one example of a company that saw a 300% increase in conversions from A/B testing.
By running experiments to test different elements you can identify what resonates most with your target audience and optimize your ads based on those results. The most important elements to test are your headlines, CTAs, and images.
· Testing headlines. Your ad headline is usually the first thing a prospect sees. Testing different headlines can help identify which promises resonate most. For example, “Land your dream job” might appeal to people looking for a new career, while “Get certified in 12 weeks” might hook people in a hurry. If you get more conversions from the former, your main audience is likely people looking for a new career, and you can tailor your ads to that group.
· Testing CTAs. A strong CTA can generate more clicks, but what works will depend on your audience. For example, “Get started today” might work for some courses while “Reserve your spot” works better for others. Avoid vague CTAs like “Learn more” that don’t instruct people to take action.
· Testing visuals. Images can put people off or draw them closer. Visuals are processed faster than text and are perceived in a split-second. A single image can make or break an ad. For instance, sometimes a photo of an instructor works well, but other times it’s better to use abstract graphics.
Split testing isn’t optional when you’re running PPC ads. It’s the only way to know which elements make your ads more effective.
At the end of the day, PPC is a great way to build a pipeline of motivated students who want to enroll in your courses. By aligning your campaign with the learner’s journey and optimizing your ads and landing pages for conversions, you can turn your PPC campaign into a reliable growth engine. As the e-learning market becomes more competitive, ads that hit hard are a must.
If you’re ready to stop wasting ad spend and start filling your online classrooms with qualified leads, it’s time to bring in PPC experts. At PPC.co, we specialize in turning clicks into enrollments through high-converting campaigns that deliver qualified leads for online course creators . Contact our team today and let’s build campaigns that fill your classroom.
Pay-per-click (PPC) remains one of the fastest paths to pipeline, but the economics vary widely by industry and are shifting as AI reshapes the SERP. CPCs are up versus prior years, conversion rates have improved in many categories, and lead quality is increasingly a function of how well advertisers feed first-party data into bidding models.
The table below summarizes 2025 search-PPC benchmarks by sector—CPC, conversion rate (CVR), and cost per lead (CPL)—so you can compare what “good” looks like in your niche and calibrate ROI assumptions.
Use these numbers as directional guardrails, then layer in your own close rates and LTV to get to the only metric that matters: profitable growth.
In short, AI is changing the way PPC campaign management is occurring, and it's happening FAST.
ROI ≈ (Close-Rate × Avg Customer LTV ÷ CPL) − 1
Example (legal): if close-rate 12% and LTV $6,000 on CPL $132 → ROI ≈ (0.12×6000 / 132) −1 ≈ 4.45x (345% net). Improve any one input (faster intake bumps close-rate; better routing lowers CPL) and ROI jumps. Benchmarks for CPL/CVR above provide solid starting points. LocaliQ
PPC will keep paying when two things are true:
(1) you can convert and qualify leads quickly, and
(2) your bidding models are trained on the outcomes that actually make you money.
As AI compresses differences in targeting, the edge shifts to first-party data, creative velocity, and value-based bidding.
Treat the benchmarks above as starting points, then rebuild your ROI math from the ground up: ROI ≈ (Close Rate × LTV ÷ CPL).
Contact us today for your customized PPC audit to see how we can improve your search engine marketing ad spend.
